Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

Just perfect...

Crappy film

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

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.

"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.

Several scenes from "The Proud and the Profane" were shot at my parents' home in St Thomas, USVI, at Estate Frenchman's Bay on the island's southern side. The company bought (and left) an additional refrigerator to make & keep ice for the stars' drinks (it gets hot under the lights in the Caribbean!). I also remember seeing a few huge electric bulbs that apparently were blown out or not worth the expense of shipping back to Hollywood. Since I was in elementary school in the States at the time of shooting, I didn't get to watch any of the production, but heard all the stories when I returned for the summer. "The Frogmen", with Richard Widmark, was also shot on the property (in the bay in front of the house).

The scenery looks bedraggled in this movie because so many people chew it. It's an over-the-top melodrama, with William Holden being the most ridiculous. But never mind -- it has Thelma Ritter, who can save any movie. She's the best thing in this one.