What Price Glory?

Starring:James Cagney, Corinne Calvet, Dan Dailey, William Demarest, Craig Hill, Robert Wagner, Marisa Pavan, Max Showalter, James Gleason, Wally Vernon, Henri Letondal, Paul Guilfoyle, Danny Borzage, Luis Alberni, Olga Andre, Alfred Zeisler, Paul Fix, Mickey Simpson, Michael Dugan, Barry Norton
Director: John Ford
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Product Type: DVD

Description

James Cagney and Dan Dailey are soldiers during World War I, fighting for the same lovely French woman. Phoebe and Henry Ephron wrote the script.

Customer Reviews:

......Semper Fidelis at its Best.............2007-04-06

I happen to love this Marine film...it appealed to my Marine persona throughout the movie...it may have dwelled on the love interests in the Reserve Area at length, but the mud-Marines and their jargon was real and chippy...I thought Jimmy Gleason stole his scenes while on camera like the old pro he always was...the casting was superb...Bob Wagner and Marisa Pavan were perfectly cast as the young star/crossed lovers caught up in events beyond their control...the great John Ford had his stamp all over the hi/jinks that popped up away from the battlefield as well as Marines in battle/combat... Ford's professional acumen shows clearly the Marine camraderie between the enlisted ranks [young an old] was evident to me; rather than, to rip this war film apart, it had the battle/crest of the type of fighting men Marines are in all wars [past or present] with a few light moments in the Reserve Area with all its human entanglements that are sure to surface to the chagrin of Marine Officers...to this [Korean War] combat Marine, "What Price Glory" rates a 5 star rating of a movie....enjoy this DVD...Semper Fidelis....SSGT CHRIS SARNO-USMC FMF

Uneven Cagney/Ford collaboration.......2006-11-06

I've watched the first five minutes of this movie three times, and I love it. It's 1918 and a straggling company of mud-splattered American Marines are marching through a bleak, barren and blasted landscape, led by Captain Jimmy Cagney. They approach a small French village. One of the men fall out of line to drink a dipper of water. A tall, neat and clean Marine barks "What company is this?" The weary marine treats him with disdain and answers with sarcasm. The barking soldier, top soldier Dan Dailey, is here as a replacement, with green recruit Robert Wagner in tow. Learning who commands the company Dailey tells Wagner they'll wait until the last minute before joining the company - there's obviously some bad blood between Dailey and Cagney. The men continue marching, nearing the village. We see the pretty - heck, gorgeous - inn-keeper's daughter Corrine Calvet race through the deserted streets of the village to get a place to watch the arriving American troops. A company of nattily dressed French soldiers, with band, stand at attention and the band begins to play a rousing march. Cut to a wide shot of the marching marines. Capt. Cagney picks up his head when he hears the music, his body straightens. Fifty feet from the bridge that separates his men from the welcoming French troop Cagney barks an order and the straggley men fall into line and, well, look sharp. The men pass in review - `Eyes... Right!' - and fall out. The film cuts to a young lieutenant who is glaring at Cagney, his face a study in passionate hatred.

This is the way any and every movie should start. In five short minutes, including the time it takes to run the opening titles in the middle of the sequence, we're introduced to the two major characters, Cagney and Dailey, learn they don't like each other, and, with the insertion of the balefully staring lieutenant, guess Cagney is disliked by more than a few of his men. We're even introduced to the soft leg of the movie's romantic triangle with the insertion of the Calvet character. We meet rookie Robert Wagner, the lead player in the movie's romantic subplot. The troops' march into the village is well-conceived, well-cut, and moving. Before I had a chance to settle down I was emotionally invested in this movie.

Unfortunately, it goes downhill from there. Cagney and Dailey, it turns out, have fought together from Antwerp to Zanzibar, both as brothers-in-arms and romantic rivals. They'll spend most of this movie bickering over Calvet. The rivalry is meant to be of the fast paced, screwball variety, but it's too convoluted and contrived - not to mention incredible - to care much about. The film is taken from the Maxwell Anderson stage-play, and for a motion picture it feels strangely stage bound. In movies the camera follows characters, on the stage the actors walk onto a set. An awful lot of the stuff going on here takes place in Cagney's office, or in the inn's bar, or in a field headquarters. And furthermore we're never really introduced to that angry young lieutenant from the first scene, never learn why he hates Cagney so intensely, never learn why WE should have negative feelings about Cagney who seems like a standard issue `love-em-and-leave-em' soldier who'd fallen under the spell of pretty young Calvet. If that angry young lieutenant doesn't get a chance to explain himself he does get to speak the lines in which the play's title is embedded. Cagney's men, rested and brought back up to strength with green recruits - Robert Wagner and others - are back at the front line. They're ordered to capture a German officer for interrogation purposes. Cagney sends out some of the green troops, who don't return. Lieutenant Angry, desperately wounded, writhes on his field sick bed and dares Cagney to capture that German officer himself. It's wordier than that, and a whole lot more serious than the movie prepares us for, and, most importantly, the Lieutenant's rant contains the title of the movie. Heck, we just know Cagney as an aging Lothario, not a mean/vicious/vainglorious/what-have-you commander, and having an overwrought bit player hurl a mouthful of Maxwell Anderson epithets at him is a little much. What price glory, indeed.

What the heck. Reputable sources have it that Ford intended to turn what, I assume, is a Maxwell Anderson anti-war play into a musical. That may not have been such a bad idea. Calvet does sing to the boys in the bar a couple of times, and Wagner gets serenaded by a French girl in a blue beret. The action sequences are bad, the `what price glory' scene is a dud, and generally this one works better when it plays it for comedy rather than drama. WHAT PRICE GLORY isn't an awful movie, especially for those of us who are fans of Cagney and Ford, but it is awfully uneven and static.

Wasted Talent.......2004-12-11

This was a most disappointing movie, considering the cast and director. One can only assume that John Ford was putting most of his energy towards The Quiet Man and not to What Price Glory.

The usual "authenticity" of a John Ford movie was evidently lacking right from the start. When you have marines refer to themselves as "soldiers" it is hard to watch the movie without a great deal of cynicism. The word "soldier" and "army" were bantered about by this group of marines as if they thought they were in the army. I never knew or heard of any marine that would think this way.

The movie seems to ramble without any focus or plot. It appears as if it is a group of individual skits put together and called a movie.

I gave it two stars just because of a great cast. Harry Morgan always contributes solid roles and it is fun to watch a young Robert Wagner. James Cagney is looking his age and not quite credible as a marine who could endure front-line combat.

This movie was well intended, but, as the saying goes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions!

WHAT PRICE GLORY? - ANY BUT THIS!.......2004-05-25

"What Price Glory" is a World War I lover's triangle set against the ravaged backdrop of French countryside circa, 1918. Drama aside, the film is not what one might expect from the directorial giant likes of John Ford. James Cagney is a bit over the hill to be believable as Capt. Flagg, a stoic commander of a motley troupe of conscripts. Flagg's ill at ease postulating does not bode well with his men, so he turns to disrespectful and disreputable Sgt. Quirt (Dan Dailey) for a little bit of hard knock military strength. But the tensions between Flagg and Quirt are pressed to the breaking point when they both fall for the same girl - stop me if you've heard this one before. Strong performances elevate this film above the tripe that - generally - it is.
THE TRANSFER: Frankly, not up to snuff. Although the overall color scheme has retained much of its original luster, the picture quality is a disappointment. There is an excessive amount of film grain and age related artifacts throughout for a not very smooth visual presentation. Fluctuations in color balancing are - at times - severe and distracting. There is a minor amount of digital grit that further detracts from the image. Black levels are weak. Contrast and shadow delineation is poorly balanced for a very unstable looking presentation. The audio has been cleaned up but remains strident sounding and lacking in bass. EXTRAS: As with the other war films in this batch from Fox, you get nothing to augment your experience. BOTTOM LINE: "What Price Glory" isn't recommended either as a war film, or for its transfer quality. Seek satisfying your thirst for conquest elsewhere.

Easy to recommend war movie.......2004-05-08

Taking place in World War I is the James Cagney-Dan Dailey drama "What Price Glory" made in 1952 by the legendary director John Ford. Essentially the movie is a classic love triangle story set against the backdrop of the ravaged French countryside of 1918. Cagney plays the part of Capt. Flagg, a commander in charge of a ragtag group of conscripts who must rely on the brash and disrespectful Sgt. Quirt to whip them into shape. Trouble brews though when Flagg and Quirt both fall for the same girl. The movie is a triumph for all concerned both in strong performances from the actors (including a young Robert Wagner) and a technical masterpiece from the crew. The same cannot be honestly said for the DVD. Although the picture and sound are both acceptable the quality of the overall print shows some wear and there are noticeable fluctuations in the color balance. Still for such a low price it is a title that is easy to recommend.

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