FORCE OF ARMS
US, 1951, 100 minutes, Black and white.
William Holden, Nancy Olsen, Frank Lovejoy, Gene Evans, Dick Wesson, Paul Picerni.
Directed by Michael Curtiz.
Force of Arms is a pleasing romantic war story from Warner Bros. at the beginning of the '50s, some years after the actual events. In setting and outline, it is very similar to Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms with its Italian World War One setting.
The film has the Warner Bros. production values of the period, music by Max Steiner: and direction by Michael Curtiz, who had worked at Warner Bros over many decades in many action thrillers, westerns and had moved into dramas and musicals during,. the '40s and '50s. William Holden is a congenial hero, Nancy Olsen a sympathetic heroine. appeared together in Submarine Command and Sunset Boulevard.) Frank Lovejoy leads a group of character actors representing various aspects of military life.
1. A pleasing romantic war story? Its impact in the '50s? Now? The resemblance in plot?. and location to Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms?
2. Warner Bros. production values: black and white photography, location photography, action sequences? The romantic score?
3. The title and the focus on war? Contrasting with love? The power of each?
4. The conventional plot: the Americans fighting near Naples, daring attacks, promotions, love affairs, the hesitant woman remembering a past fiance killed, injuries, recovery, marriage, guilt with the death of officers, imprisonment, happy reuniting of the central couple? How well did the film use its conventions?
5. William Holden's Peterson? As a soldier, the action near Naples, his skill, promotion, the encounter with Eleanor and their initial clash, falling in love, his courting her, the visit to the cemetery? His caution in returning to battle? The death of the officer? His taking the blame?. His collapse? The reuniting with Eleanor? Their marriage? His determination to return to action? The attack, his being cut off and captured? Eleanor's search for him and finding him as he is released amongst the prisoners? A happy future?
6. Eleanor and her work in the army, the encounter with Peterson, the attraction, her hesitation because of her memories of her fiance and his death, the visit to the cemetery? The marriage? His going back to the war, her grief, her military service, the news of his absence, her search for him, the happy reuniting?
7. The gallery of military characters from Major Blackford to McFee?, Kline, Sheridan, Hooker, Minto? Action? Camaraderie? American style? Major Waldron and her looking after Eleanor?
8. The authenticity of the battle sequences, memories of World War Two and the campaigns? Isolation, attacks, the unseen enemy? Deaths and injuries? Hospitalisation?
9. The serious dialogue about the nature of war, the power of love? The romantic war story as a vehicle for exploring the impact of war on men and women?
