Synopsis

After boasting at training camp of becoming a hero in battle, Henry Fleming, a Union soldier quickly panics from the explosions of both friendly and enemy fire in his first conflict and runs frantically towards the rear as others fall wounded and dying around him. Soon, Henry wanders away from "the field of honor" and into disgrace, earning his so-called blood stain or red badge of courage not in the heat of battle but by being hit by a frightened soldier on the run, knocking him unconscious. Finally, bolstered by a sense of shame and anger he finds his old unit again, this time with a chance for redemption, straddling that fine line between cowardice and bravery.

Director: John Huston
Producer: Gottfried Reinhardt
Screenplay: John Huston
Based on the novel by Stephen Crane, adapted by Albert Band
Cinematography: Harold Rosson
Editing: Ben Lewis
Art Direction: Cedric Gibbons, Hans Peters
Music: Bronislau Kaper
Cast: Audie Murphy (Henry Fleming, the Youth), Bill Mauldin (Tom Wilson, the Loud Soldier), Douglas Dick (Lieutenant), Royal Dano (Tattered Man), John Dierkes (Jim Conklin, the Tall Soldier), Arthur Hunnicutt (Bill Porter), Andy Devine (Fat Soldier), Robert Easton Burke (Thompson), Glenn Strange (Colonel), Whit Bissell (Wounded Officer), James Whitmore (Voice).
BW-69m.

Why The Red Badge of Courage is Essential

The Red Badge of Courage was one of MGM's rare attempts to make an art film. Although it was disastrously re-cut by studio executives and failed at the box office, it was far ahead of its time in its cynical attitude toward wartime heroism and its lack of a strong narrative thread. Audiences would rediscover it in the '60s and '70s, when parallels could be drawn between John Huston's vision and the harsh realities of the Vietnam War.

At a time when most Hollywood films dealt with good guys versus bad guys, Huston made a film that refused to take either side in the conflict. In his words the movie "must not appear to be a North vs. South war but a war showing the pointlessness of the Youth's courage in helping to capture, near the end of the picture, a fragment of wall."

Throughout his long and illustrious career, John Huston always maintained that this Civil War picture examining the fine line between cowardice and bravery, "could have been" his greatest film, and clearly it is among the director's best, despite the altering by studio executives. What's striking about The Red Badge of Courage (1951) is that it doesn't have a traditional story line. Instead, it covers a few, brief hours of war and the effect it has on a handful of characters. Director John Huston skillfully presents Stephen Crane's famous story as an allegory of all wars and his direction is lucid in every scene, from the film's sweeping battle sequences to isolated moments of terror and panic when Henry Fleming is confronted with death all around him. Cinematographer Harold Rosson gives the film a rough, granular texture, beautifully evoking the period and the photographs of Civil War cameraman Matthew Brady. Yet most of all, it is Murphy and the cast of charismatic near-unknowns that give the film its soul, especially Andy Devine as a cheery soldier who lets "God do his worrying."

One of the unanswered questions about The Red Badge of Courage is how much more effective it might have been in its original form. Huston left the production immediately after its completion to fly across the world to make The African Queen (1951), leaving his film in the hands of studio chiefs who cut it after the film failed miserably with preview audiences.  They removed much of the director's questioning of the need for warfare (which they found objectionable during the then-current Cold War), added narration by James Whitmore, and reduced the running time to a paltry 69 minutes. Still embarrassed by the negative audience reaction, MGM sent the film out without fanfare, offering it as a second feature on double bills, hardly a way to recoup its $1.6 million production costs. Without the studio's support, the film became a commercial bomb. Audiences failed to identify with the film's grim realism and the classic Crane story wasn't enough of a draw to insure box-office success. It also didn't help that the film featured no big name stars in leading roles. And despite positive reviews by the critics (specifically for Murphy, who received the best notices of his career), American audiences in 1951 were simply not ready to examine the fine line between cowardice and bravery, especially in lieu of their victories during World War II and their current involvement in the Korean War.

by Joe D'Onofrio, Frank Miller & Michael Toole