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Journey's End

1930, Movie, NR, 130 mins

Journey's End: Review

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Long before this poignant and powerful antiwar story reached the screen, it became a British institution as a long-running play. Set during WW I, most of the action takes place in an underground bunker set in the trenches of the Western Front. Clive is a commander of troops who merely waits for orders to take a few feet of ground and then sees his men die in a stalemated war, a hopeless, thankless fate where all is doom. He cannot bear to give orders that will take more lives, so he takes to drinking heavily. He begins to argue with his second-in-command, Maclaren, who is losing faith in him, and he works over Manners, who is the brother of the girl he loves. In one scene Bushell, who is about to crack under the strain of battle, pretends he is ill and insists upon going on sick call to escape the next attack. Clive sees through this act and confronts the young soldier with his cowardice so that he turns Bushell around. Clive then sends him into combat, which further aggravates his sense of guilt. In another scene, Clive intercepts a letter Manners has written his sister, one in which he believes Manners has vilified him. But the captain learns that Manners has nothing but respect for him and, in his letter, relates how Clive is the best loved commander at the front. Bevan and Gerrard are the comic clowns of the company, but they can infuse little humor in a film that is by its nature depressing and even morose. Clive's incredible performance and Whale's tight direction lift this histrionic tale above the average. It's a cliche now, but the early talkie rendering still remains a historic work that should be studied merely for the early-day techniques it offers. Whale would go on to make such monster classics as FRANKENSTEIN (1931), which starred Clive, THE OLD DARK HOUSE (1932), and BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1935). Remade as ACES HIGH in 1976. leave a comment
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