3 Observations on this laboriously lengthy 1962 pseudo-adventure drama: first, the writing could have easily excised forty minutes of unnecessary dialog and exposition from the central narrative thereby tightening the story arc of how and why Dr. Anton Drager (Rock Hudson) becomes a Christian. Second, on the plus-side, the location shooting was a wise decision highlighting the challenges of overseas medical assignments as the Indonesian landscape becomes a character in-and-of-itself in the drama. In contrast, John Ford's "7 Women", a similar studio-bound drama is disadvantageously claustrophobic. Third, the promising supporting characters like Willem Wattereus (Geoffrey Keen) are woefully under-developed and under-utilized in propelling the narrative forward.
Review of The Spiral Road
