Film #8 of the December Challenge

My history teacher always finds the most obscure films. And they're never good. Typical 50s camp, with little redeemable aspects or entertainment value. The story is laden with clichés, an overall quality is poor all around. I mean... Just look at the poster. Avoid.

Very dull and also problematic film with nothing interesting in direction, writing or performances. The picture quality on the dvd was also terrible, and the sound felt like a third generation tape recording. I took almost two months to finish this.

A highly watchable - and implausible - slice of Civil War melodrama from a crew that outguns the cast in terms of talent. It was the fate of every post-1939 film of this kind to be compared to Gone With the Wind, and of course this comes up short in every department, but the tragic Barbara Payton makes for a feisty heroine and there is a terrific action set piece featuring the bombardment of two locomotives by rebel cannonfire.

Very dull and also problematic film with nothing interesting in direction, writing or performances. The picture quality on the dvd was also terrible, and the sound felt like a third generation tape recording. I took almost two months to finish this.

The split of West Point soldiers and friends along their geographical heritage prior to the Civil War, and the subsequent versus of each other in the Civil War is one of my favorite footnotes of history. The literary dynamic of such close friends now turned enemies. Generals fighting against each other's armies. They didn't ask for it, but duty and fate has pulled them along to the front lines and cannonade.

This film goes there, but not near as much as I'd like. It does pit two West Point bunkies against each other. But the potential for interesting internal conflict is stymied because neither realizes it's the other that they are fighting. So the battle between the high ground johnny rebs and the low ground billy yanks leaves each side a faceless army. There's no personal feelings one side attaches to the other.

At least it ends on a somewhat Shakespearean note.

A puzzling civil war yarn with a great cast and crew that should've been great, but laughably bad. How they released this with a straight face is beyond this viewer. The star is for Barbara Payton who literally lived a life of self destruction and perhaps it was because of this mess of a film. It's hard to believe that this was directed by W. C. Menzies, scored by Tiomkin, written by Yordan & Harmon, and photographed by Lindon. Career lows for all involved.

Highly implausible Civil War story. You've got to laugh at many of the events the writers of this screenplay concocted.

Film #8 of the December Challenge

My history teacher always finds the most obscure films. And they're never good. Typical 50s camp, with little redeemable aspects or entertainment value. The story is laden with clichés, an overall quality is poor all around. I mean... Just look at the poster. Avoid.