Arch of Triumph ** (1948, Ingrid Bergman, Charles Boyer, Charles Laughton) – Classic Movie Review 6696

Co-writer/ producer/ director Lewis Milestone’s stodgy 1948 romantic war drama stars the incomparable Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer, who are up to their pretty necks in a chunk of turgid, overblown heavyweight romantic melodrama based on a novel by Erich Maria Remarque, the author of All Quiet on the Western Front  (also filmed by Milestone in 1930).

The film opens in Paris in the winter of 1938. The plot is about the vengeful disillusioned doctor and war escapee Dr Ravic (Boyer) hunting an evil German called Ivon Haake (Charles Laughton) and conducting a doomed affair with a suicidal woman named Joan Madou (Bergman) whom he saves from drowning in France at the end of the war.

The long running time of 133 minutes, studio set-bound exteriors and the depressingly gloomy atmosphere do not do anybody any favours. But, with its grand intentions, huge budget ($5,000,000) and these three excellent stars (plus Louis Calhern as the emigré ‘Colonel’ Boris Morosov and Ruth Warrick), it is at least intriguing. Bergman and Boyer give haunting performances, and Laughton alone is worth the price of admission in a star support role as the Gestapo boss, Haake.

The cut version runs 120 minutes, but it is now restored to 133 minutes. The rough cut ran four hours and several actors are cut out if the 120 minutes version, including Ruth Warrick, who does appear, if briefly in the restored 133-minute version.

Also in the cast are Roman Bohnen, Michael Romanoff, Curt Bois, Ruth Nelson, J Edward Bromberg, Stephen Bekassy, Michael Romanoff, Art Smith, Hazel Brooks, Feodor Chaliapin, Michael Chekhov, William Conrad, Bess Flowers, Byron Foulger, Jay Gilpin, Leon Lenoir, Nino Pipitone and Peter Virgo.

It is written by Lewis Milestone and Harry Brown, shot in black and white by Russell Metty, produced by Lewis Milestone, David Lewis and Otto Klement, scored by Morris Stoloff and Louis Gruenberg, and designed by William Cameron Menzies.

It was remade for TV by director Warris Hussein in 1985 with Anthony Hopkins, Lesley-Anne Down, Donald Pleasence and Frank Finlay.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 6696

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