Bitter Victory
Directed by Nicholas Ray
Written by Rene Hardy, Nicholas Ray, and Gavin Lambert from Hardy’s novel
1957/France/USA
Columbia Pictures Corporation/Transcontinental Films/Robert Laffont Productions
First viewing/Netflix rental
Capt. Leith: You’re afraid to go in and kill with your bare hands. That’s what makes a soldier and destroys you as a man.
I wasn’t crazy about this one.
The setting is WWII Cairo. A general must decide which of two men will head a highly dangerous mission to Bengazi to steal Nazi secrets. Major Brand (Curd Jürgens) is a career soldier and doesn’t speak Arabic. Captain Leith (Richard Burton) is a recruit and spent years in the Middle East as an archaeologist. Early on we discover that Leith had an affair with Brand’s wife Jane (Ruth Roman) before the war and her marriage. She is still in love with him. Their reunion was pretty public so the whole base knows. In the end, the general decides to send both men on the mission, with Brand in command.
On the mission, several Nazi guards must be knifed and Brand proves himself to be incapable of killing at close range. Leith needles him about his cowardice for the rest of the movie. Brand finds numerous ways to retaliate.
I felt that this movie didn’t have enough story to fit the running time. We get the same situation and even approximately the same dialogue over and over again. Curd Jurgens casting did not help. He just can’t help coming off as darned macho and stolid, probably more so than Burton. He doesn’t make you believe in his cowardice or his treachery.
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