The Left Hand Of God (1955)

A pilot turned mercenary (Humphrey Bogart) for a Chinese war lord (Lee J. Cobb) in 1947 China attempts to escape from his clutches by temporarily impersonating a priest at a small mission until a caravan can take him to the coast. But he finds that both the mission and its people as well as the war lord's determination are more than he bargained for. Directed by Edward Dmytrk and attractively shot in CinemaScope (Bogart's only wide screen film) by Franz Planer, the film is a forthright if simple piece of entertainment that manages to get its humanist message across with a minimum of preaching. The film attempts to titillate with a "forbidden" romance between the priest and the mission nurse (Gene Tierney, who wouldn't make another film again for 7 years) but, of course, though she doesn't, we know he's not really a priest. Bogart looks a bit ragged around the edges (he'd do only 2 more films before dying of cancer two years later) but he still holds the screen like only a true Star could. The colorful score is by Victor Young. With Agnes Moorehead, E.G. Marshall, Jean Porter, Carl Benton Reid and Philip Ahn.