Battle Circus (1953)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Director:

Richard Brooks

Writers:

Allen Rivkin (story) and
Laura Kerr (story) ...

Release Date:

6 March 1953 (USA)

Genre:

Romance | War | Drama

Tagline:

M-G-M's great drama of desire under fire!

Plot:

Set in Korea and made during the war, this is the love story of a hard-bitten Army surgeon, and a new nurse ready to save the world.

Plot Keywords:

Korean War

Cast

Humphrey Bogart	...	Maj. Jed Webbe
June Allyson	...	Lt. Ruth McGara
Keenan Wynn	...	Sgt. Orvil Statt
Robert Keith	...	Lt. Col. Hilary Walters
William Campbell	...	Capt. John Rustford
Perry Sheehan	...	Lt. Laurence
Patricia Tiernan	...	Lt. Rose Ashland
Adele Longmire	...	Lt. Jane Franklin
Jonathan Cott	...	Adjutant
Ann Morrison	...	Lt. Edith Edwards
Helen Winston	...	Lt. Graciano
Sarah Selby	...	Capt. Dobbs
Danny Chang	...	Korean child
Philip Ahn	...	Korean prisoner
Steve Forrest	...	Sergeant

Also Known As:

MASH 66 (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

West Germany:16 (f) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved (PCA #16175)

Filming Locations:

Fort Pickett, Blackstone, Virginia, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Humphrey Bogart accidentally set his left thumb afire with lighter fluid while filming the scene in which his character burns some documents. The accident is visible in the film.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: The aircraft strafing the hospital at the beginning of the movie have USAF markings.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Bacall on Bogart (1988) (TV)

Battle Fatigue

Maybe if MGM had realized that a generation later, a comedy classic would be launched about a MASH unit in Korea, they might have opted for a more lighthearted treatment of the subject here.

One of the other reviewers is of the opinion that Humphrey Bogart is acting like a sexist pig in this film. He certainly is, probably just as much a one as Hawkeye Pierce. The problem here is June Allyson who just ain't no Hotlips Hoolihan. She's terribly miscast here, what was needed was someone who could have fielded Bogey's passes with a smart wisecrack in the right place. Gee, Lauren Bacall would have been good casting here.

The supporting cast is pretty good though with Robert Keith as the commander of the MASH unit and Keenan Wynn as the top sergeant in the place. MASH the television series always turned deadly serious in the operating room and the same here. Nice action sequences as well.

Philip Ahn has a small bit as a frightened North Korean prisoner who gets a hold of a live grenade in the operating room. Interesting because it's one of the few times that very capable oriental actor actually played a Korean which was his ancestry.

Humphrey Bogart just doesn't gel with June Allyson though. She would rather have had Van Johnson and of course Bogey would have had Betty if he had his druthers. So would have I.