What Price Glory (1952)

Director:

John Ford

Writers:

Phoebe Ephron (screenplay) and
Henry Ephron (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

16 March 1953 (Sweden)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Musical | Romance | War

Plot:

In 1918 France, Captain Flagg commands a disreputable company of Marines; his new top sergeant is his old friendly enemy...

Plot Keywords:

Marines | Duty | Shrapnel | Unrequited Love | WWI

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)

James Cagney	...	Capt. Flagg
Corinne Calvet	...	Charmaine
Dan Dailey	...	1st Sgt. Quirt
William Demarest	...	Cpl. Kiper
Craig Hill	...	Lt. Aldrich
Robert Wagner	...	Pvt. Lewisohn
Marisa Pavan	...	Nicole Bouchard
Max Showalter	...	Lt. Moore (as Casey Adams)
James Gleason	...	Gen. Cokely
Wally Vernon	...	Lipinsky
Henri Letondal	...	Cognac Pete

Runtime:

111 min

Country:

USA

Language:

French | English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

UK:A (original rating) | UK:U (re-rating) (1991) | USA:Approved (certificate #15706) | Canada:PG (video rating) | Finland:K-16 | Spain:T | Sweden:15

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

This version uses almost no dialogue from the original play and was originally intended to be a musical.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Capt Flagg's unit is part of the US Marines, which is completely independent of the US Army. Nevertheless, references are made to "the Army" and individual men are referred to as "soldier", which is a term used to refer to men serving in the Army and would be taken as an insult by a Marine.

Quotes:

Captain Flagg: Quirt loves the bottle, and when he's drunk he is the lousiest, filthiest tramp that ever wore a uniform. He's even worse than I am, and you know I don't allow anybody to get as bad as that.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Donna Reed Show: What Price Home? (#8.26)" (1966)

Soundtrack:

The Marine Hymn

Disappointing and Silly Parody of War

In 1918, in Bar-de-Duc, France, the leader of a company of Marines in the front, Captain Flagg (James Cagney), receives a group of green replacements and his disaffection, the tough Sergeant Quirt (Dan Dailey). Their rivalry increases when they both feel attracted by the same easy woman and daughter of the local innkeeper, Charmaine (Corinne Calvet).

What a disappointing and silly parody of war this "What Price Glory" is! Directed by John Ford and with James Cagney in the cast, I could not believe that this film would be so weak. Today I have watched "The Road to Glory", a great anti-war movie directed by Howard Hawks that shows the barbarian life in the trenches in WWI. However, John Ford has made neither a comedy (like Robert Altman's "MASH"), nor a romance or drama or war movie. Actually it is a messy feature, too silly and not funny for a comedy, too heavy for a romance and unreal for a drama or war, but with a magnificent cinematography and a lovely Corinne Calvet. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Sangue por Glória" ("Blood for Glory")