Tuesday, July 14, 2009
HOW IT IS/WAS
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was
with Dana Andrews, Lloyd Bridges (young, very young), John Ireland and others (even Huntz Hall--you know it is obscure and geriatric when I have to put a link on a reference). Actually, Hall is very good. That is not him in the picture. That is Stanley Holloway, a sort of combination hick/homo type.
A platoon lands on the Anzio beachhead and has the mission to penetrate german lines 6 miles to a farmhouse and bridge to blow up the bridge.
It is a tribute to the concept, the writers and the directors that this platoon does not fire a shot for the first 90 minutes. They see action and lose some members but they do not really engage in battle until the last 30 minutes of the film.
This allows us to see war as it probably is, in reality. They get lost, they lose their lieutenant (a witless type who insists on looking over the rim of the duck they are landing in), they are strafed, they are bored, someone is suffering from battle fatigue. And so on.
They talk mostly. It is good talk. Not too corny most of the time. Remember this is WWII and 1945 and there is a bit of propaganda here. Some feel-good postwar stuff.
The film is atypical and admirable for that.
I will give it a 3 out of Netflix5. After all, it has Huntz Hall in a straight role.
Labels: best films
