Synopsis:
During World War I, Captain Flagg (James Stewart) resists marrying his French sweetheart (Corinne Calvert), instead trying to get her hitched to his career-long rival, Sergeant Quirt (Dan Dailey). Meanwhile, a handsome young recruit (Robert Wagner) falls for a beautiful local girl (Marisa Pavan), but ongoing battles pull all the men away from their love lives.

Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:

• Dan Dailey Films
• James Cagney Films
• John Ford Films
• Love Triangle
• Rivalry
• Robert Wagner Films
• World War I Films

Review:
John Ford directed this colorful but unsatisfying adaptation of Maxwell Anderson and Laurence Stallings’ play (first made as a silent film by Raoul Walsh in 1926). My sentiments about this film are just about the same as for Walsh’s version, which I was similarly unimpressed with. Cagney and Dailey’s ongoing rivalry takes center stage at the expense of any other narrative hook:

… and Calvert is simply relegated to the role of a beautiful pawn whose only option to make it to Paris is seemingly to marry one of them:

We get to see handsome Wagner and lovely Pavan falling for one another (they even sing a romantic multilingual duet):

… but there’s nothing else to their relationship, either. This one is strictly must-see for Ford completists.

Notable Performances, Qualities, and Moments:

• Fine cinematography by Joseph MacDonald
  
  

Must See?
No; you can skip this one.

Links:

• IMDb entry
• NY Times Original Review
• DVD Savant Review