Daily Archives: May 27, 2015

Battleground
Directed by William A. Wellman
Written by Robert Pirosh
1949/USA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
First viewing/Amazon Instant

[box] Hansan: This is an M-1, semi-automatic, high velocity…

Soldier: Look, you’re not selling it to me, you’re showing me how to fire it.[/box]

Late in life, William A. Wellman still could direct a mean action sequence. The repartee among the GIs is the other stand-out in this rather formulaic war picture.

This is one of those slice-life plots beloved of war movie makers in which we are introduced to a host of soldiers, each with his own backstory.  As the film begins, we see the day-to-day grousing and bantering of an airborne division about to be taken to Paris for some well-earned leave.

Leave is cancelled and the squad is sent to the front to fight in what later would become known as The Battle of the Bulge.  Unfortunately for these men, they become trapped forests near the town of Bastogne where they are surrounded by German forces.  The weather only adds to their troubles.  They are stuck in a blizzard in fog too thick for air support.  We follow the heartbreak and heroics marking the days until the sun shines again.  With Van Johnson, Ricardo Montalban, George Murphy, John Hodiak, and James Whitmore as some of the soldiers.

This is actually one of the better war films, largely due to the quality of the dialogue.  The situations may be cliche but the talk seems very real.  It is also very nicely staged by Wellman, who had by now honed his combat work to a fine edge.

Battleground won Academy Awards for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay and Best Cinematography, Black-and-White.  It was nominated in the categories of Best Picture; Best Supporting Actor (Whitmore); Best Director; and Best Film Editing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrkN0q7Hs1o

Trailer

Bitter Rice (Riso Amaro)
Directed by Giuseppe De Santis
Written by Giuseppe De Santis, Corrado Alvaro, Carlo Lizzani, etc.
1949/Italy
Lux Film
Repeat viewing/Hulu Plus

[box] “Cutting stalks at noon time, Perspiration drips to the earth. Know you that your bowl of rice, Each grain from hardship comes?” — Cheng Chan-Pao[/box]

At the time, I suspect that the main attraction of this film was sizzling-hot teenager Silvana Magnano’s dancing and all those lady field hands in short shorts.  It’s got a few other things going for it as well.

As the film begins, a reporter informs the audience of the centuries-long tradition of women doing seasonal labor in Italy’s rice fields.

Walter (Vittorio Gassman, Ossesione) and Francesca (Doris Dowling), his girlfriend, are at the train station preparing to escape following the robbery of an expensive necklace from her employer.  The police are hot on their trail and Walter attempts to hide by joining the lucious Silvana (Silvana Magnana), one of the women waiting there for a train to the rice field, in a raucous boogie woogie.  Eventually Walter gives the necklace to Francesca and tells her to mix in with the women while he makes a fast retreat.

Francesca follows instructions.  Silvana shows her the ropes on arrival but turns against her when she finds the necklace.  Friction develops between a group of women who have arrived without union contracts and the union workers.  Solidarity prevails and gradually Francesca is accepted and comes to appreciate her fellow-workers simple, honest way of life.  Silvana is being courted by Marco (Raff Vallone), a soldier.  She isn’t interested in much more than friendship.

Eventually Walter shows up to throw a spanner in the works.  The greedy ingrate begins to plan a major rice robbery and to seduce Silvana with the necklace and talk of marriage.  Will Francesca finally stand up to him?

This starts out looking like it might be neo-realist fare but soon enough takes a rather melodramatic operatic turn.  It was hard for me to take my eyes off the magnetic Silvana Magnano.  When I did, there were plenty of other striking mages of work and life on the Italian countryside to keep me interested.

Giuseppi De Santis and Carlo Lizzani were nominated for an Academy Award for Best Writing, Motion Picture Story.

Clip – Introduction

Trailer (no subtitles but you can see what the fuss was about)