The Spiral Road is a 1962 American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 drama starring Rock Hudson

Rock Hudson

Roy Harold Scherer, Jr., later Roy Harold Fitzgerald , known professionally as Rock Hudson, was an American film and television actor, recognized as a romantic leading man during the 1950s and 1960s, most notably in several romantic comedies with Doris Day.Hudson was voted "Star of the Year",...

, Gena Rowlands

Gena Rowlands

Gena Rowlands is an American actress of film, stage and television. The four-time Emmy and two-time Golden Globe winner is best known for her collaborations with her actor-director husband John Cassavetes in ten films, in two of which, Gloria and A Woman Under the Influence, she gave Academy...

, Burl Ives

Burl Ives

Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives was an American actor, writer and folk music singer. As an actor, Ives's work included comedies, dramas, and voice work in theater, television, and motion pictures. Music critic John Rockwell said, "Ives's voice .....

, Reggie Nalder

Reggie Nalder

Reggie Nalder was a prolific film and television character actor from the late 1940s to the early 1990s...

 and Neva Patterson

Neva Patterson

Neva Louise Patterson was an American character actress.Born on a farm near Nevada in Story County in central Iowa, she and her parents moved to New York City in 1938. She made her Broadway debut in 1947's The Druid Circle. In 1952, she played "Helen Sherman" in The Seven Year Itch...

. It was directed by Robert Mulligan

Robert Mulligan

Robert Mulligan was an American film and television director best known as the director of humanistic American dramas, including To Kill A Mockingbird , Summer of '42 , The Other , Same Time, Next Year and The Man in the Moon...

 with a screenplay by John Lee Mahin

John Lee Mahin

John Lee Mahin was a prolific screenwriter and producer. He was the son of John Lee Mahin, Sr. , a Chicago newspaper and advertising man, and Julia Graham Snitzler....

 and Neil Paterson

Neil Paterson (writer)

James Edmund Neil Paterson , known as Neil Paterson, was a Scottish screenwriter.- Early life and football career :...

 adapted from the novel by Jan de Hartog

Jan de Hartog

Jan de Hartog was a Dutch playwright, novelist and occasional social critic who moved to the United States in the early 1960s and became a Quaker.- Early years :...

. It also featured an early score by composer Jerry Goldsmith

Jerry Goldsmith

Jerrald King Goldsmith was an American composer and conductor most known for his work in film and television scoring....

.

Plot

Dr. Anton Drager (Rock Hudson) travels to Java

Java

Java is an island of Indonesia. With a population of 135 million , it is the world's most populous island, and one of the most densely populated regions in the world. It is home to 60% of Indonesia's population. The Indonesian capital city, Jakarta, is in west Java...

 to study the effects of leprosy

Leprosy

Leprosy or Hansen's disease is a chronic disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium lepromatosis. Named after physician Gerhard Armauer Hansen, leprosy is primarily a granulomatous disease of the peripheral nerves and mucosa of the upper respiratory tract; skin lesions...

 under an expert on the subject, Dr. Brits Jansen (Burl Ives). The two physicians have many of the same views scientifically, but are philosophically a mismatch, because Drager does not share the older Jansen's views on humanity and faith.

After being befriended by Jansen's young wife, Els (Gena Rowlands), a need arises for Drager to trek into the jungle to track down Frolick (Philip Abbott), a drunken river master who is lost. Frolick has been driven mad by a voodoo doctor called Burubi (Reggie Nalder).

Drager eventually comes across Frolick, but ends up killing him in self-defense. He, too, then becomes lost in the wild. Drager nearly dies and has lapsed into a coma by the time he is rescued. His ordeal comes to change his perceptions and agree more with Jansen on one's need to believe in the goodness of others and to maintain faith.

Cast

• Rock Hudson
  Rock Hudson
  Roy Harold Scherer, Jr., later Roy Harold Fitzgerald , known professionally as Rock Hudson, was an American film and television actor, recognized as a romantic leading man during the 1950s and 1960s, most notably in several romantic comedies with Doris Day.Hudson was voted "Star of the Year",...
  
   as Drager
• Burl Ives
  Burl Ives
  Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives was an American actor, writer and folk music singer. As an actor, Ives's work included comedies, dramas, and voice work in theater, television, and motion pictures. Music critic John Rockwell said, "Ives's voice .....
  
   as Jansen
• Gena Rowlands
  Gena Rowlands
  Gena Rowlands is an American actress of film, stage and television. The four-time Emmy and two-time Golden Globe winner is best known for her collaborations with her actor-director husband John Cassavetes in ten films, in two of which, Gloria and A Woman Under the Influence, she gave Academy...
  
   as Els
• Philip Abbott
  Philip Abbott
  Philip Abbott was an American character actor and occasional voice actor.Abbott was a secondary lead in several films of the 1950s and 1960s. Miracle of the White Stallions...
  
  as Frolick