Vincent Sherman was one of Hollywood's better jobbing directors who was never given the opportunity to stretch himself and despite its qualities "The Hasty Heart" wasn't really much of an exception. Based on John Patrick's play it's set almost exclusively in a hospital ward in Burma at the end of WW2 where Richard Todd's unpleasant young Scotsman drives Nurse Patricia Neal and his fellow patients to distraction by his attitude. When they start being nice to him he wonders why; of course he's dying but no-one has told him.
In the central role of the dislikable young soldier Richard Todd, in a part he played on Broadway, is superb and was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar while co-stars Neal and, perhaps surprisingly, Ronald Regan as the only American in the ward, are also excellent and if its theatrical origins are always in evidence Sherman handles it with his customary skill. This is one of the better weepies of the period and one that's also got a nice and very welcome sense of humour.
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