The Purple Heart (1944)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Lewis Milestone

Writers:

Jerome Cady (writer)
Darryl F. Zanuck (story)

Release Date:

23 February 1944 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | History | War

Tagline:

An EPIC SAGE of RAW COURAGE!(original ad - many caps)

Plot:

This is the story of the crew of a downed bomber, captured after a run over Tokyo, early in the war...

Plot Keywords:

Bomber | Hara Kiri | Prison Cell | Military Trial | Doolittle Raid

Cast

Dana Andrews	...	Capt. Harvey Ross
Richard Conte	...	Lt. Angelo Canelli
Farley Granger	...	Sgt. Howard Clinton
Kevin O'Shea	...	Sgt. Jan Skvoznik
Don 'Red' Barry	...	Lt. Peter Vincent (as Donald Barry)
Trudy Marshall	...	Mrs. Ross
Sam Levene	...	Lt. Wayne Greenbaum
Charles Russell	...	Lt. Kenneth Bayforth
John Craven	...	Sgt. Martin Stoner
Tala Birell	...	Johanna Hartwig - Berlin News Correspondent
Richard Loo	...	General Ito Mitsubi
Peter Chong	...	Mitsuru Toyama
Gregory Gaye	...	Peter Voroshevski - Russian News Correspondent
Torben Meyer	...	Karl Kappel - Swiss Consul
Kurt Katch	...	Ludwig Kruger - German News Correspondent
Martin Garralaga	...	Manuel Silva - Italian News Correspondent
Erwin Kalser	...	Karl Schleswig - News Correspondent
Igor Dolgoruki	...	Boris Evenik - News Correspondent
Nestor Paiva	...	Francisco De La Santos - Argentina News Correspondent
Alex Papana	...	Paul Ludovescu - News Correspondent
H.T. Tsiang	...	Yuen Chiu Ling
Benson Fong	...	Moy Ling
Keye Chang	...	Admiral Kentara Yamaguchi
Wing Foo	...	Police Captain
Paul Fung	...	Court Clerk
Joseph Kim	...	Prosecutor
Luke Chan	...	Court Stenographer
Beal Wong	...	Toma Nogato - Japanese News Correspondent
Marshall Thompson	...	Hank Morrison - Crewman of the 'Mrs. Murphy'
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Philip Ahn	...	Saburo Goto (uncredited)
Anne Baxter	...	Anne (voice) (uncredited)
Spencer Chan	...	Naval Aide (uncredited)
Isabel Cooper	...	Geisha (uncredited)
Ángel Cruz	...	Army Aide (uncredited)
Johnny Dong	...	Naval Aide (uncredited)
Roque Espiritu	...	Naval Aide (uncredited)
Harold Fong	...	Naval Aide (uncredited)
Lee Tung Foo	...	Judge (uncredited)
Allen Jung	...	Itsubi Sakai (uncredited)
Pete G. Katchenaro	...	Army Aide (uncredited)
King Kong	...	Army Aide (uncredited)
Eddie Lee	...	Army Aide (uncredited)
George T. Lee	...	Guard with Prisoners (uncredited)
James B. Leong	...	Army Aide (uncredited)
Leon Lontoc	...	Naval Aide (uncredited)
Clarence Lung	...	Japanese Lieutenant (uncredited)
Moy Ming	...	Judge (uncredited)
Georgie Nokes	...	Ross's Son (uncredited)
Frank Tang	...	Attache - Censor (uncredited)
Bruce Wong	...	Naval Aide (uncredited)
Don Zelaya	...	Ross Ranchhand (uncredited)

Directed by
Lewis Milestone

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Jerome Cady		writer
Darryl F. Zanuck		story (as Melville Crossman)

Produced by
Darryl F. Zanuck	....	producer

Original Music by
Alfred Newman

Cinematography by
Arthur C. Miller		(as Arthur Miller)

Film Editing by
Douglass Biggs

Art Direction by
James Basevi
Lewis H. Creber		(as Lewis Creber)

Set Decoration by
Thomas Little
Walter M. Scott

Makeup Department
Guy Pearce	....	makeup artist

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Arthur Jacobson	....	assistant director (as Artie Jacobson)

Sound Department
Alfred Bruzlin	....	sound

Special Effects by
Fred Sersen	....	special effects

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Sam Benson	....	wardrobe supervisor (uncredited)

Other crew
Otto Tolischus	....	technical advisor

Production Companies

• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Distributors

• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (1944) (USA) (theatrical)
• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (1949) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• CBS/Fox (video)

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (re-rating) (2005) | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

In 1950, 20th Century Fox theatrically reissued this film on a bill with Belle Starr (1941) and Guadalcanal Diary (1943).

Quotes:

Captain Harvey Ross: No your excellency. It's true we Americans don't know very much about you Japanese. And we never did. And now I realize you know even less about us. You can kill us. All of us, or part of us. But if you think that's going to put the fear of god into the United States of America...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Wonder Years: Courage (#4.14)" (1991)

Soundtrack:

The Battle Hymn of the Republic

A fact based story

The Purple Heart was a very good movie for the times. The people who brand it "sappy" and "propagandistic", or the brain dead person who chortles about "patriotic lunkheads" enlisting in the armed forces because of this movie were not alive during that period. They know nothing about the horror of total war. The survival of this nation was in doubt, and men were dying or being captured by sadistic Japanese who murdered them while in captivity. Every parent dreaded the telegram delivery boy, thinking what it might mean. Ever heard of the Bataan Death March? This movie was a fact based story about captured Americans from the Doolittle raid, in which several American Airmen were tried as War Criminals, and some of them were executed. Such a show trial was not repeated, but it showed the beastiality of the Bushido warriors. Japan should hang it's head in shame. The performances were dead right for war time, and Dana Andrews was superb, there were few cliches, it was mostly truth. Mr Bartalotti was right, there was a great deal in a short time. A True achievement. For the silly few who worry about propaganda, remember we were at war, and remember Pearl Harbor.