MEN IN WAR
US, 1957, 104 minutes, Black and white.
Robert Ryan, Robert Keith, Aldo Ray, Sen Yung.
Directed by Anthony Mann.
Men in War is a very good Korean War film. Like such films as Lewis Milestone's A Walk in the Sun, with a World War Two setting, Men in War focuses specifically on a small group of infantry on one day in Korea. The introduction highlights that by focusing on the infantry one can understand the waging of a war. The film, in black and white, focuses on this small group, the enormous pressures they are under with attack, snipers, isolated and cut off and having to move from one hill to another. The photography focuses on this kind of isolation, frequently giving attention to small details such as marching feet to give the impression of the isolation. The audience certainly shares in the experience of the platoon.
Robert Ryan has an excellent role as the leader of the platoon. Aldo Ray is an aggressive Sergeant who is looking after shell-shocked Colonel played by Robert Keith. There is a good supporting cast which includes a very young Vic Morrow. The film was written by prolific author Philip Yordan. It resembles other Korean films like Milestone's Pork Chop Hill. However, by concentrating on the small group, it avoids much of the romanticism and heroics of other films. The director is Anthony Mann who moved from small budget B-thrillers in the '40s to a series of Westerns with, especially, James Stewart in the '50s and such popular films as The Glenn Miller Story and Strategic Air Command. During the '60s he was to move to bigger budget, more ambitious films as E1 Cid and The Fall of the Roman Empire.
1. The impact of war films? As a record of a particular war? Of the heroism of the soldiers involved? Of suffering? Of uncertainties? Strategies, battles? The nature of enmity? Aggression, fear? Death? The quality of this film as a war film?
2. The focus of the title - the presence of men only in the film? War as historically, a man's occupation? American men in Korea? A small group and the bonds between them? Their experiences, fear, shell-shock, violence and death? Their being cut off? Their not knowing the overall plan? 1he struggles amongst themselves? The struggle with the enemy? The strengths of men in war, weaknesses? Benson and Montana representing two aspects of men in service, leader who must try to hold the men together, the aggressive man who shoots first and asks questions afterwards? The fact that these two men were the sole survivors?
3. The atmosphere of Korea, the black and white photography, the open landscapes, the hills to be taken? The black and white photography and its creation of atmosphere,- of silence and stillness, of menace? The profiles and close-ups of the individual men? The attention to detail which drew the audience's attention into the confines of that small experience? The musical score and its atmosphere? The final choral song?
4. The focus on the platoon, the long opening sequence with its attention to detail of each man, each experience, the tensions, snipers and stalking enemy and death? The loss of communications?, Benson's decisions? The journey of the men? The encounter with Montana and the Colonel? The stalking of the enemy? The bombardment? The reaching of the goal and the destruction of the platoon? The title referring to the platoon and to the platoon as symbolic of soldiers?
5. Robert Ryan's performance as Benson - his being In command, his lack of sleep, the need to make decisions, his courage? His relationship with each of the men, his care and concern for them? His strength in decision-making? His personal background, family, being in Korea - and the responsibilities? Guiding the men, the trek, the taking of the ammunition, the jeep, the clash with Montana, concern about the Colonel? Killian's death? The bombardment and his strategy? The arrival at the hill? The clashes with Montana - and his dislike of him and his methods? The strategy on the hill, the destruction of his men? The finale with Montana, the reflections on the situation, the giving of the medals, the rescue? Portrait of a leader?
6. Montana and his saving the Colonel, the jeep, his wanting to go on, not be involved? Clashes with Benson? Illustrating the tensions of the situation? His taking Killian's place, his sense of hearing and alertness, hilling of the stalking enemy? His care and concern for the Colonel, the Colonel treating him as a son, his wanting to rescue and save him? The final assault on the hill, his recognition of the deception by the enemy with their calling out as Americans, the Colonel's going into battle, his following him, the final discussions with Benson?
7. The portrait of the men in the platoon: Zwickley and his fears, youth, the support of Killian, his driving the truck, his getting Killian's helmet, his own death? Killian, the hero in the platoon, his skill with the truck, the lyrical scene where he sat down, put the flowers in his helmet, took off his shoes, was killed? Reardon and the communications, his wanting to mend the phone, his survival? Lewis and his tension, the sniper killing his friend, his hysteria? His place in the platoon, the minefield and his letting the others know? His death with the mines? The other men and their fears, hesitations, participation in the journey, the heroism of the final attack?
8. Robert Keith as the Colonel - his skill in portraying the shellshock of the man, his inability to speak, his being tended by Montana, his wanting to communicate, the final realisation of what was happening, his deceiving Montana and going into battle, his heroism and death? The film's comment on veterans via this character?
8. The presentation of the enemy - as snipers, as stalking the platoon, as bombarding, the skill in ousting the sniper - and Montana's skill in finding the enemy? The prisoner and his fears, leading them, through the minefield, going up the hill? The final confrontation and the deaths on both sides?
10. The film's themes of war and heroism, the futility of war, the heroism of waging of war even when the participants do not know what it is about? The film as reflecting war, anti-war?
