Vincent B. Evans Movies
Battle Hymn was inspired by the true story of American minister Dean Hess, played here with rare sensitivity by Rock Hudson. A bomber pilot during World War II, Hess inadvertently releases a bomb which destroys a German orphanage. Tortured by guilt, Hess relocates in Korea after the war to offer his services as a missionary. Combining the best elements of Christianity and Eastern spiritualism, Hess establishes a large home for orphans. The preacher's efforts are threatened when the Korean "police action" breaks out in 1950. Battle Hymn was one of several collaborations between Rock Hudson and director Douglas Sirk--though Sirk felt that Robert Stack would have been better suited to the role of Rev. Hess. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Rock Hudson, Anna Kashfi, (more)
- 1950
- NR
This second-echelon Humphrey Bogart vehicle casts Bogie as a bomber pilot who becomes a free-lance flyboy after the war. Eleanor Parker, Bogart's wartime love, is now the secretary of aircraft manufacturer Raymond Massey. Partly out of an effort to link up with Parker again, Bogart signs on as a test pilot for Massey's firm. Richard Whorf, Massey's safety supervisor, dislikes Bogart's grandstanding. When Whorf is killed, Bogart feels responsible. He volunteers to test Whorf's experimental escape device by flying at high-speed. The test is a success (though it's nip and tuck for a while), and Bogart survives for a final clinch with Parker. Completed in early 1949, Chain Lightning was held back from release until 1950; it was Humphrey Bogart's final Warner Bros. film. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Humphrey Bogart, Eleanor Parker, (more)
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