Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison
Encyclopedia : H : HE : HEA : Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison
Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison is a 1957 film which tells the story of two people stranded on an island in the Pacific Ocean during World War Two.
The movie was adapted by John Huston and John Lee Mahin from the novel by Charles Shaw and directed by Huston. It was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Deborah Kerr) and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium.
Plot
Corporal Allison (Robert Mitchum), a U.S. Marine, arrives on an island in the Pacific in a rubber raft, a survivor of a sunken destroyer. He finds an abandoned settlement and a chapel with one occupant: Sister Angela (Deborah Kerr), a novice nun who has not yet taken her final vows.For a while they have the island to themselves, but then a company of Japanese soldiers arrives to set up a base, forcing them to hide in a cave. When the food runs low, Allison sneaks into the Japanese camp for supplies, narrowly avoiding detection. His long absence frightens the nun, who is just about to reveal her presence and surrender herself when he finally returns.
One day, the Japanese unexpectedly leave the island, and in celebration, Allison gets drunk on some left-behind sake and blurts out that he loves Sister Angela. She runs out into a monsoon rain and subsequently falls ill; on top of that, the Japanese return, and Allison and Angela are forced to hide in the cave again. Allison sneaks into the Japanese camp to get some blankets. He kills a soldier who discovers him in the act, but the enemy now knows he's there. In an effort to force him out into the open, the Japanese set fire to the vegetation.
Allison and Sister Angela are left with two choices: surrender or die of smoke inhalation. Just as they are about to give themselves up, the Americans start shelling the island. That night, they see flashes from naval guns being fired in a sea battle over the horizon. Realizing that a landing is imminent, Allison decides to disable the Japanese artillery during the initial American barrage, while the Japanese are still in their bunkers. He is wounded, but manages to sabotage all the guns. He and Sister Angela are eventually rescued by the victorious U.S. Marines.
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.