Evening star., 1949-08-04

Unlike most Screenplays, the eX-
citement of Home of the Brave"
comes from without as well as
within the machine-made product
In the process of telling the story
of a group of white soldiers, and
a colored companion. IN the Pa
cific it becomes enlarged. The
enlargement amounts to a sort OF
X-ray of the human conscience
and provides Home of the Brave"
with its extra-special qualities.
AS a play on Broadway two
seasons ago, then with a Jewish
soldier as the central character,
it was short-lived. The critics who
admired its message neverthe-
less remained conscious Of its arti-
ficialities. The film version has
the same artificialities, but not to
the same degree. and what re-
mains of them is obliterated by
the spectator absorption in the
theme.
independent Producer Stanley
Kramer is the man primarily re-
sponsible for this piece Of harshly
powerful screen journalism. He
must share the credit for it. how
ever, with numerous others such
as Arthur Laurents who wrote
the original story; Carl Foreman
who adapted it; Mark Robson, the
director; and a really superb cast.
Few pictures have been made
more feelingly, fewer achieve such
feeling.
Home of the Brave" is the
story of Negro soldier, played by
James Edwards with a deep
awareness of the roles many i'm
plications.
The soldiers name is Moss. He
grew up in a New Jersey city
where he played on a high school
basketball team, on which he was
a star. His fellow students and
teammates were white, but neither
their admiration for Moss nor
their athletic intimacy could ef-
face the difference of their color
He lived isolated from them,
sensitive boy sharply aware of
every restriction of custom.
1t is the Army which finally
provides Moss with the breaking
experience, the minds shattered
retreat from an inhuman burden.
Moss volunteers for a f1ve-man
scouting expedition on a Jap-in-
tested island for which he has
special technical qualifications.
Only one of his four associates on
the mission accepts him unquali-
fledly, this one a former high
school pal.
Even under the narrowing con-
ditions of their dangerous job,
the others reject Moss. The re-
lection differs in degree. That of
the young major is limited, tact
fully concealed. Sergt. Mingo,
second in command, reserves judg-
ment. The fourth member of the
party, inheritor of all the vari-
ations of race prejudice, Is brutal
ly fortnight in his hatred Of the
colored soldier.
The emotional currents swirling
about the quintet intensity from
moment to moment. everything
evil in them fastening itself to
Moss. Incident after incident sets
up new and more terrifying ten
sions each of which breaks against
the colored boy trying to achieve
acceptance in a life-death situa-
ton. At the climax, he is reject
ed by even the former high school
buddy, finally to be taken from
the island a mentally mangled SOL
dier who might have found more
mercy from the murderous Japs.
X X v y
The complex story of Home OF
the Brave" is told in a series OF
dashbacks, illustrative of the psy-
chiatric process by which Moss
is restored. These represent not
merely the examination OF the
external forces which made the
colored lad a pitiable wreck, but
the internal stresses which they
created.
The Army psychiatrist played
brilliantly by jeff Corey. like eV-
D.11 Co~<arf