The Spiral Road * (1962, Rock Hudson, Burl Ives, Gena Rowlands) – Classic Movie Review 9624

Director Robert Mulligan’s 1962 ambitious and well-intentioned failure The Spiral Road is based on Jan de Hartog’s novel and stars Rock Hudson as a mid-1930s stop-at-nothing doctor in trouble, bent on using Dr Brits Jansen (Burl Ives)’s research to gain a place in medical texts.

After an unconscionable time, unbeliever Dutch physician Dr Anton Drager (Rock Hudson) gets religion in the Java jungle, prevents leprosy, battles a witch-doctor and converts the natives. Hudson is not well cast and the role exposes his weaknesses as an actor. He really struggles with the intractable material and, perhaps surprisingly, director Mulligan is totally at sea too.

Among the other surprise participants in this ailing drama are Gena Rowlands as Hudson’s wife Els and Geoffrey Keen as a Salvation Army man, Willem Wattereus.

There is relief from the general mediocrity in Russell Harlan’s Eastmancolor cinematography, Jerry Goldsmith’s score, and the work of some of Hudson’s support actors (Burl Ives, Geoffrey Keen, Larry Gates).

At its core though, the central problem, is the uninspired, stodgy screenplay by John Lee Mahin and Neil Paterson, based on Jan de Hartog’s novel.

Also in the cast are Will Kuluva, Neva Patterson, Karl Swenson, Philip Abbott, Larry Gates, Judy Dann, Edgar Stehli, Judy Dan, Robert F Simon, Reggie Nalder, Leon Lontoc, Ibrahim Pendek and Parley Baer.

It is mostly filmed at Universal Studios, California, but also at Paramaribo, Suriname.

Mulligan’s next film is To Kill a Mockingbird (1962).

Gena Rowlands turns 90 on 19 June 2020.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9624

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com