A film
review (edited) by Craig Butler for allmovie.com.
Pride of the Marines is a stirring, powerful, hard-hitting
World War II drama. It’s equally accurate to say it's a post-war drama, as the
real meat of the picture concerns a wounded soldier's return to civilian life.
While Pride of the Marines is
undeniably patriotic, it also is not afraid to ask some serious, hard questions
or to present war as less than a grand adventure.
It really
features only one battle sequence, which lasts some ten minutes; it's an
amazing, gripping sequence, but it doesn't glorify battle as many similar films
do. The men involved are fighting for their lives [on Guadalcanal in the Solomon
Islands, August, 1942], and they react exactly as people really do react in
such a situation. See the Wikipedia Guadalcanal Campaign link below.
Similarly,
the discussion about what life will be like when they return home dares to
present the possibility that things will not be all roses, a rather bold
suggestion for a 1945 film. Finally, the anguish, torment, and bitterness that
the lead character experiences is striking and affecting. Pride of the Marines benefits from a very strong screenplay, for
which Albert Maltz was nominated for
an Oscar, and that screenplay is aided by Delmer
Daves' excellent direction. He employs some fairly experimental techniques
(e.g., shooting a dream sequence in reverse negative) to highlight the
emotionalism of the piece, but never goes too far.
Pride of the Marines also benefits from its superb cast,
led by John Garfield as Marine Corps
Private Al Schmid in a performance that never hits a false note. It's arguably
Garfield's best and most powerful performance and is searing. He is well
supported by Eleanor Parker, as Ruth
Hartley, Schmid’s girlfriend and later wife, and Dane Clark, as Lee Diamond, Schmid’s close friend and fellow Marine.
Both play their parts to near perfection. Pride
of the Marines is an especially fine film.
Blogger’s
comment: Pride of the Marines is
based on the true story of Al Schmid. See the Wikipedia link below.
Labels:
biography, drama, Eleanor Parker, romance, WWII
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