Satan Never Sleeps
How Violators of Human Decency Work Their Terror Countdown!
1962 | 125m | English
Popularity: 0.3 (history)
| Director: | Leo McCarey |
|---|---|
| Writer: | Claude Binyon, Pearl S. Buck, Leo McCarey |
| Staring: |
| A priest arrives at a mission-post in China accompanied by a young native girl who has joined him along the way. His job is to relieve the existing priest, who is now too old and weak to continue with the upkeep of the church. However, Communist soldiers arrive at the mission and seize it as a command post. Their leader rapes the native girl and impregnates her, only later to realize that Communism is no good for him. In the end, the foursome flee to the border, but are pursued by Communist forces along the way. | |
| Release Date: | Feb 22, 1962 |
|---|---|
| Director: | Leo McCarey |
| Writer: | Claude Binyon, Pearl S. Buck, Leo McCarey |
| Genres: | Drama |
| Keywords | priest, church |
| Production Companies | 20th Century Fox |
| Box Office |
Revenue: $0
Budget: $0 |
| Updates |
Updated: Jan 29, 2026 Entered: Apr 27, 2024 |
| Name | Character |
|---|---|
| William Holden | Father O'Banion |
| Clifton Webb | Father Bovard |
| France Nuyen | Siu Lan |
| Athene Seyler | Sister Agness |
| Martin Benson | Kuznietsky |
| Edith Sharpe | Sister Theresa |
| Robert Lee | Chung Ren |
| Marie Yang | Ho San's Mother |
| Andy Ho | Ho San's father |
| Burt Kwouk | Ah Wang |
| Anthony Chinn | Ho San's Driver |
| Noel Hood | Sister Justine |
| Weaver Levy | Ho San |
| Name | Job |
|---|---|
| Jimmy Turrell | Focus Puller |
| Thomas N. Morahan | Production Design |
| John Hoesli | Assistant Art Director |
| Geoffrey Kidd | Boom Operator |
| Claude Binyon | Screenplay |
| Pearl S. Buck | Novel |
| Ivor Beddoes | Assistant Art Director |
| Jim Morahan | Assistant Art Director |
| Gordon Pilkington | Editor |
| Jack Stephens | Set Dresser |
| Arthur Newman | Wardrobe Supervisor |
| Doris Turner | Wardrobe Master |
| Muir Mathieson | Conductor |
| John Bramall | Sound Recordist |
| Bill Cook | Boom Operator |
| George Frost | Makeup Supervisor |
| Bill Griffiths | Hairdresser |
| Nora Roberts | Casting Director |
| Connie Willis | Continuity |
| Jack Swinburne | Production Manager |
| Richard Rodney Bennett | Original Music Composer |
| Leo McCarey | Screenplay, Director |
| Oswald Morris | Director of Photography |
| Brian West | Camera Operator |
| Name | Title |
|---|---|
| Cecil F. Ford | Associate Producer |
| Leo McCarey | Producer |
| Organization | Category | Person |
|---|
Popularity History
| Year | Month | Avg | Max | Min |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 1 |
| 2024 | 5 | 4 | 8 | 2 |
| 2024 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 1 |
| 2024 | 7 | 6 | 14 | 2 |
| 2024 | 8 | 4 | 8 | 1 |
| 2024 | 9 | 3 | 6 | 1 |
| 2024 | 10 | 2 | 7 | 1 |
| 2024 | 11 | 3 | 8 | 1 |
| 2024 | 12 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| 2025 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 |
| 2025 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 |
| 2025 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 2025 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 2025 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 2025 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 2025 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2025 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 2025 | 9 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| 2025 | 10 | 3 | 4 | 2 |
| 2025 | 11 | 3 | 5 | 2 |
| 2025 | 12 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| 2026 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| 2026 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Trending Position
Clifton Webb is quite effective here as a catholic priest "Fr. Bovard" who must reconcile his rather optimistically dogmatic faith with the arrival of his more worldly and pragmatic assistant "Fr. O'Banion" (William Holden) and the rise of the Communist party as exemplified by his former student "C ... hung Ten" (Robert Lee) who takes some pleasure in making his erstwhile friend suffer whilst violating their new young cook "Siu Lan" (France Nuyen). What now ensues is a battle of wills that increasingly polarises both men of principle with an underwhelming Holden treading the middle ground. The frequently quite appalling subject matter is pretty clunkily handled; the plot oversimplifies just about everything it touches and ultimately we are left with characterisations that offer the audience little to like or to, until right at the very end, sympathise with. This last film from the usually engaging Webb is hardly a fitting cinematic epitaph, but at least he does do his job - something no-one else on either side of the camera can reasonably claim to do well here.