Battleground

William A. Wellman delivers a powerful film in Battleground (1949), one of the best war movies ever. Though its "grunt's-eye view" of the Battle of the Bulge isn't particularly novel, its excellent script and cast, and its feeling of stark, desolate reality, make it a standout in its genre.

Soldiers in the 101st Airborne Division, encamped on the Belgian frontier, are flush with victory and expecting a fun Christmas in Paris. Unfortunately, Germany launches their Ardennes Offensive, and the 101st is ordered to occupy the key town of Bastogne, putting them in the thick of the fighting.

People who think that "realistic" war films originated with Platoon or Saving Private Ryan need to see Battleground, which obtains gritty believability without the faux-"realism" provided by the gory violence and goddamned shaky cam of modern films. I don't deign to judge a war film as realistic, but this movie seems a lot more real than most of its counterparts. Its GIs are simple grunts on the front line struggling to stay alive: one character, reading Stars and Stripes, acidly notes that the folks back home have a better picture of what's going on than them. The only speechifying is a short but powerful sermon by an Army chaplain (Leon Ames), bluntly explaining why victory over Nazism is imperative. On the front lines, ideology is secondary to survival.

The movie scores through a series of grim, telling details: Private Roderigues (Ricardo Montalban) is left behind and trapped under his own army's artillery; various characters marching with feet bound in rags; a soldier killed trying to gain a dead colleague's boots. Soldiers are economically established, obtaining a chummy rapport that turns into grim professionalism under fire. Battle scenes are frenetic, confused fire-fights in the forest, between men who can hardly see each other. The elements - in this case, a massive snow storm - are just dangerous as the Nazis, even those who disguise themselves as GIs. Acts of "movie" heroism are limited: one character makes a disastrous mistake and doesn't get to rectify it. The best scene involves Holley (Van Johnson) fleeing in the middle of a firefight, only to be shamed into heroism by an unknowing Private.

Wellman's direction is modest but effective. That the movie was shot on studio backlots actually enhances the drama; combined with the stark black-and-white photography and snow-bound art direction, the movie has a unique feel of claustrophobia and desolation. The largely unseen enemy, the vast expanse of the snowy Ardennes, and the mixture of monotony and terror are all potently real. A few expert montages - namely of the 101st putting freshly-dropped supplies to use - help move things along without overuse. Lennie Hayton's minimalist music score is equally effective.

Van Johnson (The Caine Mutiny) convincingly puts aside his pretty boy persona, playing a grouchy loafer who becomes a reluctant hero. The rest of the cast is equally fine. Actors like James Whitmore (Them!), James Arness (Hondo), Leon Ames (They Were Expendable), Ricardo Montalban (Cheyenne Autumn) and Richard Jaeckal (3:10 to Yuma) were often badly-used, but they all shine here.

Battleground is probably as great a tribute to the American fighting man, and as believable a depiction of World War II, as Hollywood has ever produced. All that, and it's damned entertaining to boot.