''Satan Never Sleeps '' (also known as ''The Devil Never Sleeps'' and ''Flight from Terror''
) is a 1962 American
drama
Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...
romance war film
War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about navy, naval, air force, air, or army, land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle s ...
directed by
Leo McCarey
Thomas Leo McCarey (October 3, 1898 – July 5, 1969) was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He was involved in nearly 200 films, including the critically acclaimed '' Duck Soup'', '' Make Way for Tomorrow'', '' The Awf ...
, his final film, in which he returns to the religious themes of his classics ''
Going My Way
''Going My Way'' is a 1944 American musical comedy drama film directed by Leo McCarey and starring Bing Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald. Written by Frank Butler and Frank Cavett, based on a story by McCarey, the film is about a new young priest ...
'' (1944) and ''
The Bells of St. Mary's
''The Bells of St. Mary's'' is a 1945 American musical comedy-drama film, produced and directed by Leo McCarey and starring Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman. Written by Dudley Nichols and based on a story by McCarey, the film is about a priest a ...
'' (1945). It also is the final screen appearance of actor
Clifton Webb
Webb Parmelee Hollenbeck (November 19, 1889 – October 13, 1966), known professionally as Clifton Webb, was an American actor, singer, and dancer. He worked extensively and was known for his stage appearances in the plays of Noël Coward, in ...
.
Plot
In 1949, Catholic priests O'Banion and Bovard are constantly harassed by the Communist People's Party at their remote mission outpost in China. Adding to Father O'Banion's troubles is the mission's cook Siu Lan, an attractive Chinese girl who makes no secret of her love for him.
Under the leadership of Ho San, the communists wreck the mission dispensary and desecrate the chapel. Ho San straps O'Banion to a chair and rapes Siu Lan. Later, when she gives birth to a son, Ho San displays paternal pride but refuses to stop persecuting the priests.
Only after the villagers revolt and his superiors order the killing of all Christians, including his parents, does Ho San become convinced that communism will never solve China's problems. He tries to smuggle Siu Lan, his son and the two priests out of the compound, but their journey is halted within a few miles of freedom by a helicopter sent to prevent Ho San's defection. Before he can be restrained, Father Bovard dons Ho San's military cap and coat and drives away in the colonel's car. He dies in a spray of bullets from the helicopter, but his sacrifice enables the others to escape. Later, at mission headquarters in Hong Kong, O'Banion officiates at the wedding of Siu Lan and Ho San and baptizes their child.
Cast

*
William Holden
William Franklin Holden (né Beedle Jr.; April 17, 1918 – November 12, 1981) was an American actor and one of the biggest box-office draws of the 1950s. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the film '' Stalag 17'' (1953) and the Pri ...
as Father O'Banion
*
Clifton Webb
Webb Parmelee Hollenbeck (November 19, 1889 – October 13, 1966), known professionally as Clifton Webb, was an American actor, singer, and dancer. He worked extensively and was known for his stage appearances in the plays of Noël Coward, in ...
as Father Bovard
*
France Nuyen
France Nuyen (born France Nguyễn Vân Nga on 31 July 1939) is a French-American actress, model, and psychological counselor. She is known to film audiences for playing romantic leads in '' South Pacific'' (1958), '' Satan Never Sleeps'' (1962 ...
as Siu Lan
*
Athene Seyler
Athene Seyler (31 May 188912 September 1990) was an English actress.
Early life
She was born in Hackney, London; her German-born grandparents moved to the United Kingdom, where her grandfather Philip Seyler was a merchant in London. Athene Se ...
as Sister Agnes
*
Martin Benson as Kuznietsky
*
Edith Sharpe
Edith Mary Sharpe (14 September 1894 – 6 June 1984) was a British actress. Born in Hackney, London. She married Alexander Francis Part in 1931 and had one child. She appeared in TV series such as Dixon of Dock Green, Z Cars, Emergency Ward 1 ...
as Sister Theresa
*
Robert Lee as Chung Ren
*
Marie Yang as Ho San's mother
*
Andy Ho
Andy Ho (born Andrew Chin Guan Ho; 2 July 1913 – 16 January 1992) was a Singapore-born (then part of British Malaya) film and television actor who worked in London and Hollywood from the 1950s through to the 1980s.
Biography
Andy Ho was born ...
as Ho San's father
*
Burt Kwouk
Herbert Tsangtse Kwouk ( Kwouk; ; ; 18 July 1930 – 24 May 2016) was a British actor. He is perhaps best known for his role as Cato in the '' Pink Panther'' films. He made appearances in many television programmes, including a portrayal of I ...
as Ah Wang
*
Weaver Levy as Ho San
*
Noel Hood as Sister Justine
Production
''Satan Never Sleeps'' had ''The China Story'' for working title.
The film was based on an original
screenplay
A screenplay, or script, is a written work produced for a film, television show (also known as a '' teleplay''), or video game by screenwriters (cf. ''stage play''). Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of w ...
by
Pearl S. Buck called ''China Story'' that had been sold to 20th Century Fox. In 1950,
Hal B. Wallis
Harold B. Wallis (born Aaron Blum Wolowicz; October 19, 1898 – October 5, 1986) was an American film producer. He is best known for producing ''Casablanca'' (1942), ''The Adventures of Robin Hood'' (1938), and '' True Grit'' (1969), along wit ...
acquired it and in 1960, it came to Leo McCarey.
Hooper and Poague report McCarey's difficulties directing ''Satan Never Sleeps'' which he discussed in a 1965 ''
Cahiers du Cinéma'' interview. According to McCarey, he left the film in disgust
ue toconstant studio interference with his work and "modifications" to his script, and the final week's shooting was left to an assistant. They add that the final cut of ''Satan Never Sleeps'' was neither supervised nor approved by McCarey, "which may explain (if not excuse) the bizarre aspects of the film’s ending".
Biographer Wes D. Gehring notes that McCarey had conceived a denouement different from that which the studio inserted, in which "William Holden’s priest dies, rather than act upon his love for a woman".
The film was shot in
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
and
Wales
Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
.
[Nat Segaloff, ''Final Cuts: The Last Films of 50 Great Directors'', Bear Manor Media 2013 p 195-200]
Reception
In a contemporary review for ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', critic
A. H. Weiler called ''Satan Never Sleeps'' "a lackluster imitation" of Leo McCarey's ''
Going My Way
''Going My Way'' is a 1944 American musical comedy drama film directed by Leo McCarey and starring Bing Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald. Written by Frank Butler and Frank Cavett, based on a story by McCarey, the film is about a new young priest ...
'' and wrote: "There is no doubt that the hearts of Mr. McCarey and company are in the right places but ''Satan Never Sleeps'' has little heart in it. This ''Satan'' is a direct descendant of ''
Madama Butterfly
''Madama Butterfly'' (; ''Madame Butterfly'') is an opera in three acts (originally two) by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa.
It is based on the short story " Madame Butterfly" (1898) by John Lu ...
'' and
soap opera
A soap opera (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term ''soap opera'' originat ...
."
Critic
Archer Winsten in ''
The New York Post
The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative
daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates three online sites: NYPost. ...
'' declared the film "embarrassingly predictable until it becomes so bad you couldn’t even imagine it".
In a current-day review, ''
Time Out'' described ''Satan Never Sleeps'' as a "dreadful, trashy yarn" and "propaganda designed to equate Communism with Satan". The review concluded: "Satan may not sleep, but you will."
Theme
Critic Leland Poague reports that both of McCarey's "Anti-Communist" films—''
My Son John'' (1952) and ''Satan Never Sleep''—are "difficult to watch". Poague locates the weakness of ''Satan Never Sleeps'' less in its political metaphor for "personal and social rigidity" associated with Communist regimes, but rather a fundamental shift in McCarey's outlook that was "genuinely darker by the time he made the film".
Families, as social units, are "terribly important" to McCarey according to film historian Leland Poague. McCarey presents families as "basic to the continuation of life and society" in a number of his films, among these ''
Make Way for Tomorrow
''Make Way for Tomorrow'' is a 1937 American tragedy film directed by Leo McCarey. The plot concerns an elderly couple (played by Victor Moore and Beulah Bondi) who are forced to separate when they lose their house and none of their five ch ...
'' (1937), ''
Good Sam'' (1948), ''
My Son John'' (1952), as well as ''Satan Never Sleeps''.
[Poague, 1980 p. 219] The appearance of priests in McCarey's films is a device that advances this theme. Poague notes the function of priests—here, Father O’Banion and Father Bovard—in addressing the conflicts inherent in family relationships:
See also
*
Freedom of religion in China
Freedom of religion in China may be referring to the following entities separated by the Taiwan Strait:
*In the People's Republic of China (PRC), freedom of religion is provided for in the Constitution of the People's Republic of China,Constitu ...
Footnotes
Sources
*Gehring, Wes D. 2005. ''Leo McCarey: From Marx to McCarthy.''
The Scarecrow Press
Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group is an American independent academic publishing company founded in 1949. Under several imprints, the company offers scholarly books for the academic market, as well as trade books. The company also owns t ...
. Lantham,Maryland, Toronto, Oxford.
*Hooper, Gary and Poague, Leland. 1980. Leo McCarey Filmography in ''The Hollywood Professionals: Wilder and McCarey, Volume 7.'' The Tanvity Press, A. S. Barnes and Company, Inc, San Diego, California. pp. 295-314
*Poague, Leland. 1980. ''The Hollywood Professionals: Wilder and McCarey, Volume 7''. The Tanvity Press,
A. S. Barnes and Company, Inc. San Diego, California.
External links
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{{Pearl S. Buck
1962 films
1962 drama films
1960s English-language films
Films about Catholicism
Films directed by Leo McCarey
Films scored by Richard Rodney Bennett
Films with songs by Harold Adamson
Films set in the 1940s
History of China on film
Cold War films
20th Century Fox films
American black-and-white films
CinemaScope films
Films shot at MGM-British Studios
American anti-communist propaganda films
Films about rape
Films about the succession of Catholic priests
Films about clerical celibacy
Films based on works by Pearl S. Buck