The Young Lions (1958)
Country: US
Technical: bw/Cinemascope 167m
Director: Edward Dmytryk
Cast: Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, Dean Martin, Hope Lange, Barbara Rush, May Britt, Maximilian Schell
Synopsis:
The interconnected lives of two American privates and a German officer as they experience the cataclysm of World War Two.
Review:
Brave attempt to film Irwin Shaw's doorstop of a novel, which broaches issues rarely seen in war films of the period: an American Jew persecuted in his barracks, a Broadway star reluctant to join up and get shot at, and a good old-fashioned Teuton whose scruples get in the way of performance of his duty to the fatherland. Unfortunately much of it fails to convince: the officers in Paris who speak a few words of French while their floozies converse fluently in (one presumes) German; the extermination camp located in northern France, with, furthermore, most un-northern French hills and forests nearby; the whole Martin-Lange-Clift connection and resulting courtship. In fact, only the German third of the film is really any good, but it is very good, thanks largely to Brando's compellingly noble and subtly accented turn as a peroxide Aryan. Once again he transcends what might have been cheap theatrics with a studied portrayal that elicits real sympathy and sorrow. There are effectively handled combat scenes - a sunrise ambush in the desert with foreshadowings of Lawrence of Arabia - and overall this remains a worthy and thoughtful production from the decade before the Hollywood war film descended to the realms of comic strip action.
Country: US
Technical: bw/Cinemascope 167m
Director: Edward Dmytryk
Cast: Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, Dean Martin, Hope Lange, Barbara Rush, May Britt, Maximilian Schell
Synopsis:
The interconnected lives of two American privates and a German officer as they experience the cataclysm of World War Two.
Review:
Brave attempt to film Irwin Shaw's doorstop of a novel, which broaches issues rarely seen in war films of the period: an American Jew persecuted in his barracks, a Broadway star reluctant to join up and get shot at, and a good old-fashioned Teuton whose scruples get in the way of performance of his duty to the fatherland. Unfortunately much of it fails to convince: the officers in Paris who speak a few words of French while their floozies converse fluently in (one presumes) German; the extermination camp located in northern France, with, furthermore, most un-northern French hills and forests nearby; the whole Martin-Lange-Clift connection and resulting courtship. In fact, only the German third of the film is really any good, but it is very good, thanks largely to Brando's compellingly noble and subtly accented turn as a peroxide Aryan. Once again he transcends what might have been cheap theatrics with a studied portrayal that elicits real sympathy and sorrow. There are effectively handled combat scenes - a sunrise ambush in the desert with foreshadowings of Lawrence of Arabia - and overall this remains a worthy and thoughtful production from the decade before the Hollywood war film descended to the realms of comic strip action.
Country: US
Technical: bw/Cinemascope 167m
Director: Edward Dmytryk
Cast: Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, Dean Martin, Hope Lange, Barbara Rush, May Britt, Maximilian Schell
Synopsis:
The interconnected lives of two American privates and a German officer as they experience the cataclysm of World War Two.
Review:
Brave attempt to film Irwin Shaw's doorstop of a novel, which broaches issues rarely seen in war films of the period: an American Jew persecuted in his barracks, a Broadway star reluctant to join up and get shot at, and a good old-fashioned Teuton whose scruples get in the way of performance of his duty to the fatherland. Unfortunately much of it fails to convince: the officers in Paris who speak a few words of French while their floozies converse fluently in (one presumes) German; the extermination camp located in northern France, with, furthermore, most un-northern French hills and forests nearby; the whole Martin-Lange-Clift connection and resulting courtship. In fact, only the German third of the film is really any good, but it is very good, thanks largely to Brando's compellingly noble and subtly accented turn as a peroxide Aryan. Once again he transcends what might have been cheap theatrics with a studied portrayal that elicits real sympathy and sorrow. There are effectively handled combat scenes - a sunrise ambush in the desert with foreshadowings of Lawrence of Arabia - and overall this remains a worthy and thoughtful production from the decade before the Hollywood war film descended to the realms of comic strip action.