COLONEL EFFINGHAM’S RAID

US, 1946, 72 minutes, Black and white.
Charles Coburn, Joan Bennett, William Eythe, Allyn Joslyn, Elizabeth Patterson, Donald Meek, Frank Craven.
Directed by Irving Pichel.

Colonel Effingham’s Raid was based on a popular novel by Berry Fleming. It is in the vein of many films of Frank Capra in the 30s and 40s as well as the comedies in small towns made by Preston Sturges.

Charles Coburn does a tour de force as the outgoing retired Colonel Effingham. He returns home to his town in 1940 where the mayor and his cronies are ivd in corruption in rebuilding the law courts and other buildings, cooking deals and contracts. Colonel Effingham goes to the local paper, edited by Allyn Joslyn, to ask for a column. Instead of war memories, especially of Panama, he starts attacking the mayor and his activities. This divides the community, many of the older people supporting the colonel.

In the background there is a romantic story with William Eythe as the colonel’s cousin who works at the paper and the daughter of the founder of the paper, played by Joan Bennett. There is a range of character actors portraying the people in the town.

There is a great deal of warmth and humour, and Colonel Effingham is certainly a striking character. However, the film seems somewhat truncated at the end, the colonel being ill and not appearing for the last ten minutes except for a final salute to the troops going off to war.

1. The popularity of films by Frank Capra and Preston Sturges, social concerns, ordinary people, comedy? The experience of World War Two and its aftermath?

2. The brevity of the film, seeming truncated at the end, comic and serious?

3. Black and white photography, Fredericksville, a Georgia city? Homes, newspaper offices, the law courts? Capturing the period?

4. The musical score, the patriotic songs, the wolf-whistle incorporated?

5. The voice-over of Albert – spasmodic?

6. 1946, looking back at 1940 and the pre-war American style? Focused on American issues? Opening up to the war in Europe? In retrospect now?

7. Charles Coburn as Colonel Effingham, his performance, age, war experience, references to Panama, retiring at sixty-five, still wanting to fight – and his raid? Earnest, with Albert, Emma? Talking about his past? Going to the paper, discussions with Hoats? With Dewey? Writing his columns, not on the war, the local fight? The name of the square, the demolishing of the courthouse? Reactions, pro and con his columns? Meeting with the editor? With the mayor? Calling a meeting, his long speeches, rousing the crowd, the applause? His tactics? His friendship with Ella Sue? Meeting the bankers, their refusal to help? His illness? The final salute?

8. Albert, the voice-over, his place in the town, conservative, working for the paper, the discussions with Dewey and the sexist comments about Ella Sue? His interactions with Hoats? The wolf-whistle and Ella Sue’s skirt? His articles and his response to his cousin? At home, with Emma? His stances? The bowls and his poor efforts compared with Ella Sue and the school professor? The sexist attitudes? His change, signing the petition, going to the meeting, his interactions with Hoats, getting him to help his cousin? Enlisting, his motivation, the final kiss, the parade, his long speech and challenge to the mayor?

9. The mayor, his speeches, his cronies, the plans, contracts, the meetings, naming the square? Behaviour at the meetings? The public against them? The adjourning of the meeting after the colonel’s speech? The end, reviewing the troops, the troops challenging the mayor? Preserving the courthouse?

10. Ella Sue, her father, work at the paper, her stances, the credibility of her love for Albert?

11. The characters of the cronies, their meetings with the mayor? The ladies of the town and their opposition to the mayor?

12. The issue of the war, opening up America to the perspectives of World War Two and Europe? The issues and stances of America in the mid-1940s?