The Red Badge of Courage (1951)
Director: John Huston Writer: Stephen Crane (novel), John Huston (screenplay) Cast: Audie Murphy, Bill Mauldin, Andy Devine, Robert Easton Synopsis: John Huston's The Red Badge of Courage is a heartbreakingly beautiful film mutilated by its studio after a disastrous preview process. You can--and should--read the fascinating production history in Lillian Ross's Picture. Picture is a classic--and so's the movie, even in a 69-minute reduction featuring a climactic Civil War battle that has Stephen Crane's young hero wearing his red badge of courage, then not wearing it, then wearing it again (MGM editor-in-chief Margaret Booth recut two different battles into one). Most-decorated-soldier-of-WWII Audie Murphy was chosen to star ("a gentle little killer," Huston mused); the shadow of WWII is also felt in the casting of war-front chronicler Bill Mauldin as Murphy's pal, and in Huston's own experience making his great battlefield documentary San Pietro. The panoramas evoke Mathew Brady, and Huston's closeup framing brings a psychoanalytic intensity to the terrified young soldier's inner turmoil. --Richard T. Jameson |
