What Price Glory (1952)

Director:

John Ford

Writers:

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

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

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
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Luis Alberni	...	Grand Uncle (uncredited)
Olga Andre	...	Sister Clothilde (uncredited)
Tina Blagoi	...	Mrs. Bouchard (uncredited)
Danny Borzage	...	Gilbert (uncredited)
George Bruggeman	...	German Lieutenant (uncredited)
Frederic Brunn	...	German Officer (uncredited)
Paul Bryar	...	Charmaine's Uncle (uncredited)
Harry Carter	...	Runner (uncredited)
Ann Codee	...	Nun (uncredited)
George Davis	...	Uncle (uncredited)
Michael Dugan	...	Aide General (uncredited)
Charles B. Fitzsimons	...	Capt. Wickham (uncredited)
Paul Fix	...	Gowdy (uncredited)
Scott Forbes	...	Lt. Bennett (uncredited)
Arno Frey	...	German Officer (uncredited)
Don Garner	...	Young Marine (uncredited)
Louis J. Gasnier	...	Brother (uncredited)
William Henry	...	Holsen (uncredited)
Ray Hyke	...	Mulcany (uncredited)
Stan Johnson	...	Lt. Cunningham (uncredited)
Billy Jones	...	Young Marine (uncredited)
Fred Kennedy	...	Young Marine (uncredited)
Henry Kulky	...	Company Cook (uncredited)
Fred Libby	...	Lt. Schmidt (uncredited)
Arlyn E. Loynd	...	Marine Recruit (uncredited)
Lee MacGregor	...	Young Marine (uncredited)
Chad Mallory	...	Runner (uncredited)
Sean McClory	...	Lt. Austin (uncredited)
Louis Mercier	...	Bouchard (uncredited)
Torben Meyer	...	Mayor (uncredited)
Richard Monahan	...	Young Marine (uncredited)
Harry Morgan	...	Sgt. Moran (uncredited)
Barry Norton	...	Priest (uncredited)
James O'Hara	...	Young Soldier (uncredited)
Peter Ortiz	...	French General (uncredited)
Jack Pennick	...	Ferguson (uncredited)
Richard Shackleton	...	Marine Recruit (uncredited)
Mickey Simpson	...	Military Policeman (uncredited)
Tom Tyler	...	Capt. Davis (uncredited)
Ken Williams	...	Young Marine (uncredited)
William Yetter Sr.	...	German Officer (uncredited)
Alfred Zeisler	...	German Colonel (uncredited)

Directed by
John Ford

Writing credits
Phoebe Ephron		(screenplay) and
Henry Ephron		(screenplay)
Maxwell Anderson		(play) and
Laurence Stallings		(play)

Produced by
Sol C. Siegel	....	producer

Original Music by
Alfred Newman

Cinematography by
Joseph MacDonald		(as Joe MacDonald)

Film Editing by
Dorothy Spencer

Art Direction by
George W. Davis
Lyle R. Wheeler		(as Lyle Wheeler)

Set Decoration by
Thomas Little
Stuart A. Reiss		(as Stuart Reiss)

Costume Design by
Edward Stevenson

Makeup Department
Ben Nye	....	makeup artist

Sound Department
Roger Heman Sr.	....	sound (as Roger Heman)
Winston H. Leverett	....	sound (as Winston Leverett)

Special Effects by
Ray Kellogg	....	special photographic effects

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Charles Le Maire	....	wardrobe director
Sam Benson	....	wardrobe (uncredited)

Music Department
Edward B. Powell	....	orchestrator (as Edward Powell)

Other crew
Billy Daniel	....	dance stager
Leonard Doss	....	technicolor color consultant

Production Companies

• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Distributors

• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (1952) (USA) (theatrical)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• Suevia Films (2005) (Spain) (DVD)
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (2004) (USA) (DVD)

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:

Pvt. Lewisohn: You speak English very well.
Nicole Bouchard: Sister Cecile does not permit that we speak French in English class.
Pvt. Lewisohn: Well, I can tell you how glad I am that you've Sister Cecile for a teacher.
Nicole Bouchard: Thank you, also my father does not permit that I speak to American soldier... in any language.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch: What Price Harvey? (#3.13)" (1999)

Soundtrack:

Columbia, Gem of the Ocean

John Ford's idea of World War I

One of the great anti-war plays of the 1920s was Maxwell Anderson's What Price Glory. The play expressed popular American feeling that we were never going to war again like that and endure the slaughter in those trenches in France that occurred in the short time we were there. Remember we only declared war in 1917 and the thing had been going on in Europe for three years by the time we got there.

One of the things Woodrow Wilson as President and the American Expeditionary Force commander John Pershing insisted on was that the American army when fully trained would fight as a unit and not just be replacement troops for the French and British already there. They deviated only once from that policy when the American First Marine Division became the first American troops in battle in World War I at Belleau Wood. These Marines depicted here are part of those troops.

John Ford is one of our great American directors and when he does his own work on material never before used he's produced some remarkable cinema. But here he takes a serious anti-war play and turns it into one of his service comedies. There certainly are comedic elements in What Price Glory, but it's a serious picture.

The original silent film version done by Raoul Walsh was faithful to Maxwell Anderson's spirit and introduced those two Marines Edmund Lowe and Victor McLaglen who were so popular as Captain Flagg and Sergeant Quirt that they went and starred in a slew of buddy films. In fact they and James Cagney and Pat O'Brien introduced and popularized the buddy film genre.

Cagney steps into McLaglen shoes here and Dan Dailey plays Sergeant Quirt. They played two belligerent oafs in this and play them well, but no one ever thought of re-teaming them.

John Ford should have let this classic alone.