“Bitter Victory” was a Franco-American (mostly French) production. It was directed by Nicholas Ray (“Flying Leathernecks”), two years removed from “Rebel Without a Cause”. His career was slipping and he hoped “Bitter Victory” would change the trajectory. He purposely left Hollywood to make it. Things did not work out the way he hoped. The production was fraught with drama. Starting with the screenplay. The movie was based on the novel by Rene Hardy who had been in the French Resistance and was accused of being a collaborating rat. Although acquitted in two trials, he was of checkered reputation. Hardy was on set and had veto power over script changes, of which there were many. Hardy wrote the original draft, but Gavin Lambert was brought in to do rewrites. He was fired by producer Paul Graetz when he refused to spy on Ray’s drinking behavior and report back. Paul Gallico replaced him, but Ray actually secretly used blacklisted Vladimir Pozner for tweaks. The constant changes in the script caused a lot of frustration for the actors. Graetz was the producer from Hell. Ray had wanted Richard Burton for the Brand role and Montgomery Clift for Leith. When Clift was unavailable, Burton was shifted to Leith and Graetz insisted on Kurt Jurgens for Brand. Jurgens was popular in Europe and Graetz felt he could make the jump to American audiences. This in spite of him being a German playing a South African. The rest of the characters were cast by having the actors pull names out of a hat! Nigel Green was in the cast and this created tension as he and Ray hated each other. Both were heavy drinkers. On the set, the most stable actor was Burton! That didn’t stop him from getting in a fistfight with Green due to alcohol and boredom. Filming in the desert of Libya did not add to amicability on the set. The soap opera was enhanced by Jurgens befriending Graetz’s wife, who was an unofficial production assistant. He used this situation to try to get script changes to make his character more sympathetic. Not surprisingly, the experience did not change Ray’s career and personal arc. The movie was cut from 101 minutes to 83 for the American release. It was not a hit. Ray added drugs to his alcohol consumption. A movie about the making of this movie would be better than the movie itself.
“Bitter Victory” is firmly in the suicide mission subgenre. In this case, it’s a commando mission behind enemy lines to steal Rommel’s plans. War won. It’s a “one in a million chance” for success, but very good chance of drama. This drama will be provided by a dysfunctional command roiled by a love triangle. Maj. Brand (Jurgens) is a desk-bound, regular army chap who is chosen to lead the mission in spite of having no requisite skills. To make up for his lack of qualifications, he is paired with Capt. Leith (Burton) who is a maverick, but speaks Arabic and knows the area. He’s like Lawrence of Arabia. (That is the only similarity between the two movies.) The head-butting potential would be high even without the fact that Brand had an affair with Leith’s wife before they were married. Jane (Ruth Roman) just so happens to be there to evidence that she still has the hots for Burton, I mean Leith. Love triangle established. Clearly, the movie is heading toward reducing this threesome to a twosome. Everything that happens facilitates this reduction. The ingress is surprisingly unsuicidal and designed to ramp up the conflict between Brand and Leith. It’s the egress, through the desert, that taps into the Brand/Leith feud. It’s a shame their special forces colleagues have to deal with the enemy, the desert, and their dueling leaders. (Speaking of which, a duel would have been a good solution to their problems.)
When everyone involved in a movie had a bad experience and were disappointed with the finished product, that is a clue that the movie is bad. Another clue is when you have four screenwriters and none are working together. And two of the stars have a fistfight on set. And the director and producer despise each other. And yet, you might find some critics that swim upstream from this common sense analysis. “Bitter Victory” has its fans who insist it was a masterpiece by the auteur Ray. They insist its grit is not from the sand. I would assume they are the same critics that laud “Play Dirty”. It is hard to see what the supporters see in this movie. It is a mess. Little of it makes sense. The mission is ridiculous, but if it truly will change the war, putting Brand and Leith in charge is perplexing. Unless you are orbiting the plot around command dysfunction. One of the screenwriters also wanted a unit dysfunction cliché, but apparently the others did not because that theme is dropped mid-mission. The lost patrol trope is half-ass.
Don’t spend a lot of brain cells wondering how they manage to get the plans so easily. Why is the second in command left behind with a wounded man? Why didn’t the unit bring enough supplies? Why do special forces types crack easily from being in the desert? No one cares, if the movie is all in with the foolishness. Unfortunately, this movie is boring and lacks suspense. Brand and Leith are dislikable. (Yeah, I know, they are supposed to be.) Burton and Jurgens do not acquit themselves well. They are not helped by the script which is full of clichés, starting with the lame triangle. Any war movie fan will figure out early that only one suitor is coming back alive. And when you look at the director, you know who it will be because irony is the tool of an auteur. An auteur who lost control of a project shot in a desert.
GRADE = D
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