Evening star., 1952-08-28

Is on FocofIon.
drama. have a slightly unreal
look. This might be due to the
Technicolor. which is a bit too
pretty to be matched with full
blooded violence. It is more likely
that it is intentional on Ford's
part. a concession to the fact that
almost any war experience does
seem unreal in retrospect.
This new look that has been
given What Price Glory" has
been achieved. oddly enough, with
out materially altering the Max
well Anderson-Laurence Stallings
original. It is still the story of
Sergt. Quirt and Capt. Flagg and
their heated rivalry over every
thing. principally a French lass
named Charmaine.
Events in the new film follow
much the same course as was
originally plotted by the play
wrights. Flagg and Quirt still
fight with equal gusto. whether as
opponents or as a team. Char
maine still gets left behind and
1t is no more tragedy this time
than it ever was. The countryside
is awash with uniformed allies of
France and Charmaine will do all
right.
The wounded soldier still turns
hysterical to shout the title speech,
What price glory now, Capt.
Flagg?" 1t seems more than a
little incongruous in a film which
leans so far in the direction of
broad comedy. but that isn't likely
to ruin day for you.
Scenarists Phoebe and Henry
Ephrom have added a number of
comic touches in their refurbish-
ing of What Price Glory" They
waste no time setting their mood
In the opening sequence. A group
OF tired troops comes away from
the front, slogging through the
mud into the town of Bar lie Due.
Their ranks are ragged and great
battle-weariness hangs over them.
One stops for drink of water
beside two clean Marines watching
the tattered parade. What out
fits this, buddy?" demands the
clean sergeant. The battered Ma
rine takes a long drink before he
answers with a weary snarl, This
Is the Hunnert-one Ranch and I'm
Pawnee Bill"
Most Of the comedy, of course,
eenterS around Flagg and Quirt,
played with great relish by Cagney
and Daley. This reaches its high
point in the climactic scene in the
bistro operated by Charmaine's
father. With Flagg and Quirt
arguing over which should win
Charmaine. it winds itself up into
one OF the funniest drinking scenes
since that one in THE Male
Animal" Cagney and Daley, and
Director Ford, to be sure. get every
possible laugh out of it.
Cagney and Daley are quite
happily cast here, as a matter of
fact. It was inevitable that
Cagney and Capt. Flagg would
meet some day and the meeting
lives up to any advance hopes you
might have had for it. It is prob
able that Daley is called upon to
be more of an actor than Cagney
IN the Palace film. The Cagney
style is easily adaptable to Capt.
Flagg. but Daily is largely a song
ambulance man. It takes some
doing for him to impersonate the
tough Sergt. Quirt of the regular
Marines. but he brings it off quite
plausibly.
Corinne Calvet is a most tempt
ing Charmaine, over whom a.
couple of red-blooded American
boys might we'll fight. The others
are fairly we'll subordinated to the
stellar trio in What Price Glory
Effective bits are added, though.
by William Demarest. WallyI
Vernon. James Gleason, Henri
Letondal, Henry Morgan and
Marian Pavan.
x
John Ford leaves a definite
mark on any picture he directs, and
it is on What Price Glory" He
has a fine eye for pictorial values
and he is a wizard at using cam
eras to tell a story. set a mood or
do both at the same time. His use
of Technicolor is far from con-
ventional. Where many directors
see it only as something to make
a movie more attractive visually.
Ford uses color as an adjunct Of
his storytelling. He uses it as a
Oainter 1,ses il IF a red SkV rather