Lewis Milestone, the director of the masterpiece “All Quiet on the Western Front”, had hoped to make more war movies showing the horror and futility of war, but the Hollywood studio system clipped his wings. During WWII, he left these themes at the soundstage door and joined the war effort. He made three propaganda films. “Edge of Darkness” had courageous Norwegian resistance members and patriotic civilians tangling with evil Nazis. It was an entertaining film starring Errol Flynn, but was more pro-resistance than anti-war. “The North Star” lionized Russian peasants fighting Nazi atrocities. Although he was given a good cast, composer, and screenwriter, it is looked on today as a naïve love letter. And ironically, it got him accused as a communist sympathizer by McCarthyites. “The Purple Heart” was aimed at the Japanese. It was based on the trial of the Doolittle Raiders who had been captured in China. The subject was touchy because of the fear of retaliation, but the Office of War Information vetted the script and only asked that more recognition be given to the Chinese who helped the downed air crews. In a stroke of lucky timing, the movie was released soon after the U.S. government presented evidence of Japanese torturing of American prisoners, including the ones fictionalized in the movie. Although the Japanese had not signed the Geneva Accord, it was made clear that when it lost the war, they would be held accountable for war crimes because of mistreatment of prisoners. The film was the third made during the war about the Doolittle Raid. It was preceded by “Destination Tokyo”, “Bombardier”, and “30 Seconds Over Tokyo”. This, the fourth of the quartet, was named after the oldest American military decoration. George Washington initiated the idea of rewarding American soldiers who had been wounded or killed for their country. It’s bit of a spoiler alert and not a good title for a military justice movie.
You immediately know you are going to be watching a patriotic pic from the music that backs the credits. We see the Purple Heart medal and a quote from Washington about it with “My Country ‘Tis of Thee”. Reporters from various countries are allowed into an empty courtroom for what will be a “show trial”. “Wild Blue Yonder” swells as the eight defendants are led in. Each is identified by name, although they are fictional. They are all being tried for murder! Damn, if every aircrew that dropped bombs on cities was tried for murder, that’s a hell of a lot of murder trials. Specifically, the judges accuse them of purposely killing civilians. It makes you wonder what would have happened if the Axis had won. Cue the requisite flashback of a very fake-looking bomber. At least you can’t see the strings. Capt. Ross (Dana Andrews) is running out of gas and orders his men to bail out. Their plane flies on for minutes and yet, they are all able to meet at the wreck site with no problems. So, suspend your disbelief.
Everyone in the audience knows what the verdict will be, so it’s all about how the Americans behave. No surprise, the adjective would be stoical. One at a time, they are taken of to be tortured. The grilling is over where the bombers came from. In a subplot, the Japanese army and navy have a dog in this hunt. If they can prove the attack came from an aircraft carrier, the navy will have egg on its face. (The movie does get the adversarial nature of the army/navy relationship right.) The film spends as much time in the court (“those lyin’ bastards”) as in the cell (sappy home front daydreaming and sermonizing). At one point they sing “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” (audience, join in!) They know that all they have to do is say “yes” to “aircraft carrier?” and they live. Don’t hold your breath until one of these American boys cracks. This is not a Korean War movie.
And don’t expect any courtroom theatrics to change the outcome. There’s no “you can’t hander the tluth” moment with Gen. Mitsubi (Richard Loo) on the witness stand. (Sorry about that sentence, I couldn’t help myself.) The result was a foregone conclusion. Ask Breaker Morant. But there are two deaths that are unpredictable. The movie closes with the defendants marching to their presumed deaths with a nod to the ending of “All Quiet”. You can’t accuse Milestone for plagiarizing himself, but you can question his reminding the audience of his much superior earlier effort.
If you’ve seen “Judgment at Nuremberg”, this won’t remind you of it. Well, actually, since I mentioned the term “show trial”… It also won’t remind you of “All Quiet”. Milestone had an up and down career. This movie is one of the troughs. It’s a weak effort. The flashbacks and dream sequences are haphazard and don’t follow the usual courtroom drama format of reviewing the actions of the accused. There is a scene where the prosecution sets up a movie screen to show footage of bombings. Fake news! The acting is like a local play. There is a lot of scene-chewing, by the Americans. And that’s with the torture sessions being off camera. Physical torture is implied but they return to the court like zombies. The Japanese are not as cartoonish as in many of the Pacific Theater movies made during the war. None have glasses and buck-teeth. Americans would have left theaters shaking their fists westward, but not looking for a Japanese-American to run over. They couldn’t have done that anyway because the Nisei were locked up in internment camps. That must have been the excuse the casting director used for employing Chinese actors to play Japanese.
If you are a fan of Milestone, you might want to see this movie. Or if you are interested in the aftermath of the Doolittle Raid, although it shaky historically. There were eight Raiders taken captive in China from two bombers. They were put on trial for war crimes and all were found guilty. Three were executed and one died of disease during imprisonment. The movie ends with all eight being marched off to the firing squad. This avoids a more interesting plot which would have examined why five men were not executed. I could not find an answer to that question, but I do have to wonder if this movie caused them to be seen by some as having broken under torture. I need to mention that in spite of this movie, the four Japanese accused of being involved in the mistreatment and executions of the eight were given a fair trial and were given hard labor for 5-9 years.
GRADE = D
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