Battleground (1949)
Director: William A. Wellman
Honors:
Golden Globe Best Supporting Actor
At the conclusion of the decade highlighted by the largest global
conflict in history it was believed that movie audiences had grown weary of the
war picture genre. To great surprise the greatest box office success for MGM
would come in the form of a war picture, one whose story did not focus on the
glory of victory, but attempted to humanize the grueling nature of war on the
minds of soldiers during a conflict they were not sure to survive. A passion
project of the new production head at MGM, the picture was produced at the
reluctance of its own studio. Its result was a picture that portrayed the
emotional vulnerability of soldiers that lived through the hell of battle.
Battleground is a war drama about a group of American
soldiers under siege of Nazis during the Battle of the Bulge. We follow a
company within the 101st Airborne Division during their campaign in
France as they prepare for an anticipated period of leave in Paris only to find
themselves pushed to the front lines in Bastogne where they spend a hellacious
winter under siege by German forces that cut them off from retreat and
supplies. With a cast of characters varied in experience and demeanor each have
moments of doubt that find them meeting their personal breaking points. Facing
isolation, loss, death, cut off from any hope of escape, and losing the ever-dwindling
glimpse of hope the company’s only foundation is found in the men’s reliance on
each other. Their brotherhood becomes the guiding force keeping themselves from
abandoning everything as the Nazi army close in on their freezing fox holes
until reinforcements finally break through. After having nearly lost all hope
the men come together in the final scenes to show a front of unity and strength as they manifest
resiliency to the soldiers that come to relieve them from the battlefield that
nearly took all their lives.
As a war picture Battleground is a unique mixture of
styles and themes for such a film at the tail end of the 1940s. in a decade that celebrated American soldiers
as heroes this carries the same ilk, but it also chooses to dive into the
emotional doubt of a soldier not seen in films for a while, perhaps as far back
as All Quiet on the Western Front (1930). This feature delves into the
psyche of men that lose hope in a more representative way than the
up-with-America, or hail-the-conquering-heroes style of most 1940s American war
films or the John Wayne-esque pictures of the years to come. This was a movie
that attempts to bring the hells of war delivered with an ensemble of
characters to show the emotional vulnerability of a man’s mind from different
angles, presenting the natural response to flight in the face of fight when the
certainty of death is to come. Of course, since this is an MGM picture and we are
assured the positive outcome of WWII as our heroes come out alive and presented
in a optimistic light, the hints of this venerable humanity is what makes this
picture stand out despite not being one of the best war pictures even of its
era.
The production that became Battleground was the
passion project of a Dore Schary, the former head of production at RKO who
resigned after clashing with new owner Howard Hughes. Schary was signed by
MGM’s parent company, Lowe’s, as the studio’s new VP of production with hopes
of turning MGM around following the financial loss of 1947. His philosophy of
making films that create thought as well as entertain butted with Louis B.
Mayer, founder and chief of MGM. Schary purchased Battleground from RKO
and pushed it through production coming out the other side as the most
successful picture for MGM in 1950 and the feature with the biggest box office
numbers seen by the studio in five years.
The film is headlined by Van Johnson, a veteran face in many
wartime movies with his fresh neighborhood boy charm while delivering wit and
emotion when needed. Even though an ensemble picture with film lacked a
singular figure to focus on, but Johnson was the known name that American
audiences recognized and loved. His character as Pvt. First Class Holley is an
opportunistic soldier that returns to the company after a long rest and
recovery from prior field wound. He too loking to take advantage of the leave
in the romantic city of Paris. Most of Holley’s time on screen sees him attempting
to weasel himself away from labor and attempting and shoehorning himself into a
side love story featuring French actress Denise Darcel before. This all comes
before Holley is confronted with his most important story arch as he considers
abandoning the company mid battle only to discover a rookie soldier under his
leadership, Pvt Layton, played by Marshall Thompson, following him as he
attempts to flee. Torn by his own shame mixed with his sense of duty Holley
turns back and with Layton they help fight back a German incursion. It makes
for a poignant scene, but his character happens to fall off from the central
drama of the movie thereafter.
The ensemble cast also features the performances of John
Hodiak as a fellow soldier, rising Mexican star Ricardo Montalbán as a young
Californian of Latin heritage in awe of seeing his first snowfall only to
freeze following a battle wound, and former Actors Guild president and future
US Senator George Murphy as a soldier who long awaited his discharge when the
company found themselves surrounded. An actor that overshadows many of the
performances comes from James Whitmore as the company’s gruff cigar chomping
Staff Sargent Kinnie who takes pride in his company. He helps lead the men in a
final statement of pride as they march from the front with their heads held
high as they pass their replacements in the film’s final scene. Whitmore would
be nominated for the Academy Award and win the Golden Globe for Best Supporting
Actor in what was his first major screen role.
The film was directed one of the industry’s leading veteran
filmmaker William Wellman whose contributions to cinema and the war genre date
back to World War I. Wellman had help revolutionize the way movies were made
presenting new and enticing ways to present film and the stories they share. With
Wellman’s experience in war pictures, including Wings (1927), Beau
Geste (1939), and The Story of G.I. Joe (1945), it was easy to see
he was the best man for the job.
Wellman had the cast put through boot camp in training for
the picture while actually members of the 10st Airborne were brought on set to
serve as consultants for the cast while also doubling as extras. Wellman shot
on location in Northwestern United States to find the terrain that achieved the
setting needed for the film, bringing the soldiers and cameras together in a
way that made audiences feel as close to the action as possible. Weather, fog,
special effect explosions, masterful editing and sound mixing all comes
together in a film that makes the audiences feel as claustrophobic as the
soldier in a setting where they could not even see the enemy that surrounded
them.
For this picture Wellman utilized an effective planning
method for principal photography that allowed him to diagram his set ups with
detailed drawing for his sets weeks ahead of shooting schedule instead of
arriving and making his shot on the spot. Prints of the dallies were rushed to
allow him, his producers, and editor to see the shots two days after they were
done, significantly faster than most film development. Because of this he was
remarkably prepared and could conclude that his vision was being met properly
without any waiting. The result was an experience of principle photography
flying by in ease. To the studio’s surprise Wellman would present a picture
that took nearly three weeks less than schooled to shoot and $100,000 under budget.
Schary made sure Battleground received the greatest
respect as it was picture he pushed so hard into production. It would see
multiple premieres on its way to general release to celebrate the prestige of
the film. It begin with a private screening for President Harry Truman before a
Washington DC premiere with members of the 101st Airborne on hand.
Shortly thereafter would see the New York City premiere followed by an event in
Los Angeles. The picture finally played to general audiences beginning in
January 1950 where it became MGM most profitable picture of the year. General
audiences lapped up the wartime film sentiment while critics generally gave the
film positive reviews. Despite the script lacking a general vision for the
characters Battlefront’s patriotic yet longsuffering emotions garnered
it enough praise to be awarded an Oscar for Best Writing.
Battlefront is not the best war film. In the scope of
the war genre, even from the 1940s it does begin to turn American war pictures
slightly in a new direction. It begins to paint war genre as not just a heroes
field, or a patriotic canvas, but takes an internalization of a soldier’s mind
that strikes the cord of futility in the face of insurmountable odds to the
point of giving up on friends and brothers at arms. Despite its clean, positive
ending the soldiers are portrayed as battered and weary which clashed with the
pure positive ending Louis B. Mayer was looking for in all his features.
American soldiers were previously presented as prideful men of duty, but here
they do manifest sides of shame and shortcoming, men that consider running out
of fear of death. It is of that nature that makes this picture different from
its predecessors and palatable after a near decade of war films. Battleground
contains a lot of the usual 1940s war film tropes, while also showing us the
faults of some heroes. Battleground would inspire years of future war
pictures to come and can easily be observed as a direct line towards
contemporary war films.
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