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Battleground was originally an RKO property, which was called “Prelude to Love” to hide its subject matter,[3] but was shelved when production head Dore Schary resigned, despite $100,000 having been put into the property to that point. When Schary went to MGM, he purchased the rights to the script from RKO, over the objections of Louis B. Mayer, who believed that the public was tired of war films. At MGM, Robert Taylor and Keenan Wynn were reported to be penciled in for the film, along with Van Johnson and John Hodiak, and the project was budgeted at $2 million.[4]
Robert Pirosh had based the script on his own experiences during the Battle of the Bulge, although he did not serve with the 101st Airborne. Many of the incidents in the film were based on actual events. Twenty veterans of the 101st were hired to train the actors and were used in the film as extras.[5]
The film was in production from 5 April to 3 June1949,[6] with location shooting in northern California, Oregon and Washington state. Fort Lewis, Washington was used for the tank sequence showing the relief of the 101st Airborne by Patton’s Third Army. Shooting took 20 days less than was scheduled, due in part to innovations instituted by Schary such as processing film as itwas shot, and dubbing and cutting it so that scenes could be previewed with two days of being shot.[4] The film came in almost $100,000 under budget.[3]
Battleground received a number of premieres before its general release. A private showing for President Harry S. Truman was arranged[3] even before the premiere in Washington D.C. on 9 November 1949, which was attended[4] by Brigadier General Anthony Clement McAuliffe, who commanded the 101st during the siege of Bastogne.[7] Two days later, on 11 November, the film premiered in New York City, and then on 1 December in Los Angeles. The film’s general American release was on 20 January1950.[8]
If SPR is about duty meant to instill pride about the “greatest generation” (not my favorite term) Battleground is about irony and dissatisfaction in the soldier’s life. So there is complaining, comradeship, and a “let’s take of business but have a little fun along the way” attitude. BG just made my Top 5. Sure it’s a little cheesy in parts, but the “NUTS!” scene near the end is worth the price of admission.
There are 12 parts associated with this vid (the whole thing, I believe). Enjoy.
So I turn on the tube this morning, and I see Lee Marvin on some island with another guy who happens to speak Japanese (that would be Toshirō Mifune–he can act a little). ”Hmmm,” I thought. ”What the hell is this?”
More knowledgeable readers no doubt guessed Hell in the Pacific, a Cast Away-like flick that involves lots of beach combing, some bamboo boat building, and some time on the open sea.
My 6 YO daughter happened to come downstairs for breakfast and sat down next to me on the floor. She asked, “why are they shouting at each other?” Good question. There is much to understand in this movie, and as one web page suggests, that’s how it should be if there were two languages and vast cultural differences separating the speakers.
So I kept watching, endured the shouting, and ended up a little surprised the two ended up…working together for a common cause: their survival. And so we came to the end, with the two men on another island in matching new clothes, getting drunk, and then shouting again. Just as their argument reaches that fever pitch, they…they…
THEY ARE BLOWN UP!!!!
WTF? So I watched all that and they get killed by some random shell? What a let down. My daughter left the room with an exclamation blast of her own: “good. Now fix me some breakfast.”
So tonite, I turn on tube and see The Good German listed via On Demand. So I give it a go and I lasted about 15 minutes only because the remote ended up on the other side of the couch. You know the feeling, right? You’re too tired to move a muscle to get the darn thing. So needless to say, I didn’t like the first 15 and I ended up watching some reruns on the History Channel.
So I finally broke down and saw this classic (from 1953), set in Hawaii just prior to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. And I just loved it. Everybody is smoking like crazy, drunk at every free moment (and it’s always a little adorable or cutsey…no mean drunks allowed), and folks are falling in love after about 30 seconds. Amazing.
A few months ago, when I told my journalism class that Deborah Kerr died, and that the newspapers were making a big deal about it, they had no idea who she was. I played this clip from the movie, and most said they’d seen parodies of the clip, but never the actual clip. My point to the class was this: if you want to work in news, being “well-versed” in popular culture is never a bad thing, as it give us a chance to reach back a little make some connections in history. What I love about the clip is that not 30 seconds after the kiss (and not pictured here), the SGT basically calls his girl a whore, and then backpeddles after the fact. Awesome.
Oh yeah, there’s Montgomery Clift (scroll down for the FH2E PIX), Donna Reed, and Frank Sinatra. And lest we forget: 13 Oscars nominations, and 8 winners, including this pair (Reed and Sinatra).
I saw this gem the other day on AMC (here in the US), and later watched the full version on DVD. I liked it for a few reasons, mainly because I’m a Bogart fan.
But there is another reason, and it had to do with a scene at the bottom of a nearly dried up well. And I didn’t even think about it until I read a poem by Thomas Sayers Ellis (from the Maverick Room) that listed another writer at the top. One of those “for so and so” references. So I googled the name (Thomas Cripps) and found that he wrote a book called Making Movies Black: The Hollywood Message Movie from World War II to the Civil Rights Era. He argues that movies like Sahara helped to define “a new African-American presence both in film and in American society at large.”
It’s an interesting premise thinking about the scene with at the bottom of the well. There are two men, one African and one white American-type, sharing stories of home and hearth in a most friendly and in a “brothers in arms” kind of way. Another scene shows the Bogart character yelling at a German/Nazi type who had reservations about being guarded by the African soldier. This is a paraphrase of the quote: “his color won’t rub off on you.” Or something like this.
Thinking of these two scenes, and in context with Cripps’ premise, Sahara is a movie worth reviewing.
Okay…I was looking on youtube for something else featuring Ronald Reagan (a ww2 training film featured in Burns’ The War), but this is much more interesting.
It starts with Chester Nimitz, then we catch a glimpse of the foxy Nancy Davis (later first lady Nancy Reagan), and as always, we have the fine stylings of Ron himself, acting…He is the K Reeves of his day.
Viewers of Ken Burns’ The War no doubt noted the reference to Frank Capra’s Why We Fight series in Episode 1. The offerings on youtube are pretty scant, though there is one clip, likely from early in the series, where all the setup is taking place. Note the emphasis on different religions in uniting against the “dark” half of the world. Sorry to say, too, that the clip is one small part of a larger piece that is cut off pretty abruptly, though it’s still worth viewing.
The link above will play all the movies online (a national archives page), with the proper software on your computer.
You know, I realized that in my previous posts about Ken Burns’ new mini-series, I neglected to post the basics…So here it is, for those surfing in, straight from a PBS press release about the series. It’s getting close.
THE WAR will air over two weeks, beginning Sunday, September 23, 2007 (four nights the first week and three nights the second week) from 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. (8:00 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. on three nights).
With the widespread interest in the recent P-51 crash in Oshkosh, WI, I wanted to lay down this little tribute. It’s from Spielberg’s Empire of the Sun via youtube.
The short summary of the scene in this: a young aircraft obsessed boy named Jim, who happens to be interned in a Japanese prisoner of war camp, gets a close up look at the p-51 during an ariel attack.
“Go p-51. Cadillac of the sky! Whoaaaa! P-51. Cadillac of the sky!”
There is much to love about this scene (FF ahead to the middle of the clip) to see a young Christian Bale in his “stance” as he meets the p-51.
MGM, Robert Taylor and Keenan Wynn were reported to be penciled in for the film, along with Van Johnson and John Hodiak, and the project was budgeted at $2 million.[4]
