Customer Reviews

Red Badge of Courage [VHS]

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4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This movie is a Matthew Brady photo come to life. While it is true that the leads, Audie Murphy and Bill Mauldin, were not professional actors, they were cast for their wonderful faces and the fact that they had actually been through a recent war. Considering what Murphy had been through, his innocence and boyishness is a joy to behold. And they are surrounded by pros such as Andy Devine, Bill Easton and Royal Dano - as well as the usual Huston cronies. It has many moving vignettes - the captured Rebs being questioned by their Yankee peers, Andy Devine, as the jolly soldier, leading Murphy back to his unit, the General falling to prayer before battle, Murphy confessing his cowardice to Mauldin, the General promising to have supper with the men, etc...

The narration was added later because the studio had no confidence in Murphy being able to convey the story. This was years before Hollywood understood how effective non-professionals could be if directed properly. The studio also hated the General's high-pitched voice and so dubbed in a different actor and, of course, the complete butchering of whole scenes which reduced the movie to about 55 minutes.

With all its faults, this is one of Huston's true beauties.

John Huston directed this film adaptation of the famous Steven Crane
novel. As soon as it was finished, he left to work on The African
Queen, leaving the editing in the hands of the studio. But it was
1951, the height of the McCarthy era. There was a movement in this
country against anti-war films. And so the film was cut to a mere 69
minutes, which put it into the category of a "B" movie to be
shown only as a second feature. That was a full fifty years ago, and
in spite of the supposed butchering job on the cutting room floor, the
film definitely has stood the test of time. Of course I will never
know what the original was supposed to be. And I haven't even read the
novel. But I sure am glad I saw this video.

I understand that Steven
Crane wrote the book in 1894, which was a full thirty years after the
Civil War. He was 22 years old at the time and had never actually been
in a battle himself. He was trying to say something about war and
courage and human nature rather than about the specific war. And so
his work is unique among the vast body of writings about that awful
period of history that tore at the heart and soul of our
country.

Audie Murphy stars as The Youth and, with the exception of
Andy Devine who has a small role lasting no more than a minute, the
rest of the cast are unknowns. They all portray Union soldiers and we
first see them bored and anxious to fight a battle. They brag about
their courage and how they all intend to stand firm in the heat of
battle. The Youth has his doubts and the tension mounts as the
inevitable battle tests them all. Frightened, The Youth flees. Later
though, he returns and proves his manhood. The story is as simple as
that.

There is also a narrator in the story, reading excerpts from the
pen of Steven Crane. The language is beautiful and adds depth to the
simple conversations of the soldiers. The black and white photography
is grainy and much of it is shot in shadow, adding to the intimacy and
the authenticity of the film. There was a literary rhythm to it all
and it added intensity.

The role called for excellent acting and Audie
Murphy was perfect. I understand that in real life he won national
fame as the most decorated GI in WW2, winning 45 medals. He led a
turbulent life, plagued by what is now known as post traumatic stress
syndrome. A compulsive gambler, he won and lost fortunes, was addicted
to prescription sleeping pills and was once acquitted of attempted
murder charges stemming from a fistfight. But all that came later. In
1951, he was perfect for the role of The Youth. Recommended

Red Badge is an example of a great film that the Hollywood studio system almost destroyed, and did chop to pieces. Huston's masterpiece was originally longer. Studio bosses opposed his casting and script; they rearranged scenes and, yet, could not ruin the overall quality that Audie Murphy and John Huston created. Two books tell the story of Audie's best movies: PICTURE by Lillian Ross, and A THINKER'S DAMN by William Russo. Each recounts in extraordinary detail how great movies are made--and then unmade. Read them to understand Audie's movies better.

The Youth (Audie Murphy) finds his first taste of battle to be more than he'd bargained for.

Although it's over fifty-years-old, John Huston's adaptation of Stephen Crane's THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE holds up remarkably well. Crane's novel of youth, written when Crane was in his early twenties, is an exploration of the nature of courage as measured in the crucible of battle. Civil War battle, to be exact. The Youth - that's how he's listed in the credits - along with the Loud Soldier (Bill Mauldin,) the Tall Soldier (John Dierkes,) and the rest of his regiment are marching to the battlefield shortly after the movie opens.

The `red badge' in the title is a battle scar, proof to the world - and yourself - that you have sufficient courage to belong. Whether that type of physical courage is today so highly and universally esteemed is debatable. Certainly Mauldin and especially Murphy, two still-youth heroes of the Second World War, won't resonate with later audiences. Mauldin enlisted in the army in 1940, and while in the service created the cartoon characters Willie and Joe, two average GIs fighting in Europe. Willie and Joe appeared in Stars and Stripes and won for Mauldin the Pulitzer Prize in 1945. Murphy was the most decorated combat American combat soldier of the war. Mauldin and Murphy's real-life courage was unquestioned, and Huston's use of the two in lead roles in canny. It adds a unique layer of immediacy and realism to the story.

There's a loose-limbed, deep focus, tight close-up look to the film that puts us under the skin of our universal Everyman soldiers. Murphy always seemed somewhat stiff as an actor, but here Huston keeps the dialogue short and concentrates on the darting eyes and pursed lips of the unproven youth. It works surprisingly well. THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE is famous as a butchered film, one the studios took from the director and cut by some twenty minutes. In fact, the running time for this one is a little over an hour, more suitable for a Boston Blackie episode than a major feature release. Huston, the story goes, was outraged but diverted by preliminary work on his next project, The African Queen. This is probably all so, but whoever did the re-cut knew what they were doing. The finished product is a trim, muscular story that benefits from its brevity.

John Houston's story of a young Union soldier who overcomes his fear of battle is wonderful. Audie Murphy's portrayal is stirring and quite lifelike, the movie doesn't portray any super human motives, but a simple soldier who is quite naturally scared going into battle and overcomes his fear. However, Houston doesn't allow Murphy's character to get into excessive machoism either, as he finds out that many of his comrades did the same thing he did, turn and run. Had the movie execs not chopped this movie up, it could have been even better. As it is, it's a bit too short and lacking in details such as the battles portrayed in the movie patterned after a real battle. The unit portrayed isn't even mentioned until the end of the movie. It would have been fun to follow Murphy's character's unit through the war.

One of John Huston's better films(and that is saying a lot) the studio re cut this into what he called "A ...damn mess." Well even in this mess a great masterpiece has been formed. Audie Murphy(World War II's most decorated hero and only in his teen's I believe) plays the youth of the story and brings more talent than anyone ever gave him credit for to the role. You see the fear of battle in him and you can feel it through the screen also. His reaction to cannon and rifle fire remind me of my uncle who served in Nam and how he reacted to the sounds of battle after that.In this day and age of DVD's someone should try to find the lost footage to this and re cut it like Mr. Huston wanted it done so we can all see that Mr. Murphy was more than just a hero, he was a very talented actor who wasn't given the due he should have gotten while he was with us.

Butchered by studio heads after director John Huston had wrapped production and left to make THE AFRICAN QUEEN, this is one of Huston's finest pictures and a terrific adaptation of Stephen Crane's great Civil War novel. Audie Murphy plays Henry Fleming, the Union soldier who talks the talk about seeing action for the first time, but can't walk the walk when it finally comes, and flees in the middle of battle.

Huston had filmed two battle scenes, though they were combined into one by the film editors; it's still the highlight of the picture and among the best battle scenes ever filmed, thanks mainly to the excellent photography by Harold Rosson. The original version that Huston shot is apparently lost forever, but this shortened one is still an excellent piece of movie making. Because the movie was so short, the studio sent it out as a "B" picture; considered as such it's probably the best "B" picture ever made.

The classic book brought to the big screen with Audie Murphy as "the boy" is excellent. When you are embarrassed that you haven't read the classic you can always resort to this movie version to become enlightened by the strong character interaction on a true modern day combat issue. Even those who are "black-and-white" challenged, like my kids, once they discover the characters in the movie they watch the movie to the end.

"Red Badge Of Courage" was a film destined to fail from its inception. Louis B. Mayer never wanted the picture to be made and did what he could to discourage the process. He felt it could never be a commercial success without female characters or established stars. Mayer expressed his views directly to John Huston, he said, "It has no story and won't make a cent!"

When the film was finally completed, the test screenings were a failure. Houston remarked: "With the Red Badge of Courage, I quite understood at the time why they took the steps they did. I was present at a preview when damn near a third of the audience got up and walked out of the theatre."

Various edits were tried without the participation of Huston, who was working on the "African Queen" with Bogart and Hepburn, and seemed to not give a damn. All that resulted was a picture that got shorter and shorter. The final release version is 69 minutes. The original cut was of 95 minutes, not two hours as has been suggested.

"...they cut out one scene that was probably the best in the picture, in a way of anticlimax. The monumental death of the tall soldier. The boy and the tattered soldier walk away down the hill, and the tattered fellow says, "I've never seen a feller die like that." He begins to ramble and begins to walk around in circles then dies himself. This was the most extraordinary moment in the picture as far as I was concerned. It wouldn't have made any difference so far as the audience was concerned. They still walked out in the middle of the picture."

The footage that was extracted was from the master negative. It was discarded to the floor of the editing suite and thrown away as useless. There are no records of any of the cut scenes or extra footage surviving.

Louis B. Mayer dispatched a second unit to Huston's ranch. The second unit was to film the battle scenes in Technicolor using the Cinematographic process: MGM Camera 65. Louis B. Mayer, at his most vindictive, shot footage that would eventually be used in future productions with the full knowledge of Huston.

As the problems mounted, Huston's enthusiasm for the project waned and he started to gravitate towards his next project. Huston never re-visited "Red Badge Of Courage". It is assumed he was never happy with the film in its original form or its release version and was happy for the film to fade into annals of film history.

Only after watching this movie did I realize that Audie Murphy is the most decorated soldier in WWII and hence an excellent choice for portraying a war hero. This movie is unusual in two aspects.

First, the theme may not be politically correct then - the reflection of a soldier amid battles of combat. Yet it echoes well with the present sentiments about a war - whether or not it is worth fighting in the first place. Thus, this movie was different from the war movies made back in the 40s and 50s where courage and good cause come naturally. The movie would have been much better received if it was to be released now.

Second, the cinematography is excellent and the combat scenes of the civil war in the open land are well captured. Apart from a brief appearance of a young woman as the Army marched past the civilians' residence, the movie showed only the soldiers and the not so advanced machinery. John Huston's fingerprints were all over the film with his signature portrayal of someone ordinary caught in the middle of something big (like Humphery Bogart in African Queen) The movie reveals the vulnerability of human beings and that courage develops over time. A fresh break from the present heavy armoured, special effects laden movie