jjnxn-1 Considering the cast this oddly obscure WWII war drama is nothing special but is ultimately an entertaining drama. The basic story is a standard one of a clash of values between two people with very different life experiences.The best performance as usual comes from Thelma Ritter as a no nonsense nurse, whenever she's on screen she cuts right through the somewhat sugary dramatics with astringent fortitude. Deborah Kerr and William Holden perform their assigned roles well but their characters are both pretty selfish and unsympathetic to involve you in their story.

kenjha During WWII, a Red Cross volunteer comes to the South Pacific seeking information about the death of her soldier husband. Kerr is fine as the lonely woman struggling to cope with her loss. This is a strange role for Holden, who usually played characters with integrity. Although the actor is always worth watching, here his character is basically a dishonest heel. It's hard to believe that someone like Kerr, no matter how vulnerable, falls in love with him. Not surprisingly, Ritter steals the film as a tough but caring nurse. The screenplay and direction by Seaton, who worked with Holden on four films, is nothing special, but it's not bad either. The scenery is nice.

MartinHafer "The Proud and Profane" is an annoying war film. That's because to me, the characters (in particular the two leads) come off as phony and unlikable. Together, they form a relationship that is about as believable as a politician making a promise (of any sot).Deborah Kerr plays a very annoying woman. Her husband was killed at Guadalcanal and, inexplicably, she joins the Red Cross and goes to the Pacific to try to find folks who could tell her about her husband. This is hard to believe but when wounded men arrive and she doesn't want to see them because it bothers her to see hurt men, I just wanted to slap her. What an immature and unlikable lady--more like a débutante going to a cotillion than a lady volunteering to help in the war effort.As for William Holden, he plays a tough 'blood and guts' colonel who is VERY intense and selfish. His way of dealing with things is to tell the men to suck it up. Lost an arm? Suck it up. Paralyzed for life? Stop your whining. He even yells at the Chaplin! This guy makes Attila the Hun seem charming.So, you've got too seriously unlikable characters. And, they seem to have absolutely nothing--NOTHING--in common. So, when they suddenly starts kissing and the music wells up with a romantic strain, I felt like throwing a coffee cup at the TV screen. The dialog simply was some of the worst I'd heard of since my last Ed Wood film! The sticky, gooey, and utterly stupid dialog. The worst might be Holden's 'Indian half-breed' speech--but it's all pretty lame.I've noticed that this film has a respectable overall score and decent reviews. Well, I don't get it. Despite top stars, this is a bad film whose only interesting attributes are the bit characters--where you get to see a very young Marion Ross and David Bagdasarian (the guy who created the Chipmunks) in small parts. Otherwise, a complete waste of time.

jotix100 Lee Ashley, a woman who had lost her husband in the WWII conflict, enlists in the Red Cross in order to help. She is sent to the South Pacific to an American base that served to treat the wounded men from different parts of the Pacific theater. Lee, who comes from a genteel background, meets the arrogant Lt. Col. Colin Black, a marine who is a self-made man.Her reaction, at first, is not a happy one because she doesn't approve of the way he treats his own people. That, in time, turns into love, and later on, into hatred because she feels betrayed upon knowing he is married. She becomes pregnant and because of Black's action, she ends up miscarrying. In the end she gets the satisfaction of knowing that Black loved her all along and now, wounded and in bad shape he asks her to forgive him.George Seaton directed this Paramount release of 1956 that brought together two of the most talented actors of the time, William Holden and Deborah Kerr. The film, an adaptation from a novel, doesn't hold any surprises as the viewer feels where it is going. It was a miracle the censors didn't make the filmmakers strike the pregnancy issue, but it was all right as they compensate by killing Black's wife, who is a drunk and a low life. Thus the censors and the studio make a point about the moral aspect of the resolution.Deborah Kerr was at the height of her career. She was always effective no matter what she was asked to play. William Holden, sporting a mustache, didn't have to shave his chest this time as he did in "Picnic". Mr. Holden didn't fare as well in the movie. The irrepressible Thelma Ritter shows as a nurse with a heart of gold, her specialty. She was always a joy to watch, as she proves in the film.