Movie Review: The Hasty Heart (1949) directed by Vincent Sherman
Burma, 1945, what will turn out to be V-J Day, the last day of World War Two. Scots soldier Lachie (Richard Todd) takes a piece of mine shrapnel to the back. The military doctors manage to save his life, but he’s lost one of his kidneys. Then they discover that his other kidney is defective; he has at most a few weeks to live before it collapses. Since it will be nine years before kidney transplants are a thing, this will spell his doom. Lieutenant Colonel Dunn (Anthony Nicholls) decides not to tell Lachie of his prognosis. Thus the Scotsman is baffled as the other soldiers are allowed to head back to Britain but even though he’s mostly healed, he is kept at the rapidly emptying hospital.
One of the wards is run by “Sister” Parker (Patrica Neal), an attractive head nurse. Currently her charges are Yank (Ronald Reagan), Tommy (Howard Marion-Crawford), Kiwi (Ralph Michael), Digger (John Sherman) and Blossom (Orlando Martins), an African soldier who knows one word in English. Lt. Col. Dunn decides to transfer Lachie into that ward so that he can die surrounded by friends. The officer explains the death sentence to the nurse and patients, but swears them to secrecy.
Not all of them are thrilled with this assignment. Yank in particular has prejudice against the Scottish due to a difficult relationship with his immigrant grandfather. And when Lachie arrives, he lives down to the stereotype of the dour, prickly Scotsman, unfriendly and unpleasable. Can the men give him the comfort he needs if he refuses to take it?
This 1948 film is based on a 1945 Broadway play and was an Anglo-American coproduction to use funds that had been frozen in Britain, much the same way Treasure Island was for Disney. The setting may be Burma in the sweltering heat, but it was shot in an exceptionally cold London winter. (And was the first time Ronald Reagan had been further from the United States mainland than Catalina Island.)
The future president is top-billed, and his performance is quite good as Yank, an outspoken, opinionated American. But it’s Lachie who’s the central role. Mr. Todd is excellent as a man who’s never had friends before and is deeply suspicious of anyone reaching out to him. Due to the circumstances of his birth, he’s had a hard life and had to earn his own way since early childhood. Initially, his only joy is that his British Army paycheck has at last allowed him to buy a small plot of land in Scotland, a place where he can stand on his own and be his own master.
Lachie’s gradually letting his walls down just a little bit and learning to trust makes it hit hard when he inevitably learns that his new friends have not been truthful.
Patricia Neal and the other supporting actors also do a good job. Mr. Martins has an especially difficult role as Blossom, since he’s confined to two words, one of which is repeated multiple times, and must convey meaning with vocal tone and body language. (It is a bit dubious that he’s never learned any other English and no effort has been made to provide him a translator. Roll with it.)
It may seem incredible to modern watchers that a doctor would fail to tell a patient their actual prognosis, but this actually was a standard medical practice at the time.
Content note: The above-mentioned deception by medical professionals and fellow patients alike may need explanation to younger viewers to properly contextualize it. Very brief combat scene where Lachie is wounded, and we see the doctors operating (no details or blood.) Casual smoking. There’s a running gag where the other men attempt to peek up Lachie’s kilt to see if he’s wearing underwear. Ethnic prejudice. The long talky bits and adult concerns may make this movie boring for children, but teens on up should be okay.
Overall, this is a solid movie with good acting. Recommended primarily to drama fans.
