Word: battlegrounds
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Like other recent war films (Battleground, Sands of Iwo Jima), Halls of Montezuma concentrates on a single platoon, this time headed by an ex-schoolteacher (Richard Widmark) who is harried by battle-induced migraine. Unlike the others, Halls gives its characters some dimension and illusion of freshness. The characterizations of Lieut. Widmark and two insecure enlisted men (Richard Hylton, Skip Homeier), for example, are bolstered by short flashbacks to civilian life. Scripter Michael Blankfort also goes beyond lip service to the standard war-is-hell theme; his marines (including Walter Palance, Karl Maiden, Bert Freed and Richard Boone) grimly prove...
...critics. Only one of the National Board of Review's ten best (Twelve O'Clock High) turned up among the top ten in Variety's list of 1950's biggest box-office grossers. The public's favorites, in order of popularity: Samson and Delilah, Battleground, King Solomon's Mines, Cheaper by the Dozen, Annie Get Your Gun, Cinderella, Father of the Bride, Sands of I wo Jima, Broken Arrow, Twelve O'Clock High...
...Infantry Division into the Normandy invasion, the hedgerow fighting and the Saint-Lô battle that launched the Allied blitz through France. From Twelve O'Clock High it borrows the problem of the commander who cracks under the strain of identifying himself with his men; from Battleground, the familiar roster of civilian-soldier types; from Sands of Iwo Jima, the technique of intercutting its scenes liberally with real combat footage and battering its sound track with thunderous explosions...
...scent of grease paint proves much stronger than the smell of cordite. All the fog of war cannot hide the writing and acting shortcomings in the characters of the picture's command-weary captain (David Brian) and his young platoon leader (John Agar). Unlike Battleground, which it most resembles, Breakthrough makes no bones about recruiting its soldiers from Central Casting and assigning them to spell the carnage with a few vaudeville turns. One infantryman is a vaudevillian who does imitations of movie stars; another is a musclebound health faddist whose casual rejection of a man-eating mademoiselle...
...theatre to be entertained, in a manner somewhat more sophisticated than the movie fan. Long run hits such as "Harvey" or "Life With Father" are indicative of a craving for amusement. In France the attitude toward the theatre has always been quite different. The sage is the battleground of new ideas, the arena where literary and philosophical notions are presented to the public who witness the struggle and cheer the winner. The playwright becomes the carrier of the flag, being in and being the amker of his epoch. Most plays deal with controversial issues. Spectators go to the theatre...