Battleground

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1949 / B&W / 1:37 flat Academy / 118 min. / Street Date January 10, 2017 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Van Johnson, John Hodiak, Ricardo Montalban, George Murphy, Marshall Thompson, Don Taylor, James Whitmore, Douglas Fowley, Leon Ames, Guy Anderson, Denise Darcel, Richard Jaeckel, James Arness

Cinematography: Paul Vogel

Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons, Hans Peters

Film Editor: John D. Dunning

Original Music: Lennie Hayton

Written by: Robert Pirosh

Produced by: Dore Schary

Directed by William A. Wellman

“The Guts, Gags and Glory of a Lot of Wonderful Guys!”

— say, what kind of movie is this, anyway?

Action movies about combat are now mostly about soldiers that fight like killing machines, or stories of battle with a strong political axe to grind. WW2 changed perceptions completely, when a mostly civilian army did the fighting. With the cessation of hostilities combat pictures tapered off quickly, and Hollywood gave the subject a break for several years.