The Red Badge of Courage **** (1951, Audie Murphy, Bill Mauldin, Douglas Dick, Royal Dano, John Dierkes, Tim Durant, Andy Devine, Arthur Hunnicutt) – Classic Movie Review 7290

John Huston’s studio-butchered 1951 US Civil War movie The Red Badge of Courage is remarkable for its battle scenes and for Audie Murphy’s career-best performance.

Writer-director John Huston’s 1951 film of Stephen Crane’s 1895 US Civil War novel about a youth’s horrific experience of war The Red Badge of Courage is fascinating and dignified even if it is desperately truncated.

Poor sneak previews resulted in radical editing by MGM to a mere 69 minutes from the original version of 120 minutes and the addition of a narration from the novel’s text (read by James Whitmore), but of course war action fans were still not satisfied and the film flopped. It cost $1,640,000, and grossed $1,080,000 worldwide, resulting in a loss of $1,018,000.

The Red Badge of Courage is remarkable for its battle scenes and for Audie Murphy’s performance as young recruit Private Henry Fleming in what was, acting-wise, his finest hour in the movies, and, truncated or not, the film is still a very worthwhile experience. Huston, adapting Crane’s novel, and Murphy, giving a sterling performance, are evidently very fired up. Harold Rosson shoots in striking black and white.

Also in the cast are Bill Mauldin, Douglas Dick, Royal Dano, John Dierkes, Tim Durant, Andy Devine, Arthur Hunnicutt, Robert Easton Burke, Smith Ballew, Glenn Strange, Dan White, Frank McGraw, Tim Durant, Emmett Lynn and House Peters.

Audie Murphy, James Whitmore and Bill Mauldin all served in World War Two.

The clashes behind the production are probed in The New Yorker journalist Lillian Ross’s classic film book Picture. Ross’s classic report on Hollywood and the making of this film was published as a paperback on 1 January 1962 and is hard to come by, but it is essential reading. It was finally reprinted in paperback by New York Review Books Classics on 30 April 2019, with a foreword by by Anjelica Huston.

Huston was frustrated with the studio cut but did not fight over it because he was focused on pre-production of The African Queen. After an MGM studio management power struggle, The Red Badge of Courage was hacked and shown as a second-feature B-picture.

Later Huston and Murphy tried unsuccessfully to buy the film to edit back to its original length. But MGM claimed that the cut footage was destroyed. Then ironically in 1975 MGM asked Huston if he had an original cut because they wanted to release it. He had struck a 16mm print, but by then it was lost. Tremendous in its mutilated form, it must be regarded as a lost masterpiece.

The Red Badge of Courage is produced by Gottfried Reinhardt, with Dore Schary as executive producer. The screenplay is by John Huston, adapted by Albert Band from Stephen Crane’s novel. The black and white cinematography is by Harold Rosson, and the score is by Bronislau Kaper.

A TV movie remake appeared in 1974 as The Red Badge of Courage with Richard Thomas.

The cast are Audie Murphy as Henry Fleming (aka The Youth), Bill Mauldin as Tom Wilson (aka The Loud Soldier), Douglas Dick as The Lieutenant, Royal Dano as The Tattered Man, John Dierkes as Jim Conklin (aka The Tall Soldier), Arthur Hunnicutt as Bill Porter, Tim Durant as The General, Andy Devine as The Cheery Soldier, Robert Easton Burke [Robert Easton] as Thompson, John Huston as Grizzled Union Veteran (uncredited), William Phipps as Union Soldier (uncredited), William Schallert as Union Soldier (uncredited), James Whitmore as Narrator (voice, uncredited), Smith Ballew, Glenn Strange, Dan White, Frank McGraw, Tim Durant, Emmett Lynn and House Peters.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7290

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