I can't remember the silent version, which I saw years ago. I think it's probably best known for the fact that the cuss words of Captain Flagg and Sergeant Quirt were clearly discernible, even to viewers without advanced training in lip reading. I have no idea what the original play was like.
Ford's version could be described as pointless, energetic, and at times extremely amusing. There are battle scenes, of course, because this romantic triangle between Flagg (Cagney), Quirt (Dailey), and Charmaine (Calvet) is being played out against the muddy background of World War I. But, with a few exceptions, the combat scenes, like the romance, are played for laughs. And not in the black-comedy manner of "Dr. Strangelove," either. (That sort of ridiculous tragedy might be beyond Ford's comprehension.) No, the shots of Dailey and Cagney crawling through the mud of No Man's Land with a German prisoner in tow are funny in themselves. Even when the German is killed by shell fire and Dailey is wounded.
It's in no way a "deep" film. Nothing so banal as "war is hell." And it is certainly not one of those anti-war films in which we bleed, sometimes without purpose, but we always win in the end. Flagg's unit marches off to battle yet again, with some of the men limping from wounds and Flagg himself drunk, but there is no triumphant final clash.
As pure entertainment, it succeeds fully. The Ephrons, who wrote the screenplay, must have had second sight into the interests and talents of Ford, Cagney, and Dailey because they're all superb. The dialog has to be heard to be enjoyed. Waving his finger as if in an Italian opera, Cagney shouts at the heroic Robert Wagner, "Boy -- I'm going to see that you are sent up for a decoration! Furthermore -- I PERSONALLY am going to give you -- TEN FRANCS!" Cagney has never given a more outrageously animated performance, brusque, stomping, marching around, fuming, looking cockeyed. All his mannerisms are here and he plays them to the hilt. Dailey is only a few steps behind him. And Corinne Calvet as the perfidious Charmaine puts what she has into the role but the character, while maddeningly flirtatious, comes across as a little insipid too. How could it be otherwise? Look at the company she's in.
Wagner's love affair with the school-girlish Marissa Pavan is taken seriously, though, and a sappy, sentimental love song is sneaked into the script. Calvet sings a couple of period songs too, but they're mercifully brief. I never cared a fig whether Flagg or Quirt or either of them got to marry Charmaine. And the "what price glory?" speech, given by a seriously wounded Marine, is misdirected at Flagg. Whatever else Flagg may be interested in, it's not glory.
Ford had his demons and was not an easy man to work with, or even necessarily to be acquainted with. In his memoirs, James Cagney recounts some stunt Ford had performed over and over, involving a motorcycle and sidecar plowing into a pile of manure. The gags weren't funny. They were just sadistic and dangerous. And a few years after this release, Ford called Robert Wagner into his office and asked if he was interested in the part of Martin Pawley in the upcoming "The Searchers." Wagner eagerly said yes, and Ford asked why. Wagner explained -- great script, fascinating character, and so on, until Ford replied, "That's too bad because I've already given the part to Jeffery Hunter." The disappointed Wagner was half-way out the door when Ford stopped him. "Do you REALLY want that part badly?" "Yes," said Wagner. Ford said, "But Jeffrey Hunter is going to play it." End of interview.
Ford's Schadenfreude notwithstanding, it's hard to beat this comedy for sheer momentum. When James Gleason, as a Marine General, sweeps into Cagney's office with a map he wants Cagney to examine, the two of them simply brush all the junk on Cagney's desk onto the floor and spread out the map. What kind of mind thinks up such a gesture?
Ford's version could be described as pointless, energetic, and at times extremely amusing. There are battle scenes, of course, because this romantic triangle between Flagg (Cagney), Quirt (Dailey), and Charmaine (Calvet) is being played out against the muddy background of World War I. But, with a few exceptions, the combat scenes, like the romance, are played for laughs. And not in the black-comedy manner of "Dr. Strangelove," either. (That sort of ridiculous tragedy might be beyond Ford's comprehension.) No, the shots of Dailey and Cagney crawling through the mud of No Man's Land with a German prisoner in tow are funny in themselves. Even when the German is killed by shell fire and Dailey is wounded.
It's in no way a "deep" film. Nothing so banal as "war is hell." And it is certainly not one of those anti-war films in which we bleed, sometimes without purpose, but we always win in the end. Flagg's unit marches off to battle yet again, with some of the men limping from wounds and Flagg himself drunk, but there is no triumphant final clash.
As pure entertainment, it succeeds fully. The Ephrons, who wrote the screenplay, must have had second sight into the interests and talents of Ford, Cagney, and Dailey because they're all superb. The dialog has to be heard to be enjoyed. Waving his finger as if in an Italian opera, Cagney shouts at the heroic Robert Wagner, "Boy -- I'm going to see that you are sent up for a decoration! Furthermore -- I PERSONALLY am going to give you -- TEN FRANCS!" Cagney has never given a more outrageously animated performance, brusque, stomping, marching around, fuming, looking cockeyed. All his mannerisms are here and he plays them to the hilt. Dailey is only a few steps behind him. And Corinne Calvet as the perfidious Charmaine puts what she has into the role but the character, while maddeningly flirtatious, comes across as a little insipid too. How could it be otherwise? Look at the company she's in.
Wagner's love affair with the school-girlish Marissa Pavan is taken seriously, though, and a sappy, sentimental love song is sneaked into the script. Calvet sings a couple of period songs too, but they're mercifully brief. I never cared a fig whether Flagg or Quirt or either of them got to marry Charmaine. And the "what price glory?" speech, given by a seriously wounded Marine, is misdirected at Flagg. Whatever else Flagg may be interested in, it's not glory.
Ford had his demons and was not an easy man to work with, or even necessarily to be acquainted with. In his memoirs, James Cagney recounts some stunt Ford had performed over and over, involving a motorcycle and sidecar plowing into a pile of manure. The gags weren't funny. They were just sadistic and dangerous. And a few years after this release, Ford called Robert Wagner into his office and asked if he was interested in the part of Martin Pawley in the upcoming "The Searchers." Wagner eagerly said yes, and Ford asked why. Wagner explained -- great script, fascinating character, and so on, until Ford replied, "That's too bad because I've already given the part to Jeffery Hunter." The disappointed Wagner was half-way out the door when Ford stopped him. "Do you REALLY want that part badly?" "Yes," said Wagner. Ford said, "But Jeffrey Hunter is going to play it." End of interview.
Ford's Schadenfreude notwithstanding, it's hard to beat this comedy for sheer momentum. When James Gleason, as a Marine General, sweeps into Cagney's office with a map he wants Cagney to examine, the two of them simply brush all the junk on Cagney's desk onto the floor and spread out the map. What kind of mind thinks up such a gesture?