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Too much of everything

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

When the film begins, you see a flashback of Dean Hess (Rock Hudson) as a pilot during WWII. By mistake, a bomb falls off his P-51 and hits an orphanage. He's haunted by this and this might explain why he became a minister after the war. However, he's still haunted by this mistake and when the Korean War breaks out, he volunteers to serve. His job is setting up an airbase for the South Korean Air Force, although much of his energy ends up being spent helping the many orphans displaced by the war. In some ways, the film reminded me of the story "Lord Jim"--a guy makes a mistake and spends his life trying his best to do good and somehow atone for his past. It makes for an interesting film and Rock Hudson is just fine in the lead. Worth seeing and very well made.

Rock Hudson is in this so I had to get this on DVD & I'm very glad that I did. SPOILER: Due to what he accidentally does in the beginning of the story, you can feel his guilt, pain & need for redemption throughout the rest of the movie. Rock Hudson did an amazing job portraying this in the film based on actual events. You have a clear understanding as to why his life took the course that it did throughout the film. Another important element of this movie that stood out for me is that all the fighter pilots were of equal value, as if skin color didn't exist. That was very impressive & very refreshing to see and yet this is a film made in 1957. And what is it about Old Hollywood & older films that makes you feel like you are really there? It must be the lack of CGI. All the locations and air scenes are fantastic, brilliantly filmed!!

Solid Rock Hudson vehicle dealing with a preacher's accidental bombing of an orphanage in a small German city during World War 11. The preacher, Dean Hess, played beautifully by Rock Hudson, comes back to the states following the war but is unable to fulfill his duties and reenlists for action in Korea 5 years later.It is through his work in Korea that Hudson is able to reaffirm his faith.Carl Benton Reid plays the town deacon. I remember Reid for playing Hudson's father-in-law in "One Desire" with the mean Julie Adams as his wife and the kindly Anne Baxter, the woman he should have married.The film does go a little over-the-top with the death scene by Hess's buddy, played to the hilt by Don DeFore. When Hudson tells a dying DeFore that death is where one door opens after another closes is a little too much to take; although, it's effectively done.Married to Martha Hyer in the film, Hudson soon learns that she is with child when he goes off to Korea. There, he meets Anna Kashfi, a young woman who has fled the ravages of war in her town. Due to his religious upbringing, romance does not evolve around the characters. In fact, she dies tragically near the end of the film.The remaining part of the film deals with the attempts of Yang (Kashfi) and Hess to get the children out of a warring province to safe haven somewhere else. I thought we were going to see another "Inn of the 6th Happiness" here but we did not.This is definitely a film of the triumph of the human spirit. It's another solid film for veteran director Douglas Sirk. He made so many of those women's pictures in the 1950 that starred Rock Hudson.

I am sick and tired of the misinformation that is constantly related about Colonel Hess. He was NOT a fighter pilot turned minister, it was the other way around. He was an ordained minister before joining the U S Army Air Force, as it was called in World War Two. Although he could have been a Chaplain, he did not feel that he could bless others for doing something he wasn't willing to do. If he had conflicts on the set of the movie, it was because of the way the Director wanted to portray him, not because he wanted to appear "Holier Than Thou". Anyone who wants the facts should read the book "Battle Hymn". It is out of print, but should be available through Amazon or Alibris. The orphanage bombing incident did take place. It happened because a bomb hung up on his P-47 (NOT a P-51 as shown in the movie) it was not a deliberate act. The incident did haunt him the rest of his life, But he saved many more orphans than were killed. "Operation Kiddy Car" was a real happening. As a final note, the money Hess received for the Screen Rights to his book, were given to the Korean Orphanage to repair its roof