Battle Circus | |
---|---|
Directed by | Richard Brooks |
Written by | Richard Brooks Allen Rivkin Laura Kerr |
Produced by | Pandro S. Berman |
Starring | Humphrey Bogart June Allyson Keenan Wynn Robert Keith |
Cinematography | John Alton |
Edited by | George Boemler |
Music by | Lennie Hayton |
Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release date |
|
Running time | 90 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $1,201,000 [1] |
Box office | $2,362,000 [1] [2] |
Battle Circus is a 1953 American war film directed by Richard Brooks, who also co-wrote the screenplay with married writing duo Laura Kerr and Allen Rivkin. The movie stars Humphrey Bogart and June Allyson, and costars Keenan Wynn and Robert Keith.
The film is set in Korea during the Korean War. Bogart (in his only film for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer [3] ) plays a surgeon and commander of Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) 8666 (shortened to "66" in the dialogue), [4] with Allyson playing a newly arrived nurse. Despite initial obstacles, their love flourishes against a background of war, enemy attacks, death and injury.
A young Army nurse, Lieutenant Ruth McCara, is newly assigned to the 8666th MASH, a mobile field hospital constantly on the move during the Korean War. Ruth's personal mission is to serve suffering humanity. She initially experiences an uncomfortable welcoming by the unit's hard-drinking, no-nonsense chief surgeon, Major Jed Webbe. Jed engages in a helicopter rescue of army casualties while under fire. He is a much-tried doctor by the continual movement of the outfit due to the changing battle lines. Responsible for the dismantling and re-pitching of the tent hospital is Sergeant Orvil Statt, a former circus roustabout.
At first, Ruth is a bumbling addition to the nurse corps, but she attracts the attention of Jed immediately because of the needless risks she takes. Against her resilience, he continues with sequential passes. After seeing that he is beloved by the unit, she agrees to his advances. He later cautions her that he wants a "no strings" relationship. Ruth is warned by the other nurses of his womanizing ways, and that he is probably married. When she asks him if he has someone else back home, he refuses to answer, and they separate.
When a young Korean child needs special care, Ruth entreats Jed to perform an open-heart operation, despite the reservations of the unit commander, Lieutenant Colonel Hilary Whalters. Jed ends up saving the life of the child. Jed is a relentless taskmaster, demanding Captain John Rustford fly desperately needed blood supplies at night, even in the teeth of a fierce storm. After the helicopter lands safely, Jed goes on a binge, forcing Whalters to tell his chief surgeon either straighten up or ship out. When a now more assured Ruth treats some North Korean prisoners of war, a frightened prisoner with a concealed grenade is calmly disarmed by her soothing words and manner.
After a North Korean advance forces the MASH unit to escape through enemy lines, the lovers are temporarily separated. When the unit's commander is wounded in an attack, Jed has to take command to lead the unit out of danger. Traveling cross-country, he sets out on a perilous journey, attempting to meet up with the nurses who have gone on ahead by rail to a preset rendezvous. Eventually the two caravans safely negotiate the battlefield, and Jed and Ruth are reunited.
As appearing in Battle Circus, (main roles and screen credits identified): [5]
According to Richard Brooks (in an interview filmed for the 1988 Bacall on Bogart documentary), Battle Circus was originally called MASH 66, a title rejected by MGM because the studio thought people would not understand the connection to a military hospital. The title of the film actually refers to the speed and ease with which a MASH unit, with its assemblage of tents, and portable equipment, can, like a circus, pick up stakes and move to where the action is. The film's technical advisor, Col. K. E. Van Buskirk, had commanded one of the first MASH units in Korea, and ensured that the MASH and aerial scenes were authentic. [6]
Brooks also noted that Bogart agreed to do the film because the script's humor, set in a story showing the tragedy of war, would make the film seem more realistic to an audience. Bogart was teamed with an old pal, Keenan Wynn and June Allyson who was also a friend. [7] Allyson was initially afraid of acting with Bogart, but her recent roles in light romantic comedy had typecast her and she was encouraged by the studio to attempt more serious fare. [8]
In retrospect, Bogart did not enjoy working on the film, the least of which was when he burned his left thumb, a scene that was left in the final production. [9] His $250,000 fee was the sole compensation. [8] Bogart told Brooks, a close friend, "let's not make any more movies together." [10]
Principal photography took place on location in Calabasas, California, and Camp Pickett, Virginia, where MASH units trained. The aerial sequences with the Bell 47 helicopters were filmed there. [8] The camp commandant offered the film crews use of the base facilities, including his house for the lead actors, after initial scenes were finished. [11]
The film's sets were designed by the art director James Basevi.
While commending Battle Circus for being a revealing and engrossing wartime drama, reviewers noted that the tepid love story distracted. The review in The New York Times read,
"'Battle Circus' . . . studiously traces a routine wartime romance against an absorbing, often tingling background of a mobile Army surgical hospital at the Korean front. . . . Unfortunately for the general pace and impact, considerable time is allotted to a dawdling and familiar personal drama, the romance of an Army surgeon and a rookie nurse. Even so, at least half of the film bypasses lovelorn conventionality in a commendably graphic tribute to American combat valor. For, in depicting the hairbreadth, makeshift operations of one of these heroic units, channeling its precious cargo to safety under constant exposure to the enemy. Director Richard Brooks has done a dandy job. . . . Whether by compulsion or misguided inspiration, Mr. Brooks' Korea too often reverts to pure redundant Hollywood. But when love gives way to the war at hand, and with Mr. Bogart and Miss Allyson on the go like everybody else, 'Battle Circus' is all it should be." [12]
Bob Thomas of the Associated Press wrote: "'Battle Circus' is a war story that has everything but a plot. The purpose of the film is noble enough: to show the operations of the mobile hospital units in Korea. This is done graphically and with a great deal of excitement. Unfortunately, the only semblance of a plot is a rather whimsical romance between Humphrey Bogart and June Allyson. It's a change of pace for Bogart, who is seldom required to be grim-faced and is actually likable. Little is required of Miss Allyson, but she displays moments of her unique charm." [13]
A retrospective review in TV Guide noted,
"This movie was the forerunner to M*A*S*H , chronicling a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital in the Korean War. Allyson is a self-sacrificing nurse who comes to Korea to serve at Bogart's hospital just a few miles behind the lines. He's attracted to her, and the incongruous romance begins in between his attempts at getting her to stop doing dumb things and taking needless chances. Because the hospital is mobile, it just picks up and moves often, depending on how far the enemy has advanced or retreated. Wynn, a former circus type, knows how to pull up stakes, so he takes care of moving the equipment and providing what little humor there is. . . . Bogart was totally out of place in this role and acted like it. . . . . Singularly undistinguished except for Bogart's presence." [14]
According to MGM records, the film earned $1,627,000 in the US and Canada and $735,000 overseas, resulting in a profit of $265,000. [1]
Humphrey DeForest Bogart, colloquially nicknamed Bogie, was an American actor. His performances in classic Hollywood cinema films made him an American cultural icon. In 1999, the American Film Institute selected Bogart as the greatest male star of classic American cinema.
The Caine Mutiny is a 1954 American military trial film directed by Edward Dmytryk, produced by Stanley Kramer, and starring Humphrey Bogart, José Ferrer, Van Johnson, Robert Francis, and Fred MacMurray. It is based on Herman Wouk's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1951 novel of the same name.
Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals (MASH) were U.S. Army field hospital units conceptualized in 1946 as replacements for the obsolete World War II-era Auxiliary Surgical Group hospital units. MASH units were in operation from the Korean War to the Gulf War before being phased out in the early 2000s. Each MASH unit had 60 beds, as well as surgical, nursing, and other enlisted and officer staff available at all times. MASH units filled a vital role in military medicine by providing support to army units upwards of 10,000 to 20,000 soldiers. These units had a low mortality rate compared to others, as the transportation time to hospitals was shorter, resulting in fewer patients dying within the "Golden Hour", the first hour after an injury is first sustained, which is referred to in trauma as the "most important hour". The U.S. Army deactivated the last MASH unit on February 16, 2006, and the successors to Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals are combat support hospitals.
Hiester Richard Hornberger Jr. was an American writer and surgeon who wrote under the pseudonym Richard Hooker. Hornberger's best-known work is his novel MASH (1968), based on his experiences as a wartime United States Army surgeon doctor during the Korean War (1950–1953) and written in collaboration with W.C. Heinz. It was used as the basis for an award-winning, critically and commercially successful movie – M*A*S*H (1970) — and two years later in an acclaimed long running television series (1972–1983) of the same title.
Trapper John, M.D. is an American medical drama television series and spin-off of the film M*A*S*H (1970). Pernell Roberts portrayed the title character, a lovable surgeon who became a mentor and father figure in San Francisco, California. The show ran on CBS for seven seasons, from September 23, 1979, to September 4, 1986. Roberts played the character more than twice as long as had Wayne Rogers (1972–75) on the TV series M*A*S*H. The role of Trapper John was played by Elliott Gould in the film.
M*A*S*H is an American media franchise consisting of a series of novels, a film, several television series, plays, and other properties, and based on the semi-autobiographical fiction of Richard Hooker.
Charles Van Dell Johnson was an American film, television, theatre and radio actor. He was a major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer during and after World War II.
Sahara is a 1943 American action war film directed by Zoltán Korda and starring Humphrey Bogart as an American tank commander in Libya who, along with a handful of Allied soldiers, tries to defend an isolated well with a limited supply of water from a German Afrika Korps battalion during the Western Desert Campaign of World War II.
To Have and Have Not is a 1944 American romantic war adventure film directed by Howard Hawks, loosely based on Ernest Hemingway's 1937 novel of the same name. It stars Humphrey Bogart, Walter Brennan and Lauren Bacall; it also features Dolores Moran, Hoagy Carmichael, Sheldon Leonard, Dan Seymour, and Marcel Dalio. The plot, centered on the romance between a freelancing fisherman in Martinique and a beautiful American drifter, is complicated by the growing French resistance in Vichy France.
"Yankee Doodle Doctor" is an episode of the television series M*A*S*H. It was the sixth episode broadcast and aired on October 22, 1972, and it was rerun April 8, 1973. It was written by Laurence Marks and directed by Lee Philips.
MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors is a 1968 novel written by Richard Hooker with the assistance of writer W.C. Heinz. It is notable as the foundation of the M*A*S*H franchise, which includes a 1970 feature film and a long-running TV series (1972–1983). The novel is about a fictional U.S. Mobile Army Surgical Hospital in Korea during the Korean War.
Passage to Marseille, also known as Message to Marseille, is a 1944 American war film made by Warner Brothers, directed by Michael Curtiz. The screenplay was by Casey Robinson and Jack Moffitt from the novel Sans Patrie by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall. The music score was by Max Steiner and the cinematography was by James Wong Howe.
Don't Go Near the Water is a 1957 American comedy film about a U.S. Navy public relations unit stationed on an island in the Pacific Ocean during World War II. It is an adaptation of the 1956 novel of the same name by William Brinkley. Glenn Ford and Gia Scala star. This is the first of several service comedies that Ford appeared in after the huge success of The Teahouse of the August Moon. The movie was very successful and further solidified Ford's reputation as an adept comedic actor.
Dr. Simon Locke is a Canadian medical drama that was syndicated to television stations in the United States from 1971 to 1974 through the sponsorship of Colgate-Palmolive.
Men of the Fighting Lady is a 1954 American war drama film directed by Andrew Marton and starring Van Johnson, Walter Pidgeon, Louis Calhern and Keenan Wynn. The screenplay was written by U.S. Navy Commander Harry A. Burns, who had written a Saturday Evening Post article, "The Case of the Blinded Pilot", an account of a U.S. Navy pilot in the Korean War, who saves a blinded Navy pilot by talking him down to a successful landing. Men of the Fighting Lady was also inspired by another Saturday Evening Post article, "The Forgotten Heroes of Korea" by James A. Michener. The original music score was composed by Miklós Rózsa. It is also known as Panther Squadron. It is not to be confused with the 1944 documentary The Fighting Lady, which was mainly filmed aboard the USS Yorktown (CV-10).
The Girl in White is a 1952 American drama film directed by John Sturges and starring June Allyson, Arthur Kennedy and Mildred Dunnock. It is based on the memoirs of the pioneering female surgeon Emily Dunning Barringer.
M*A*S*H is a 1970 American dark war comedy film directed by Robert Altman and written by Ring Lardner Jr., based on Richard Hooker's 1968 novel MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors. The picture is the only theatrically released feature film in the M*A*S*H franchise.
The United States Army Nurse Corps (USANC) was formally established by the U.S. Congress in 1901. It is one of the six medical special branches of officers which – along with medical enlisted soldiers – comprise the Army Medical Department (AMEDD). The ANC is the nursing service for the U.S. Army and provides nursing staff in support of the Department of Defense medical plans. The ANC is composed entirely of Registered Nurses (RNs) but also includes Nurse Practitioners.
Many films, books, and other media have depicted the 1950—53 Korean War. The TV series M*A*S*H is one well known example. The 1959 novel The Manchurian Candidate has twice been made into films. The 1982 film Inchon about the historic battle that occurred there in September 1950 was a financial and critical failure. By 2000 Hollywood alone had produced 91 feature films on the Korean War. Many films have also been produced in South Korea and other countries as well.