"Battleground", a 1949 MGM "all-star" movie (with second string MGM "stars"), directed by William Wellman in 1949, showcases a typically hokey generic "cross-section" US platoon with the token Jew, the token hillbilly, the cynical (newspaperman John Hodiak), the lothario PFC (Van Johnson) who steals eggs and never gets to eat them, the token older foot soldier (George Murphy between singing and dancing in movies and in the US Senate), the jumpy guy (Marshall Thompson), the soulful young Hispanic (a young Ricardo Montalban), the gruff sergeant who really cares about the men(James Whitmore). There's also a woman to be leered at (especially by Van Johnson as she slices bread), Denise Darcel.

The platoon (in typical generic fashion) grouses a lot but rises to every challenge (of which there were a great many during the Battle of the Bulge, AKA the siege of Bastogne, until the fog lifts and supplies are dropped in to the US 101st Airborne Division, AKA "the battered, bastards of Bastogne"). "Battleground" has the typically propagandistic uplifting ending and a lot of comic relief early on (including a soldier asleep on a table shoved off landing in a rocking chair and not waking up). I have to admit that it also has the only good performance from Van Johnson), and a typically fine one by James Whitmore (aided by tobacco props to a Golden Globe and to an Oscar nomination), but the Cold War Christmas Day sermon ruined the attempts at realism for me. ("The Story of G. I. Joe", made in 1945 before the war was over, is Wellman's best WWII movie in my opinion.)

The cast shows the misery of being bivouaced in snowbanks and how tired the soliders are of K-rations and SPAM, and how eager they are to get leave in Paris and/or to become civilians again (among other reasons, to get fresher news). They play together so very well: so artificially well, with no bully to increase the drama, no ethnic or religious prejudices...

The movie was shot on an MGM sound stage, though much stock footage from the war was obviously spliced in. I'd give it a 3.5 stars, if half-star were available to us here.


(Hollywood history note: Louis B. Mayer's opposition to making this movie, which turned out to be a hit and won two undeserved Oscars,* becoming at least a pretext for his being fired from control of the studio that bore his name.)

The DVD includes a 6.5 minute Tex Avery cartoon, "Little Rural Riding Hood" and an 8-minute short, a "Pete Smith Specialty" titled "Let's Cogitate." It would have been better if the latter had not been exhumed from the vaults. The urban Little Red Riding Hood (it's the wolf who is rural) is amusing.

For a much more enthusiastic take on "Battleground" see the review by George Chabot. Also see my list of the best WWII movies focused on combatants, a list that includes Wellman's "The Story of G. I. Joe."

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* Dean Jagger (in "Twelve o'clock High") deservedly beat Whitmore for the best supporting actor award. (I hope that in his speech accepting the Golden Globe award Whitmore thanked the manufacturers of tobacco products, since chewing tobacco and cigars did much to develop his character.

For his collection of stereotypical characters screenwriter survivor of Battle of the Bulge Robert Pirosh won an Oscar for best story and screenplay. (There were then also awards for best story and for best screenplay; from the nominees for the double category, I'd have gone with Fellini, Rosellini, et al. for Paisą or Helen Levitt et al. for "The Quiet One"; the winners in the other two writing categories were Joseph L. Mankiewicz ("A Letter to Three Wives") for screenplayu and Douglas Morrow ("The Stratton Story"? Over Virginia Kellogg for "White Heat"!?!) for story.

Among the nominees for black-and-white cinematography, I'd have given it to Leo Tover for "The Heiress," though it really should have gone to an Italian, either for "Paisą" or for "The Bicyle Thief."

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD