Journey into Light

Journey into Light is a 1951 American crime film noir directed by Stuart Heisler and starring Sterling Hayden. Plot John Burrows, an ordained minister from a small village in eastern USA, envisions himself with a larger congregation. He is mortified when his wife drunkenly interrupts a sermon, then despondent after her suicide. Burrows travels to Los Angeles for a fresh start, but ends up on skid row and arrested for apparent public intoxication. A skid-row con man, Gandy, finds him a bed at a flop house, while a street preacher, Doc Thorssen, and daughter Christine take him to a local mission. Christine is blind. She falls in love with Burrows, enjoying his discussions of the spirit and the soul but knowing little of his past. One day she is struck by a streetcar and knocked unconscious, causing Burrows to once again question his faith.