Films of the 50's Part 9: War! What Is It Good For?

Night and Fog (1955, Alain Resnais)

Possibly the most devastating thirty minutes of film I’ve ever seen exist in the French documentary called Night and Fog. Released on the 10th anniversary of the end of the war, I’d imagine that emotions were still running high, and that several of the images seen in the film were quite shocking to the viewing public. The title comes from a division of the Nazi government that rounded up dissidents and threw them into camps. They would get an “N / N” painted on the backs of their coats, representing “Nacht und Nebel.”

Night and Fog is a powerful marriage of three elements, visuals, which are a mix of stock war footage and shots of the camps in 1955, stark and riveting narration by Michel Bouquet, off a script written by Gusen concentration camp survivor Jean Cayrol, and an indelibly moving score by Hanns Eisler, regular collaborator of Bertolt Brecht, whose music was banned by the Nazis. Eisler fled to the states during the war. Night and Fog was one of the first, and possibly one of the more shocking, revelations of wartime atrocities and the Holocaust put into mass media.

Something that struck me while watching this short film is that the images of the abandoned camps, the overgrown weeds covering the train tracks leading to the camp buildings, the empty wooden bunks, and the gas chambers, all telling stories through a haunting absence. These absences can’t help but evoke overwhelming feelings of despair for humanity. It is most likely because of this that French schools required their students to watch Night and Fog, to understand what happened, and what we need to be ever vigilant to be sure never happens again.

You can see Night and Fog for free on Google Video, as well as read the Criterion collection essays about the film online at Criterion.com.



Mister Roberts (1955, John Ford & Mervyn Le Roy)


From a devastating documentary about the camps to another side of World War II, we have Mister Roberts, a comedy-drama set on a naval cargo ship in the Pacific during the last days of fighting. Henry Fonda stars as the title character, the executive officer that acts as the respected middleman to Lt. Commander Morton, a pain in the ass Captain, played to the hilt by James Cagney. Morton won’t let any of his men out on leave, or ‘liberty’ as they call it in the film. Roberts is constantly trying to get off the cargo ship, looking for a more meaningful assignment on the front lines, writing letter after letter, essentially driving Morton crazy.

Morton and Roberts make a deal. Morton will let the men have their ‘liberty’ as long as Roberts ceases his letter writing campaign to get off the cargo ship. There is an odd, yet effective balance in Mister Roberts. There are serious and heartbreaking moments throughout, especially the bittersweet ending, but the film is punctuated by hilarious comedy, usually involving Ensign Pulver, played by a young Jack Lemmon, who is spectacular in the role, as evidenced by winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

One of the more memorable scenes of the film involves a concoction by Roberts, Pulver and the ship’s doctor to create a bottle of Scotch with some clear alcohol, Coca-Cola, and iodine. Another hilarious moment involves Morton confronting Pulver, asking the ensign how long he’s been aboard the ship (as Pulver has been avoiding the Captain since being on the ship), Pulver hesitates, then hilariously reveals, “Fourteen months, sir.”



Paths of Glory (1957, Stanley Kubrick)

Paths of Glory might not be the most famous film in which Stanley Kubrick and Kirk Douglas teamed up (that would be Spartacus), but I’m not sure it shouldn’t be. The film, based on a novel of the same name, takes place during World War I, and is separated into two distinct parts. The first part involves the taking of the ‘anthill,’ a strategic position that, with the combatants current entrenched positions, would be impossible to reach. The second part involves a trial, a court martial of four soldiers accused of mutiny.

Much like one aspect of Night and Fog, Paths of Glory displays the vast difference between the worlds of power and the worlds of the ‘expendable.’ The French General Broulard, played by Adolphe Menjou, orders General Mireau on a suicide mission to take the ‘anthill.’ While at first resistant, he is swayed by the offer of a promotion. Mireau then orders Colonel Dax, played by Douglas, who is also hesitant, but a devoted soldier, intent on carrying out his duties. The attack goes badly, with many killed, and one whole company, led by a cowardly lieutenant, refusing to leave their bunkers. Mireau actually orders, from his cushy station behind lines, the bombing of his own men to get them out of the bunkers. Dax goes back for the company, meaning to spur them into action, but it pushed back into the bunker by a falling French soldier, and by then it is too late.

Furious, Mireau wants to have 100 men executed for mutiny, but General Broulard scales it back down to three to make an example. The three are to be chosen by lot, one from each company, but they’re actually chosen for different reasons. One is chosen for witnessing his cowardly commander mistakenly kill his own soldier, one for being an outsider, and the final actually by lot. Dax feels the entire affair is preposterous and offers to represent the three soldiers during the trial. The rest of the film finds Dax trying to save the three ‘mutinous’ soldiers from the firing squad, but we find that common sense has no place in war. What is truly sad about this is that it was based on a true story, including the General ordering an attack on his own troops.



Operation Petticoat (1959, Blake Edwards)

Cary Grant and Tony Curtis team up in one of Blake Edwards’ early comedy films, Operation Petticoat. Grant shows up to see the decommissioning of his old vessel, the Sea Tiger, a World War II submarine. While waiting for its current captain, he finds his old logbook and begins to reminisce about his war days aboard the ship, and that’s where the hilarity ensues. We are quickly introduced to Matt Sherman, played by Grant, and one of his crew, Nick Holden, played by Curtis. Holden shows up in dress whites, much to the amusement of the crew of the Sea Tiger, but it turns out he’s not in the military out of duty, but as a way to meet a rich wife. He also turns out to be a masterful con man, someone who can procure difficult to get items, becoming an asset Sherman never anticipated.

The two work well with each other, which is assuredly helped by the fact that Curtis idolized Grant, and saw Grant as the inspiration for his entering the acting business. Already having trouble with the submarine (one engine continually backfires, which seems somewhat impossible, but funny), they end up taking on five attractive female passengers, which ruffles the feathers of the somewhat by-the-book Sherman, and even more hilarity ensues. Amazingly, Curtis starred in two of the funniest and more successful films of that war, this one and Some Like it Hot.

Operation Petticoat moves a bit slowly, and isn’t necessarily laugh-out-loud funny, but is endlessly watchable. The stars are charismatic and there are plenty of signature moments to take with you after its over, not the least of which is the one in which Curtis needs to procure paint for the sub, but is only able to get half of what they need in red, and half in white. You can guess what happens from there. Operation Petticoat is one of those films you’d call a ‘fun romp,’ and certainly puts the heavy messages of these other war films into perspective. While the somewhat similar Mister Roberts still displayed some of the seriousness of war, Operation Petticoat is all humor, a lighthearted look at the absurdities that can surround military life.