Battleground (1949)

Director:

William A. Wellman

Writers:

Robert Pirosh (story)
Robert Pirosh (screenplay)

Release Date:

20 January 1950 (USA)

Genre:

Action | War | Drama

Tagline:

The First Great Picture Of The Second World War !

Plot:

A squad of the 101st Airborne Division copes with being trapped in the besieged city of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge.

Plot Keywords:

Army | Battle Of The Bulge | Infantry | Siege | WWII

Awards:

Won 2 Oscars. Another 3 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Van Johnson	...	Holley
John Hodiak	...	Jarvess
Ricardo Montalban	...	Roderigues
George Murphy	...	'Pop' Stazak
Marshall Thompson	...	Jim Layton
Jerome Courtland	...	Abner Spudler
Don Taylor	...	Standiferd
Bruce Cowling	...	Wolowicz
James Whitmore	...	Kinnie
Douglas Fowley	...	'Kipp' Kippton
Leon Ames	...	The Chaplain
Herbert Anderson	...	Hansan (as Guy Anderson)
Thomas E. Breen	...	Doc
Denise Darcel	...	Denise
Richard Jaeckel	...	Bettis
James Arness	...	Garby (as Jim Arness)
Scotty Beckett	...	William J. Hooper
Brett King	...	Lt. Teiss
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Nan Boardman	...	Belgian woman volunteer (uncredited)
Tommy Bond	...	Runner (uncredited)
Michael Browne	...	Levenstein (uncredited)
George Chandler	...	Mess Sergeant (uncredited)
Chris Drake	...	Medic Private (uncredited)
Jim Drum	...	Supply Sergeant (uncredited)
David Holt	...	GI Straggler (uncredited)
Samuel Jaegers	...	Drill sergeant (uncredited)
Dickie Jones	...	Tanker (uncredited)
Tommy Kelly	...	Casualty (uncredited)
William F. Leicester	...	Man (uncredited)
Ian MacDonald	...	Army Colonel (uncredited)
Dewey Martin	...	GI Straggler (uncredited)
John Mylong	...	German Major (uncredited)
Tommy Noonan	...	GI Straggler (uncredited)
George Offerman Jr.	...	K Company G.I. (uncredited)
Jerry Paris	...	German Sergeant (uncredited)
Steve Pendleton	...	Sergeant (uncredited)
John R. Reilly	...	Tanker filling up with Gas (uncredited)
Henry Rowland	...	German NCO (uncredited)
Edmon Ryan	...	Major (uncredited)
Irene Seidner	...	French peasent woman (uncredited)
William Self	...	K Company G.I. (uncredited)
Charles Smith	...	Walking Wounded (uncredited)
Ivan Triesault	...	German Captain (uncredited)
Max Trujillo	...	GI (uncredited)
Roland Varno	...	German Lieutenant (uncredited)

Directed by
William A. Wellman

Writing credits
Robert Pirosh		(story)
Robert Pirosh		(screenplay)

Produced by
Robert Pirosh	....	associate producer
Dore Schary	....	producer

Original Music by
Lennie Hayton

Cinematography by
Paul Vogel		(director of photography) (as Paul C. Vogel)

Film Editing by
John D. Dunning		(as John Dunning)

Art Direction by
Cedric Gibbons
Hans Peters

Set Decoration by
Edwin B. Willis

Makeup Department
Jack Dawn	....	makeup designer

Production Management
William Kaplan	....	production manager (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Sid Sidman	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Alfred E. Spencer	....	associate set decorator

Sound Department
Douglas Shearer	....	recording supervisor
Conrad Kahn	....	sound (uncredited)

Stunts
Gene Coogan	....	stunts (uncredited)
Victor Paul	....	stunts (uncredited)
Carl Saxe	....	stunts (uncredited)
Fred Zendar	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Henry Forrester	....	grip (uncredited)
J. Harper	....	camera operator (uncredited)
Ed Hubbell	....	still photographer (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Peter Ballbusch	....	montage

Other crew
H.W.O. Kinnard	....	technical advisor (as H.W.O. Kinnard, Lt.Col., Inf.)
John Banse	....	script supervisor (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Distributors

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1949) (USA) (theatrical)
• National Broadcasting Company (NBC) (1965) (USA) (TV) (original airing)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1990) (USA) (VHS)
• Turner Home Entertainment (1990) (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (2001) (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2005) (USA) (DVD)

Runtime:

118 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French | German

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:PG (TV rating) | USA:Approved (certificate #13886) | Canada:PG (video rating) | Australia:G | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | Sweden:15

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Screenwriter Robert Pirosh based this story on his experiences as an infantryman during the Battle of the Bulge. Pirosh did not serve with the 101st Airborne and wanted to create a script that was faithful to their experiences. He used his fist hand knowledge of the battle of write the script. This was done with the blessing of General McAuliffe, who was commanding the 101st during Bastogne. Consequently many of the incidents in the film - such as Pvt. Kippton's habit of always losing his false teeth, or the Mexican soldier from Los Angeles who had never seen snow until he got to Belgium - that have always been derided as "typical Hollywood phony baloney" actually happened.

Goofs:

Continuity: Holley hears Denise and Jarvess talking on the other side of the living room door and rushes into the corridor with a full cup of coffee. He takes one small sip and puts the now empty cup in his pocket.

Quotes:

[Staniferd is too sick to stay in combat]
Pvt. Staniferd: Hey Kinnie, how about showing me the way to the aid station? I'm freezing.
Sgt. Walowicz: Feeling any better?
Pvt. Staniferd: Worse, much worse. I've never felt so sick in my life. Maybe, maybe I've even got pneumonia. (He walks away laughing)
Sgt. Walowicz: He's really bad.
Pvt. Bettis: Yeah, he's a cinch to go back to the field hospital, maybe even to Paris.
Holley: I don't know. With that penicillin, he's liable to be back in a day.
Pvt. Bettis: Yeah, a good, clean flesh wound is better. Then they gotta send you back.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Some of the Best (1949)

Christmas crisis in the Ardennes, December 1944

This is not a large scale multi-million dollar epic of World War Two. No thousands of extras, no wide panoramic sweep of battle scenes. This says more about The Battle of the Bulge than the movie of the same name. It's just an ordinary black and white M.G.M. production. What it lacks in size and scope it makes up for in impact.A simple story very well told, of a squad of GI's of the 101st Airborne Division, thrown into the maelstrom that was the German offensive in the Ardennes in December of 1944 against the Allied ground forces.

It's hard to believe that this film was not shot on location; but on a Metro sound stage. And Metro's Culver City was turned into the only outdoor location for the snow-covered, rubble-strewn town of Bastogne under siege, which was tenaciously held by the 101st, under the command of Brig. General Anthony McAuliffe.

With the exception of Van Johnson as Pvt. Holly who was high profile on the Metro lot in his time, and George Murphy as Pvt. Stazak, the rest of the cast were character-type actors who filled their roles perfectly. James Whitmore as Sgt. Kinnie is drilling the squad in the opening scenes.

The squad members talk of an enjoyable furlough in Paris which is suddenly cut short by the German breakthrough in the Ardenne. Ptv. Stazak hopes of going home are dashed because his authorised documents have not come through before the squad moves up front. Douglas Fowley as Pvt. Kippton seems to be the best in the squad at bellyaching.Maybe it's his dentures that make him a sourpuss. But Fowley's dentures turn into a class act; clicking away to the old song, "I Surrender Dear," through the courtesy of a German propaganda broadcast heard over the radio in a Sherman tank. Denise Darcel comes as a welcome relief of feminine pleasure; not out of place in the town of Bastogne itself. In an indoor scene, Pvt. Holly's eyeballs go into left-to-right overdrive as he stares at Denise's buxom rear end descending a flight of stairs. Then there's Holly again, nursing stolen newly-laid eggs, as valuable as gold nuggets. He's about to scramble them over a fire when the squad is told to saddle up and move out. Not for the first time does Johnson (Pvt. Holly) yell, "oh no!" A expression he's used in past movies also. The broken eggs in his upturned helmet are now a problem. In the end it's disaster. The German artillery scramble the eggs for Holly. Problem solved!

On a three man patrol, Holly, Hodiak as Janness, Montalban as Rodriguez, intercept and force a jeep carrying a Major and two sergeants to stop and identify themselves. The knowledge that Germans are infiltrating in GI uniforms has made the patrol suspicious so the Major is asked how the Dodgers made out in 1944. The Major hesitates,but the Sergeant in the rear seat asks Holly who Betty Grable is married to. Montalban shouts back, "Cesar Romero". The Major says Romero is out. "Betty Grable is married to Harry James". The tense atmosphere relaxes. The patrol is convinced they're friendly.

What is displayed authentically on this studio sound stage is the icy, bone-chilling atmosphere of the battlefield. The men hunkered down; the deeper the better, in their foxholes. Throughout nearly all this movie there is the constant rise and fall in the background of continuous artillery fire, like a rolling thunder. It never seems to cease. Sometimes it's close, sometimes distant. That, along with the freezing fog hanging like a thick whitish-grey blanket in the air, enveloping everything, gives off an atmosphere of crisis; a feeling of fearful tension. The men endeavour to dispel the fear with humour. Waiting and wondering when the enemy will appear ghost-like out of the mist-shrouded forest.

Near the end of the movie, Leon Ames gives a good performance as a Army Chaplain. Trying to explain the reason for this necessary trip to Europe, to kill off a murderous political system that has already killed off millions. Before the end, the tables turn in the Allies favour. Sergeant Kinnie notices his shadow against the snow. The sun is breaking through and the mist rises. Allied tactical air power is back in business again with a vengeance.

Veteran director William Wellman was not found wanting when he directed this movie. He had already proved himself with, "The Story of GI Joe", in 1945. Antiwar film? Any war film well made and convincing can be antiwar, and you do not need blood all over the silver screen to prove it. Antiwar or not, World War Two was a "popular" war. The reasons stuck out a mile. The Army Chaplain said so in so many words.

The Ardennes offensive caught the Allies unawares. By late 1944, battered the German forces may have been. But they still had a few nasty shots in their locker to scare the living daylights out of the Allied Command. We thought the Germans had run out of fighting steam, but old Field Marshal Gerd Von Rundstedt thought different.