Evening star., 1951-12-06


In the annals of ground fig
and dramatic import. but on Il
fidelity to truth, it suffers from
two shortcomings. One of these
is that there have been numerous
similar. and mostly inferior, films:
the other that the infantryman is
the least glamorous warrior albeit
the most important.
To its credit in making "Fixed
Bayonets," however. Goth Century,
Fox faced these known risks to
pay honorable tribute to a rifle
platoon which performed bril-
liant mission against inSuperable
odds. To this end, it employed the
services of Sam Fuller as director.
Fuller. an old infantryman him
self. is an expert in remembering
the greatnes of the unsung man of
war. skill he proved earlier this
year in "The Steel Helmet"
In Fixed Bayonets." he has i'm
bued his cast headed by Richard
Basehart with a dramatic vigor
that lifts the film out Of the
dull rut of so many of it's pred
eceSSorS.
Fuller, who also wrote the screen
play on which the Palace exhibit
is based, evades many of the
cliches and fakery that have
tempted so many authors. There
is no boy from Brooklyn in his
platoon, for instance. and he
avoids arbitrary injections of
comedy into a situation that left
no time for horseplay.
Fixed Bayonets" is the story of
a rifle platoon assigned to hold a
Korean mountain pass while a
highly jeopardized division pulled
back to safety.
1t is a vile detail and no one
pretends otherwise, one in which
the vastly outnumbered force
also must engage itself with the
atrocious Korean winter and the
treacherous terrain.
This combination of circum-
stances provides Fixed Bayo-
nets" with all the action any
battle film needs. 1t does not
keep it so busy, however, that
Fuller has no chance to explore
the central characters of the
story. Chief of these is the cor
poral played by Basehart. an in
telligent, sensitive chap whose
big problem is that he cannot
kill individual enemies. He can
get them in his gunsight but for
the life of him he cannot pull
the trigger. A correlative of this
mental malady is that Corpl. Base
hart, fourth in command, lives
in terror that his superiors will
be killed and that he will be
forced to take over the platoon.
Obviously. this is just what is
going to happen, but while he has
the others around. Fuller makes
the most of them. He has a good,
dramatic man in a tough old
style sergeant played by Gene
Evans and solid stereotype in
Michael O'Shea as the second
ranking non-com.
Miscellaneous others include
Skip Homeier as an intellectual
private with a cynically amused
approach to death, Rlchard Hylton
as medic who cannot face the
sight of blood, and young lieu
tenant played by Craig Hill who
Is the good Joe type capable of
recognizing merit in the men !
around him.
Delaying actions in war are
as calculatedly quiet as outnum-
bered men can make them in their
desire to deceive the enemy, and
the one in Fixed Bayonets" is
no exceptions. 1t swirls occa-
sionally into violent action but
the calmer intervals are filled
with reasonably dramatic incident
such as frozen feet. the loss of a.
mine-feld map. and one blood
chilling journey through this
treacherous area by the man
played by Basehart.
Occasionally conspicuous as the
one large blot on the pictures
realism is that the brutally low
temperatures produce no vapor-
ing in the soldiers breathing.
AS in the case of nearly all
war pictures. the acting in FIXED
Bayonets" bears that reasonable
enough realism which suggests
that some one connected with the
production-such as Fuller in this
case-has not forgotten what it
was like.
Bulletin board: Agriculture De-
partment's Opera Workshop will
present the premiere performance
of musical folk play, THE Wish
full Taw." in the departments
auditorium next Tuesday evening.
Author of the work is Liz
Wilson. national authority on folk
music. G.. Orville Trandson of
the San Carlo Opera Company is
directing the play. Mont
gomery Blair High School seniors
have broken with dull tradition
in the selection of class plays. :.