In Harm's Way

Barbara Bouchet as Liz Eddington is the initial focus of this war movie, dancing wildly and parading herself before the officers while her husband Paul (Kirk Douglas) is away on duty. But 'In Harm's Way' isn't just her story, it is a number of personal stories interwoven with battle with the Japanese from Pearl Harbor onwards.

In the nominal lead is big John Wayne, drawling his way through the role of Rock Torrey as only he could. In war movies he was probably at his most effective as his whole bearing says 'I'm in charge'. He also has a personal life - a romance with croaky nurse Maggie (Patricia Neal, good as ever), and conflict with his sulky son Jere (Brandon de Wilde). Also in the cast are Stanley Holloway (as an Australian who leads the soldiers through dangerous terrain), Burgess Meredith (who has the memorable discussion about cowardice with Wayne), Dana Andrews, Franchot Tone, Henry Fonda, Bruce Cabot, Tom Tryon, George Kennedy, and James Mitchum.

This Otto Preminger film is as much about the lives of men at war as it is about battle sequences (although when they appear they are impressive). It also boasts an interesting sequence of shots over its end titles. Perhaps too long at two and a half hours plus, it nevertheless has a decent script, clever characterisations, and manages to keep the viewer awake.

Critically under-valued at the time of it's release and now largely forgotten, Otto Preminger's World War Two movie is a first-class entertainment, intelligently scripted, crisply photographed and very well directed. (There is a beautifully sustained scene where Preminger cross cuts between John Wayne's date with Patricia Neal and son Brandon De Wilde's date with Neal's room-mate Jill Haworth in which the characters of all four protagonists are neatly established).

For once an all-star cast adds to, rather than detracts from, the film. With a few exceptions (Henry Fonda and Franchot Tone in blink-and-you'll-miss-them cameos) all the actors are allowed to flesh out their roles with Patricia Neal and Burgess Meredith outstanding. Ultimately. of course, it never rises above melodrama and is the cinematic equivalent of those door-stopper novels favoured on the beach, but then melodrama was always where Peminger really came into his own. While certainly not in the class of "Laura", "Bonjour Tristesse", "Anatomy of a Murder" or "Advise and Consent", it is no disgrace and is a reminder that even second-rate Preminger is head and shoulders above a lot of the junk food cinema that fills our multi-plexes today.

War, it is often said, brings out the best and the worst in man... Stanley Kubrick clearly considered 'Path of Glory' as an effective comment on men exposed to repulsive circumstances…

The threatening morning of December 7, 1941—a quiet Sunday—is shattered by waves of Japanese planes bombing U.S Navy's base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, sending all its battleships to the bottom of the ocean... The scene is taken in brief, with few shots of airplanes and some explosions in the ocean...

Among the few ships that escape, in one piece, is the destroyer Cassidy protected by Lieutenant William McConnel(Tom Tryon).

Out on patrol, in high seas, a cruiser, commanded by Captain Torrey Rockwell (John Wayne), is having gunnery practice... It is this ship that serves as temporary operational headquarters for the survivors of the aerial attack...

In the aftermath of the surprise military strike, Torrey receives orders to amass his small fleet of warships and engage the enemy…

Photographed in black and white, the film has several characters, most of them very mature and realistic...

Paul Eddington (Kirk Douglas), a commander whose drunken wife (Barbara Bouchet) has committed adultery with a pilot (Hugh O'Brien). He relieves his anger by brutally raping a young nurse (Jill Haworth), and later, to save from being a total failure, defies orders by flying a reconnaissance plane and takes off alone to situate the hidden Japanese fleet in a very hazardous mission...

Egan Powell (Burgess Meredith), a sardonic wartime officer and a peacetime script writer who gives moments of sane observation, specially in a scene with Wayne discussing danger...

Patricia Neal, a mature and understanding Navy nurse who loves Captain Torrey and informs him that his son from whom he hasn't seen since for many years, is a naval officer on the island...

Brandon De Wilde is Jere, the young opportunist hoping to keep out of the way his PT boat assignment by leading a soft staff job… Henry Fonda is the admiral in command of the Pacific theater; Dana Andrews is the weak Admiral Broderick and Patrick O'Neal is a well-connected congressman-turned-officer Cmdr. Neal Owynn...

In Harm's Way is a film that is historically important in the career of its star, John Wayne, for two reasons. First, it marked his last appearance in a Black and White film, and second, it was his last film before undergoing surgery for lung cancer. It also marks Wayne's first of three films with Kirk Douglas, and his only film with director Otto Preminger.

As for the film itself, it is a character-driven story with the World War II setting used as a backdrop. Like other Preminger pictures of the time (Exodus, Advise and Consent) it has a big-name cast and an "epic" feel. Watch for Henry Fonda in a small part as Admiral Nimitz (referred to as "CINCPAC II"). Wayne plays Rockwell Torrey, a naval officer blamed for the Pearl Harbor disaster, and demoted. But Nimitz (Fonda) knows that Torrey is a good commander, and when timorous politician-turned-Admiral Broderick (Dana Andrews) botches a key operation, Nimitz turns control over to Torrey, giving him a second chance.

On the personal side, Torrey tries to help his second-in-command, Paul Eddington (Kirk Douglas), who, as they say, is going through some personal problems of his own. Torrey also tries to repair his relationship with his estranged son Jeremiah (Brandon De Wilde), and finds time to conduct a "twilight romance" with nurse Lieutenant Maggie Haynes (Patricia Neal).

Two scenes in particular make this film stand out. The first occurs when Wayne and Neal are alone together in his apartment, the night before she is about to be shipped out. I won't spoil it for anyone, but let me say that it is a classic example of how a scene can ooze with "sex" without actually "showing" a single thing. It's a perfect example of how this kind of scene can be handled tastefully and professionally. It's called class, folks, and it is apparently something that modern Hollywood cannot or will not understand. The second is a discussion on cowardice between Wayne and Burgess Meredith as the fleet is preparing to meet the Japanese in battle. Once again, I won't spoil it, but it a memorable and classic scene, the quote that I have used to head my review is delivered by Wayne during it.

While In Harm's Way may, at first, seem to be simply a film about the politics of Navy hierarchy, it is really a film about the personal lives and struggles of the men and women of World War II.

"In Harm's Way" was about the last of the major films made from those big, best-selling novels about WW2 that were written by men who had "been there".

The 1950s was their time: "Battle Cry", "The Young Lions", "From Here to Eternity", "The Caine Mutiny ", "Between Heaven and Hell", "In Love and War" and others.

In 1965, Otto Preminger's "In Harm's Way" made from James Bassett's novel was somewhat of a throwback despite contemporary hairdos and other anachronistic touches. That era of movies had passed. Those authors who had served in the war had got "The Great American War Novel" out of their systems.

With that said though, 55 years later, "In Harm's Way" holds up pretty well.

The place names and battles in the story are fictionalised. The film gives a feeling for the power plays and the command structure, and you can half recognise the campaigns it was based on, but the fake names weakened the credibility in the same way as did Norman Mailer's fictional island in "The Naked and the Dead" (1958).

The conflict between Admiral "Rock" Torrey (John Wayne) and his son Jeremiah (Brandon de Wilde) sits more comfortably within "In Harm's Way" than does the similar father/son conflict played out in the supposedly historically accurate "Midway" (1976).

Preminger knew the benefits of going on location; the film looks fabulous in wide-screen B/W. Real ships and planes gave it authenticity even if military buffs can pick the modern substitutes. Apparently Preminger threatened to use the Brazilian Navy if the U. S. Navy didn't come to the party.

Preminger also knew the value of music. Jerry Goldsmith composed a cracking score for this one. It had nothing to do with the 1940s or even the 1950s for that matter, but it has punchy themes such as "The Rock", and cool ones like "Native Quarter".

Preminger pushed the censorship boundaries. Petite Jill Haworth's character draws men like a magnet resisting three separate gropes. The scene with Kirk Douglas is disturbing, but the Hollywood Production Code, which ended a few years later, probably saved her from something more explicit.

"Otto Preminger: The Man Who Would Be King" by Foster Hirsch has illuminating information on the making of all his films and his life. He had a reputation for monstering his actors, and if they let him, he did. "In Harm's Way" was probably the last of his good movies. It was misses rather than hits after that.