What Price Glory (1952)

Information from IMDb

Plot Summary
In 1918 France, Captain Flagg commands a disreputable company of Marines;
his new top sergeant is his old friendly enemy, Quirt.
The two men become rivals for the favors of fair innkeeper's daughter Charmaine,
but the rivalry goes into reverse when Charmaine proves to be angling for a husband.
When the company is ordered to the front, this comedy interlude gives way
to the grim realities of war.
Written by Rod Crawford

Full Cast
James Cagney ... Capt. Flagg
Corinne Calvet ... Charmaine
Dan Dailey ... 1st Sgt. Quirt
William Demarest ... Cpl. Kiper
Craig Hill ... Lt. Aldrich
Robert Wagner ... Pvt. Lewisohn
Marisa Pavan ... Nicole Bouchard
Max Showalter ... Lt. Moore (as Casey Adams)
James Gleason ... Gen. Cokely
Wally Vernon ... Lipinsky
Henri Letondal ... Cognac Pete
Luis Alberni ... Grand Uncle (uncredited)
Olga Andre ... Sister Clothilde (uncredited)
Tina Blagoi ... Mrs. Bouchard (uncredited)
Danny Borzage ... Gilbert (uncredited)
George Bruggeman ... German Lieutenant (uncredited)
Frederic Brunn ... German Officer (uncredited)
Paul Bryar ... Charmaine's Uncle (uncredited)
Harry Carter ... Runner (uncredited)
Ann Codee ... Nun (uncredited)
George Davis ... Uncle (uncredited)
Michael Dugan ... Aide General (uncredited)
Charles B. Fitzsimons ... Capt. Wickham (uncredited)
Paul Fix ... Gowdy (uncredited)
Scott Forbes ... Lt. Bennett (uncredited)
Arno Frey ... German Officer (uncredited)
Don Garner ... Young Marine (uncredited)
Louis J. Gasnier ... Brother (uncredited)
William Henry ... Holsen (uncredited)
Ray Hyke ... Mulcany (uncredited)
Stan Johnson ... Lt. Cunningham (uncredited)
Billy Jones ... Young Marine (uncredited)
Fred Kennedy ... Young Marine (uncredited)
Henry Kulky ... Company Cook (uncredited)
Fred Libby ... Lt. Schmidt (uncredited)
Arlyn E. Loynd ... Marine Recruit (uncredited)
Lee MacGregor ... Young Marine (uncredited)
Chad Mallory ... Runner (uncredited)
Sean McClory ... Lt. Austin (uncredited)
Louis Mercier ... Bouchard (uncredited)
Torben Meyer ... Mayor (uncredited)
Richard Monahan ... Young Marine (uncredited)
Harry Morgan ... Sgt. Moran (uncredited)
Barry Norton ... Priest (uncredited)
James O'Hara ... Young Soldier (uncredited)
Peter Ortiz ... French General (uncredited)
Jack Pennick ... Ferguson (uncredited)
Richard Shackleton ... Marine Recruit (uncredited)
Mickey Simpson ... Military Policeman (uncredited)
Tom Tyler ... Capt. Davis (uncredited)
Ken Williams ... Young Marine (uncredited)
William Yetter Sr. ... German Officer (uncredited)
Alfred Zeisler ... German Colonel (uncredited)

Writing Credits
Phoebe Ephron (screenplay) and
Henry Ephron (screenplay)
Maxwell Anderson (play) and
Laurence Stallings (play)

Original Music
Alfred Newman

Cinematography
Joseph MacDonald

Trivia
This version uses almost no dialogue from the original play and was originally intended to be a musical.

The melody "Charmaine" (Rapee/Pollock), specially written for the 1928 version of the film, was incorporated into the soundtrack music following a best-selling version record by Mantovani making the charts in 1951

Goofs
Anachronisms
Captain Flagg's command was referred to M Company, 5th Marines. In WWI Marine Companies were numbered. Prior to WWI they served independently with battalions and above were ad hoc organizations. 5th Marines should 5th Regiment. The change from Regiment to Marines wouldn't come until the 30s.

Continuity
When Flagg and Quirt crawl through the lines in search of prisoners, Flagg picks up a German helmet and places it on his head. In the next sequence he is bare headed but he wears it in the farm house.

Factual errors
Capt Flagg's unit is part of the US Marines, which is completely independent of the US Army. Nevertheless, references are made to "the Army" and individual men are referred to as "soldier", which is a term used to refer to men serving in the Army and would be taken as an insult by a Marine.

Revealing mistakes
Pvt. Lewisohn (Robert Wagner) blinks once after dying..

Memorable Quotes

Filming Location
20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

What Price Glory is a 1952 World War I film based
on a 1924 play by Maxwell Anderson and Laurence Stallings,
though it used virtually none of Anderson's dialogue.
Originally intended as a musical, it was filmed as a straight comedy,
and released by 20th Century Fox
on 22 August 1952 in the U.S.
The film stars James Cagney and Dan Dailey as US Marines in World War I.

User Review

Quote

Not very compelling, not much like Marines either
3 March 2006 | by Dave Navarre
Well, despite having made "The Sands of Iwo Jima", John Ford made a movie about World War I Marines that doesn't really seem to be about Marines at all. I'm not a student of World War I Marine slang, but it seemed odd for Captain Flagg to pronounce Sergeant Quirt his "Top Soldier" and for Marines to refer to each other as soldiers. Despite the fact that they under French command, I found it odd for them to refer to being in the Army, since they are in the Corps. Go figure.

The two combat scenes are amateurish, even by Ford's standards. The acting is not convincing (except when Robert Wagner dies and Cagney manages not to over-act it) and while you can believe the two main characters don't like each other at the beginning, you never believe there's some odd tie binding them together. The character development is relatively tame, with only Wagner and Harry Morgan (Colonel Potter as a Marine Corporal and quartermaster!) showing any depth among the minor Marine characters.

Dan Dailey does play a convincing loud, parade ground senior NCO. He conveys the conniving and womanizing well, but when he is supposed to have finally fallen for the French beauty, it's hard to believe. Cagney plays merely a caricature of the hard-bitten, seen-it-all Marine. His final scene neither convinces you he considers staying or that the Corps means so much to him that he has to go.

The worst part is when a wounded Marine shouts out the title of the movie. It's something along the lines of "Are you going to get in the game, Captain? There's two minutes left and we need a hero. What price glory, Captain? What price glory?" One can imagine that delivered stirringly by a character whose motivation we understand, but instead, it is shouted by a nameless face with only a crazed look. It also would help if the Captain had been portrayed as a glory hound instead of drunken, war-weary yet sympathetic. I guess they had to get the name of the movie in somehow....

I was trying to imagine John Ford's World War I and was sadly disappointed that it wasn't more moving.

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Quote from Colorado Bob

Although I have not seen this film, I don't think I would put too much stock into what the reviewer (Dave Navarre) has to say. Especially since he made the mistake of crediting Sands of Iwo Jima to John Ford when it was Alan Dwan who directed Sands and not Ford.

Interestingly, Ford also directed a stage play of What Price Glory around this same time (give or take a few years), that featured John Wayne, Ward Bond, Maureen O'Hara, and several other members of the John Ford Stock Company.

I agree with you Bob, it was a bit stupid of the reviewer,
but worth posting for the reaction