The Nun and the Sergeant is a 1962

1962 in film

The year 1962 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*May - The Golden Horse Film Festival and Awards are officially founded by the Taiwanese government....

 Korean War

Korean War

The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...

 war film

War film

War films are a film genre concerned with warfare, usually about naval, air or land battles, sometimes focusing instead on prisoners of war, covert operations, military training or other related subjects. At times war films focus on daily military or civilian life in wartime without depicting battles...

 starring Anna Sten

Anna Sten

Anna Sten was a Ukrainian-born Russian silent film actress and later a Hollywood film star. She began her career in stage plays and films in Russia before travelling to Germany, where she starred in several films...

 and Robert Webber

Robert Webber

Robert L. Webber was an American actor who starred as Juror #12 in the 1957 film 12 Angry Men.Webber was born in Santa Ana, California, the son of Alice and Robert Webber, who was a merchant seaman. He was a U.S. Marine during World War II serving on Guam and Okinawa...

 in the title roles. It was produced by Sten's husband Eugene Frenke

Eugene Frenke

Eugene Frenke was a Russian-born film producer, director and writer. He twice collaborated with the director John Huston on the films Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison and The Barbarian and the Geisha....

 who had produced Heaven Knows, Mr Allison that was also a pairing of a Catholic nun

Nun

A nun is a woman who has taken vows committing her to live a spiritual life. She may be an ascetic who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent...

 and a U.S. Marine. It was directed by Franklin Adreon

Franklin Adreon

Franklin "Pete" Adreon was an American film and television director, producer, screenwriter, and actor.-Early life and career:...

 and released through United Artists

United Artists

United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....

.

Plot

In a forerunner of The Dirty Dozen

The Dirty Dozen

The Dirty Dozen is a 1967 film directed by Robert Aldrich and released by MGM. It was filmed in England and features an ensemble cast, including Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, Jim Brown, John Cassavetes, Telly Savalas, and Robert Webber. The film is based on E. M...

, Marine Gunnery Sergeant

Gunnery Sergeant

Gunnery Sergeant is the seventh enlisted rank in the United States Marine Corps, just above Staff Sergeant and below Master Sergeant and First Sergeant, and is a staff non-commissioned officer...

 McGrath (Robert Webber) takes twelve Marines from the Brig

Military prison

A military prison is a prison operated by the military. Military prisons are used variously to house prisoners of war, enemy combatants, those whose freedom is deemed a national security risk by the military or national authorities, and members of the military found guilty of a serious crime...

 and trains them to blow up a tunnel behind North Korean lines. McGrath's only friend on the patrol is his Korean guide Pak (Dale Ishimoto

Dale Ishimoto

Dale Ishimoto was an American actor of Japanese descent. He was born in Delta, Colorado in 1923 and was raised in Guadalupe, California.-Military service:...

). Hating their Sergeant, the Marines plan to return to their lines without him who they scheme to be a casualty of war. However, enroute they find an injured nun (Anna Sten) and a group of Korean convent girls whose bus has been destroyed.

The Marines change their views when Sgt McGrath protects the group. When one of their squad (Leo Gordon

Leo Gordon

Leo Vincent Gordon was an American movie and television character actor as well as a screenplay writer and novelist. He specialized in playing brutish bad guys during more than forty years in film and television....

) attempts to rape one of the young girls, the brig rats turn against the rapist.They proceed with their mission as Marines.

Production

Don Cerveris was an English teacher breaking into screenwriting; one of his pupils was Frank Zappa

Frank Zappa

Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...

. Producer Frenke sought Department of Defense cooperation for the film in 1960 when the project was originally titled The Nun and McGrath. The stars of the film, Robert Webber and Hari Rhodes, and director Franklin Aderon were former Marines.