Stubs - The Red Badge of Courage

The Red Badge of Courage (1951) starring Audie Murphy, Andy Devine, Robert Easton Burke, Douglas Dick. Directed by John Huston. Screenplay by John Huston, Albert Band. Based on the novel The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane (New York, 1895). Produced by Gottfried Reinhardt. Run time: 69 minutes. Black and White. USA. Drama, War

Texan born Audie Murphy enlisted in the Army as soon as he could after the attack on Pearl Harbor at the start of World War II. He first saw action in the 1943 Allied invasion of Sicily; then in 1944 he participated in the Battle of Anzio, the liberation of Rome, and the invasion of southern France. Murphy fought at Montélimar and led his men on a successful assault at L'Omet quarry near Cleurie in northeastern France in October. He received every American combat award for valor available at the time of his service, including the Medal of Honor. He also received recognitions from France and Belgium.

As a result, he made the cover of Life magazine on July 16, 1945. That cover brought him to the attention of actor James Cagney, who had recently formed a production company with his brother William. They gave him training in acting, voice and dance, but never cast him in any production. A personal disagreement ended the arrangement in 1947.

His first film role was as a Copy Boy in Texas, Brooklyn & Heaven (1948), but his first starring role came in Bad Boy (1949) for Monogram films. After that, he was signed to a 7-year contract by Universal. But his best-known film came on a loan out to MGM on The Red Badge of Courage, directed by John Huston. Montgomery Cliff was considered for the film's lead, but in his autobiography, director John Huston indicated that Murphy was his only serious candidate, partially because of a rapport that existed between the two men, who both had been greatly affected by their own experiences during the war.

Also signed to appear in the film was another World War II celebrity, Bill Maudlin. Maudlin was was most famous for his World War II cartoons depicting American soldiers, as represented by the archetypal characters Willie and Joe. Willie and Joe were two weary and bedraggled infantry troopers who stoically endure the difficulties and dangers of duty in the field. His cartoons were popular with soldiers throughout Europe and with civilians in the United States as well. The Red Badge of Courage would be his first film role and he would only make one other appearance in Fred Zinnemann's Teresa (1951).

Filming began in late August 1950. The film, which featured no interior scenes was filmed on location in Chico, California and on Huston's Calabasas ranch and on an adjacent ranch that belonged to director Clarence Brown. The completed film ran more than 130 minutes and received numerous highly negative response cards from audience members at previews held in Feb 1951. Huston, however, felt that it was one of his best films.

Studio executives planned to cut the film, but Huston wasn’t involved, already beginning pre-production on The African Queen. Dore Schary, the head of production at MGM cut the film down to 69 minutes, added narration by actor James Whitmore and added the actual book as a framing device in the opening and ending credits. The film was released on September 28, 1951.

The film opens with narration by James Whitmore, quoting from the book the film is based on. It is the spring of 1862 and volunteer soldiers in the Union army's 304th Regiment have been doing nothing but drilling and are becoming restless and bored. They are anxious to see their first battle of the Civil War.

The Youth, Henry Fleming (Audie Murphy), is troubled and unsure of his courage. He discusses courage with his tentmates, The Tall Soldier, Jim Conklin, (John Dierkes) and The Loud Soldier, Tom Wilson (Bill Mauldin), but finds no solace in their talk.

On guard duty that night, Henry hears the voice of a Confederate soldier call out from across the river. The friendly voice doesn’t want to shoot him and warns Henry to stay out of the moonlight and to take care not to get a "little red badge" pinned on him.

The next day, Tom hears from another soldier down by the river where he’s washing his clothes that he’d heard from a well-placed friend that they were going to be moving up river for a battle. And even though Tom swears he won’t tell anyone, he goes through camp spreading the rumor.

Tom "The Loud Soldier" (Bill Maudlin) tries to talk to Henry "The Youth" (Audie Murphy) about the pending battle.

Henry pulls away from the group and sits by a tree. Seeing him, Tom comes over and the two talk. Unlike Henry, Tom seems to be gung-ho about fighting.

Henry marching into battle next to Jim "The Tall Soldier" (John Dierkes).

When the orders come to start marching, Henry feels isolated from the other soldiers. When the men take positions in a trench at the edge of an open field, Tom rushes to Henry. He tells him he has a feeling this will be his first and last battle and gives Henry a watch to send to his parents for him.

In the first wave of the attack, few of the Union soldiers are wounded or killed before the Confederates retreat. During a brief ceasefire that follows, the soldiers discuss their fears and the experience of seeing a man killed. For his part, Henry now feels that he has passed the test of courage and is a fine fellow of high ideals.

However, when the Confederate soldiers begin a new charge, the fighting is fiercer. Many of the Union soldiers run away, including Henry, despite his superior, The Lieutenant’s (Douglas Dick), attempts to stop them.

Henry runs, shedding some of his gear as he does. After a while, in the woods, Henry overhears Union Cavalry officers proclaim victory. Now feeling that he has betrayed his comrades, Henry looks upon the wounded and wishes that he, too, had a red badge of courage. He is able to slip into the ranks without notice and shamefully says nothing when another member of his regiment, The Tattered Man (Royal Dano), asks him where he was shot.

Henry tries to comfort Jim before he dies.

Among the wounded soldiers is Jim, who is badly wounded and dazed. Jim begs Henry to move him out of the road if he falls, and as he stumbles, Henry and The Tattered Man grab his arm. Jim then breaks free and runs up a hill. Henry and the Tattered Man take chase. Jim doesn’t want any help from them and then drops dead.

A short time later, Henry is caught in the middle of some retreating soldiers. Henry tries to ask what’s happening, but is knocked on the head by the butt of a soldier’s rifle and knocked unconscious.

The Cheerful Soldier (Andy Devine) finds Henry on the ground that night, helps him up and returns him to his regiment.

At camp, Tom is walking guard duty when Henry appears. Tom is happy to see Henry, having feared he was dead. Henry is rather vague about what happened to him and says that he was shot in the head. While Tom tends to his wounds, which aren’t serious, Henry asks if the Lieutenant has said anything about him being gone. Tom tells him that several soldiers from the regiment were separated during the battle and have been wandering into camp all night.

Henry advances on the enemy.

The next morning, the men walk toward the battlefield and Henry brags of his courage the previous day. When the battle starts, Henry suddenly jumps from his trench and advances against the enemy. The Lieutenant calls him back, then compliments Henry as the bravest of all and says if he had 10,000 men just like him, the war would be quickly won.

During a respite in the fighting, Tom and Henry go for water for the men and overhear the officers say that the 304th will be sent to charge the enemy. When Henry and Tom report the news, the soldiers are elated at their importance.

When the flagbearer is killed, Henry picks it up and carries it into battle.

The men proceed slowly at first, but as the pace quickens, Henry yells to his comrades to come along and leads the charge. When the standard bearer is killed, Henry grabs the flag and continues to lead the charge toward the Confederates. Upon seeing the Confederate flag, Henry chases after the standard bearer and when he falls, Henry grabs the Confederate flag as well.

When a Confederate flagbearer is killed, Henry picks up his flag as well.

After the battle is over, the Union soldiers talk with their captured Confederate counterparts, many of whom wish that they had died in the battle.

Thompson (Robert Easton Burke) relates the colonel's respect for the bravery Henry showed in battle.

Later, Thompson (Robert Easton Burke), another soldier in Henry's unit, relates that the colonel was greatly impressed by the bravery of the man carrying the flag. As his comrades praise him, Henry, still ashamed of his earlier cowardice, quietly goes off from the group.

Both Henry and Tom admit to their own cowardice under fire.

When Tom joins him, Henry confesses having run from battle the previous day, and Tom reveals that he, too, had "skeedaddled," but the Lieutenant had caught him and made him stay. Now relieved, Henry and Tom join ranks with the others. Although they hear that the victory will be credited to a general other than their own, the men shrug off the news and talk about being home in time for spring planting.

When the film ends, the book's final page is shown and Whitmore recites the penultimate line of the novel, "tranquil skies, fresh meadows, cool brooks--an existence of soft and eternal peace--".

The reviews, such as Bosley Crowther’s in The New York Times, were generally positive. He concludes his review with “… in most respects, Mr. Huston has put 'The Red Badge of Courage' on the screen, and that means a major achievement that should command admiration for years and years.” However, despite the good review, the film was not popular with audiences at the time. According to MGM records, the film earned $789,000 in the US and Canada and $291,000 in other countries, resulting in a loss of $1,018,000.

Huston’s use of closeups portrays, as Crowther wrote, the ”stupefied facial expressions and erratic attitudes when grim experiences crowd upon him suggest what goes on in his mind.” This is very effective and helps the audience identify not only with Henry, but also the other soldiers as all of them grapple to some degree with the fear of being killed in battle.

The creation of the battles are superb and really provides the viewer with a feeling of what it would be like to be in the trenches with the enemy approaching. Crowther wrote that these were “… the major achievement of this picture is the whole scene, it re-creates of a battlefield near the Rappahannock (Chancellorsville) from the soldier's point of view—the ragged and nondescript infantry, the marches, the battlelines, the din, the dust, the cavalry charges, the enemy surging out of the clouds of smoke, and the pitiful, wretched lines of the wounded reaching and stumbling toward the rear.”

While I had heard about Audie Murphy as the soldier turned movie star, I had never until now seen him act. I’m happy to report that he is quite believable as Henry. One has to imagine what it must have been like for a man, known for his own bravery, to inhabit a character who was so doubtful about his own courage. He does a good job with the role and is not only believable, but relatable as well.

I was also quite impressed by Bill Maudlin’s portrayal of Tom. While there is much less written about how he got into films, as opposed to Murphy, Maudlin shows that he had the chops to act. I’m not sure why he only made one other film, but he could have made it as a character actor if he had wanted to.

Royal Dano as "The Tattered Man" in The Red Badge of Courage.

For the most part, the entire cast is really very good. Royal Dano and John Dierkes are also very good and should be pointed out for praise in their portrayals. A lot of attention is paid to Andy Devine’s appearance in the film, but he seems to be playing the Andy Devine character we’ve seen in many films.

If you’re curious what the full version of the film would have been like, I’m afraid you’re out of luck. Both Huston and star Audie Murphy tried unsuccessfully to purchase the film so that it could be re-edited to its original length. According to Wikipedia, “The studio claimed that the cut footage was destroyed, probably in the 1965 MGM vault fire. Huston later was asked by MGM in 1975 if he had an original cut because the studio wanted to release it. Huston told them he didn't have one, that it didn't exist. However, after this he instructed his agent Paul Kohner to include in all his future contracts a stipulation that he receive a 16 mm print of the first cut of any film he made.”

While the original intent was to be literary faithful to the novel, the resulting film is still very powerful and considered by some to be a “mutilated masterpiece.”

I had avoided reading the novel growing up, but after having seen the film, I’m open to reading it. As far as the film goes, even cut down and altered by studio brass, The Red Badge of Courage is still worth watching and I would recommend it. However, if you’re trying to use the film instead of reading the book, you’re probably not getting the entire story. So much was left on the cutting room floor and is gone for good.