Battle Cry

Let me start by saying I really enjoyed this film and have watched it perhaps a half dozen times. The comments by Mr. Glassey do seem unfair to me. This movie doesnt show us the guts and bloodshed and realism that is accepted and maybe even expected by todays standards but it does show the loss of war. The fear of war and the heroism that was a part of being a marine in WWII. It shows us 3 dimensional characters like "High Pockets" who loves his men as much as he loves the Marines. Yes, I suppose some of the situations are glossed over but that is to be expected when you are trying to tell a story this big in the time alloted. The beginning and middle of the film which focus' on training and shipping over seas to New Zealand is first rate entertainment. The last third where we go into combat with the cast is not as realistic as modern films, but how can it be? It is 1955 when this movie was made and the technology to show how war really looks was not possible then. And even if one may argue that it was, the desire and allowable limits of the day would have precluded that sort of realism anyway. All in all, this is a fair if not excellent portrait of marines going to war.

The title of Raoul Walsh's film would indicate a high level of visual war action, but the action in this film is more like a television soap: Peyton Place Meets Boot Camp. Battle Cry is not a bad film by any means, but a mainstream 50's romance, and because it is Walsh, there are excellent things to be found, as long as you don't expect superior battlefield heroics; Aldo Ray and Van Heflin both turn in finely-tuned performances, Ray as a macho player evolving into a loving husband, Van Heflin as a commander who fails to maintain distance from his charges; a young Tab Hunter caught on with teens when he was cast as heartthrob Danny Forrester, and acquits himself nicely.

Three years later, Stanley Kubrick would make the stunning Paths of Glory, a WWI film that revealed the true brutality of battle, and Spielberg would change mainstream war films for all time with Saving Private Ryan; Battle Cry involves the willing viewer in an intelligent adaptation of a best-selling novel and as such, succeeds.

When the worst thing the drill instructor can call the new recruits at boot camp is "Meatheads", you know that the movie is pulling its punches. Not that I thought that about "Battle Cry" when I saw it at the age of nine in 1956 at the movies, then I lapped up every minute of this film devoted to those most cinematic of warriors - the US Marines.

The years have not been kind to "Battle Cry". It has dated in a way that "From Here to Eternity" has not. However it seems that many WW2 veterans like this film. They seem less critical of it than younger reviewers, and it's hard to argue with people who actually lived it rather than viewed it. To be honest, "Battle Cry" seems more truthful to the spirit of the marines of WW2 than a movie such as "Windtalkers" with all its gore and false heroics.

Leon Uris wrote the novel based on his experiences with the marines during the war. It contained passages that were thrilling, funny and outrageous. The book's description of boot camp and the lustiness of the marines pulled no punches at all. But 1950's censorship made the movie a different matter.

The story follows a group of marines from the time they head to boot camp until their return from battle in the Pacific. So many characters are introduced that some of them emerge as overly familiar stereotypes, but Tab Hunter and Aldo Ray hold their own. Although James Whitmore's performance as Mac, the master sergeant, is convincing, his narration often comes across as trite and intrusive.

The movie concentrated as much on the encounters in the bedroom as on the battlefield, split evenly between the women the boys leave behind and the ones they find on their way to war with Nancy Olsen giving the strongest performance as the New Zealand widow who falls in love with Aldo Ray's character.

The movie becomes more focused when the recruits pass through boot camp and join the battalion that takes them to war. Van Heflin as Major Huxley, the commanding officer, gives the standout performance in this film, providing the right combination of toughness and compassion as the professional given the job of moulding boys into marines. His performance goes a long way towards counteracting the negatives in "Battle Cry".

The film's best sequence begins when Huxley pushes his men to outperform another battalion in a gruelling cross-country hike in New Zealand. After reaching their destination, he decides to do the return journey as well, pushing the men to their limits. When it seems they can't continue, the other battalion passes them on their way back mounted on trucks. The sight galvanises Huxley's men and resentment turns to pride as they march on bloodied feet back to camp. "When we hit that camp gate, let's give 'em a look at the best outfit in the Corps", exhorts Huxley as his men swing past to the accompaniment of Max Steiner's rousing score.

Unlike music for war films of the last 30 years or so, which invariably play to the pathos and tragedy of war, Steiner went for the glory. Steiner's original marching song, "Honey Babe", provides an enduring memory of the film.

"Battle Cry" delivers its major battle at the end. The landing on Saipan is well staged if somewhat confusing, but it leads to an emotional ending as the surviving marines return home.

The success of "Battle Cry" indicated that audiences of the day needed the reassurance of some core values: honour, duty, patriotism and sacrifice. "Battle Cry" over-delivered on those qualities. Vietnam was still ten years away, and then the generation brought up on movies like this would face some harsh realities of their own.

It is difficult to recommend "Battle Cry" to a broad audience today. But with that said, it does boast a number of fine performances and a sequence or two that stay in the memory.

As I recall, our small town's prestige theater was packed, even to the back row of the balcony where I had to sit. But who cared. Word was that shapely Dorothy Malone (Elaine) did a strip tease in a chair, and just the thought of a girl bra-less on screen was enough to bring out every horny high school guy in town. Plus, the title promised all the neat battle scenes that teens in the '50's confused with real war. I don't think any of us were disappointed after leaving the theatre. Then again, a little Malone skin went a long way.

Seeing the movie again, I realize how many years have passed and how people change. Now the 2-hours-plus seem tedious and transparent, a typical Hollywood whitewash of the time, with stock characters and clichéd situations. It's like the producers wanted to touch every boy-girl base possible, and they do. I'm just puzzled the movie wasn't titled "Mating Cry" since that's where the screen time really is; only the last 10-minutes or so involve battle scenes and that amounts to either artillery explosions or fixing bayonets.

I'm sure enlistments went up following the film's release. Looks like Warner Bros. got maximal assistance from the Corps at Camp Pendleton—lots of massed troop scenes and colorful beach landings. And why not since the film's sum total plays like a recruitment poster. The trouble is this was just this type of Hollywood hokum that helped create the disconnect 10-years later between what Americans expected in Vietnam and the stark realities of what they got. And therein lies the irony of that long ago theater night—the glamorized deceptions of a Battle Cry plus its many 50's kin ended up costing a lot of folks more than what they paid at the box office.

This is one of the best of a whole slew of WW2 films that were made in the 50's, some others of which are also very good. This one stars Aldo Ray and James Whitmore, a young Tab Hunter and others destined to become stars. The action scenes are all done pretty well in most of these films and this one is no exception. By today's standards, there are no real special effects, but what little are in the film are state-of-the-art for the time. This film should be seen to appreciate what our soldiers, sailors and marines did for us in WW2.