Battleground

By the time the 1940s were winding down, the world had gotten weary of seeing World War II on the big screen. So many people had either fought in that war or saw loved ones who did. The world’s movie theaters were filled with films that celebrated our troops or were straight-up propaganda films  meant to inspire young men to enter the armed forces and fight back against the Germans and the Japanese. When the war was finally over, people were worn out on the subject, and the studios were getting reluctant to greenlight any films about it anymore. 

Robert Pirosh, the screenwriter, served in World War II and was a part of The Battle of the Bulge as a member of the 35th Infantry Division. He based his screenplay on his actual experiences being there  as well as reports from fellow soldiers who served there, too. Some of the best parts of this film, the characterizations of many of the soldiers, came from people he knew at the battle. This gave the characters a degree of dimension that often is not present in war films, specifically ensemble ones. His script was titled Prelude to Love in an attempt to hide the subject matter, but that didn’t stop MGM head Louis B. Mayer from finding out about it and objecting on the basis that the public was tired of war films. 

The film went into production anyway, and several soldiers from the actual 101st Division were brought in to put the actors through their paces and train them to be convincing soldiers. This is a level of method training that would get reused many times over the decades, including for the filming of Saving Private Ryan and Pearl Harbor. It not only helps inform the actors of the realities of their characters’ daily lives in the field but also gives a deeper appreciation for the struggles men overseas went through in battle. Added to that is the realistic script Pirosh turned in that included many moments not generally seen in a war film. The characters are not generic gung-ho soldiers but real people who gripe and moan when told to do something they don’t want to do but are also disciplined enough to do it anyway. They have their own personalities, and while it is difficult to keep them all separate thanks to the large ensemble cast, there are little traits that help us keep some semblance of who is who, at least amongst the most important members.

This film is clichéd, but it is the best kind of clichéd. What I mean by that is that there is nothing in this film that hasn’t been seen before or since, but it does these things better than most other films, managing to string together these elements in such a way that we cease to care that it is overly familiar. There’s a reason these elements get used and reused so often, and that is because they work. Louis B. Mayer was right to be concerned, but in the end, he was ultimately proved wrong because this film was strong enough to pull in big audiences and a lot of money when other war movies were sputtering at the box office. 

It was also a big hit with critics and secured six Academy Award nominations, winning two. It ultimately lost out to the political cautionary tale All the King’s Men. My recollection of that movie is that it was a good, solid story bolstered by a mesmerizing performance in the lead, but I haven’t seen it in more than twenty years and will eventually get to it for this blog. For now, I have to assume that All the King’s Men is the better film and deserving of its win. I will find out one way or the other in the next year or so.

So much happens in the course of this film, and there are a few moments that drag just a little; this is more than two hours long, and it feels its length. It opens with the soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division preparing for leave in Paris, only to be woken up in the middle of the night to new orders to return to the front thanks to the Germans’ breakthrough in the Ardennes. They spend the night in Bastogne before moving on to the outskirts of town where they dig some foxholes to hold up for the night only to receive new orders to relocate yet again, bringing morale down in the group. At some point in the night, a German troop, disguised as Americans, is permitted through camp because they know the password. This same troop bombs a bridge and is later killed or captured, exposing their ruse. 

This moment is the one time where I felt the mechanics of the screenwriter at work. When the undercover Germans are allowed passage, we find out immediately afterwards that they are Germans when one of the men speaks in his native tongue and is chastised by the leader for it. This whole situation would have been much more effective if we didn’t learn they were German until the report of the bombing and the identities of the perpetrators were reported back to the 101st. As it is, it is less effective and lacks the power that latter revelation would have had. It also feels like spoon-feeding information to the audience. 

Battlefield is a war film that simply needed to stand out at a time when war films were on their way out of fashion. Thankfully, it manages to do just that. It starts out with a large cast of characters and, like an Agatha Christie novel, whittles that down throughout the course of the film. We never get down to just the one, like you would in a Christie novel, but you get many memorable deaths of some of the most beloved characters. The hardest to watch is that of Rodrigo (Ricardo Montalbán), a Hispanic soldier from Los Angeles who is overjoyed when the snow starts to fall, having never seen it up close. The cold snow will end up being his undoing after he is wounded and hidden underneath a stranded jeep, awaiting rescue, packed in behind the snow. When his fellow men come back to rescue him, he has died from the exposure.

While this film doesn’t do anything original, what it does do is better than most. That is why it was recognized by the Academy Awards and that is why it proved Louis B. Mayer wrong and made a lot of money at the theaters. It balances grimness with humor and never loses sight of the characters. There is a bit of irreverence to it, also. When the troops first arrive in Bastogne, they are taken in by a young and curvaceous woman who is taking care of some war orphans. At one point, PFC Holley (Van Johnson) is flirting with her, and she reciprocates. She turns from him and descends the stairs, her hips swinging sharply to the left and right. Cut to Holley’s face, and his eyes are darting to the left and right in the same rhythm. This sort of irreverent humor was mostly lacking in films from this era and helped make Battlefield stand out as a film. It’s not the best war film, but it is one of the best written. It leaves us with a smile on our faces, too. As rescue is underway the men are ordered to line up for yet another march, facing the front. At the last second their commander orders “About face,” flipping their direction and the march away from the front, smiles on their faces; smiles well earned. 

Academy Award Nominations:

Best Motion Picture: Dore Schary

Best Director: William A. Wellman

Best Supporting Actor: James Whitmore

Best Story and Screenplay: Robert Pirosh (won)

Best Cinematography - Black-and-White: Paul C. Vogel (won)

Best Film Editing: John Dunning

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Release Date: November 9, 1949

Running Time: 118 Minutes

Not Rated

Starring: Van Johnson, John Hodiak, Ricardo Montalbán, and George Murphy

Directed By: William A. Wellman