The Purple Heart *** (1944, Dana Andrews, Richard Conte, Farley Granger) – Classic Movie Review 8886

That noble director of war movies Lewis Milestone gave us All Quiet On The Western Front, A Walk In The Sun, Halls of Montezuma and also this World War Two look at the plight of a group of US fliers, his 1944 black and white drama The Purple Heart.

During a wartime show-trial, eight American airmen, brought down in an attack on Tokyo, are tried and tortured by the Japanese in an attempt to make them reveal military secrets.

Intended as a morale booster, it is a remarkably downbeat and straightforward drama, mixing real compassion for the prisoners with wartime jingoism for ‘our boys’. Underrated stars Dana Andrews, Richard Conte and Farley Granger keep the flag waving as Captain Harvey Ross, Lieutenant Angelo Canelli and Sergeant Howard Clinton, and their solid acting makes the most of the claustrophobic settings. Fastidious craftsmanship but not always exciting handling adds up to a good, but not quite great, war movie.

The 20th Century Fox boss Darryl F Zanuck was responsible for both the splendid production and the story [written as Melville Crossman], while the intelligent screenplay is written by Jerome Cady.

Also in the cast are Kevin O’Shea, Sam Levene, Donald Barry [Don ‘Red’ Barry], Trudy Marshall, Charles Russell, John Craven, Tala Birell, Nestor Paiva, Marshall Thompson, Benson Fong, Richard Loo, Peter Chong, Gregory Gaye, Philip Ahn, Martin Garralaga, Kurt Katch and Torben Meyer.

George Washington: ‘Let it be known that he who wears the military order of the purple heart has given of his blood in the defense of his homeland and shall forever be revered by his fellow countrymen.’

The Purple Heart is directed by Lewis Milestone, runs 98 minutes, is made and released by 20th Century Fox, is written by Jerome Cady, based on a story by Darryl F Zanuck [writing as Melville Crossman], shot in black and white by Arthur C Miller, produced by Darryl F Zanuck, scored by Alfred Newman, with Art Direction by James Basevi and Lewis H Creber.

A Walk in the Sun reunited Milestone with his stars Andrews and Conte.

The Purple Heart (1944) stars Farley Granger.

It is the second film for Farley Granger following The North Star (1943) and then he joined the army, followed by Nicholas Ray’s RKO classic They Live by Night (1948). He recalled: ‘I was very lucky when I first started. I had Nicholas Ray and before that Lewis Milestone, and I was a kid and very naive, with no training at all. They really took care of me.’

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8886

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