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A Walk in the Sun, 1945 film

Discussion in 'WWII Films & TV' started by belasar, Jun 10, 2020.

  1. belasar

    belasar Court Jester

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    Set in 1943 during the invasion of Salerno, Italy, a platoon of the 36th Infantry division lands and moves forward to attack a important Italian farmhouse. As a film this is for me a odd duck, though the Library of Congress and the National Film Registry deem it a important film. At times it feels like a film of a stage play, often static, with events taking place off screen and reflected in the expressions and words of the cast. Movies are the most visual of mediums, but this film seems to go out of its way to minimize this.

    A movie about emotions rather than action, it uses the belt and suspenders.....and another belt approach to telling the story. First a narrator tells us what the men are feeling and thinking, then the actors do the same followed by a short, slow and mournful song sung about those feelings. The pacing is very slow and found myself checking the clock more than once, a sure sign of a boring movie. The men move a ways, talking about their fears and hopes, then stop to again talk about these very same things, then rinse and repeat.

    Some of these men are supposed to be combat veterans, but they do incomprehensible things, the cluster together inviting a single artillery or mortar shell to wipe out the entire platoon. They march into enemy territory with rifles slung over their shoulders, making a lot of noise with whistle blasts and loud orders, when they stop to rest they seem to take little or no precautions to avoid a enemy attack ore ambush.

    Despite a good cast I can't find much of a positive to say about this film.
    330px-A_Walk_in_the_Sun_(1946_poster).jpg
     
    Sheldrake and Slipdigit like this.
  2. Slipdigit

    Slipdigit Good Ol' Boy Staff Member WW2|ORG Editor

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    I fully agree with this assessment.

    5/10 - Probably will not watch again unless the TV is broken and won't change off of the channel.
     
  3. George Patton

    George Patton Canadian Refugee

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    Thanks for the review. This was on my "need to watch" list for a few years. I'll skip over it and move on to greener pastures.
     

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