Battleground

TCM's Dave Karger introduces Battleground, 1949.

Ben Mankiewicz introduces Battleground, 1949.

The platoon has been digging in for hours outside Bastogne, Holley (Van Johnson) trying to cook his eggs, Brett King the lieutenant, Richard Jaeckel with ailing Don Taylor, Marshall Thompson on patrol, Germans up to no good, in William A. Wellman’s Battleground, 1948.

Representing the 101st Airborne at the Battle Of The Bulge, Holley (Van Johnson) and Layton (Marshall Thompson) roughing it when Pop (George Murphy) brings word of his discharge until Kipp (Douglas Fowley), who’s found his dentures, arrives with discouraging news, in Battleground, 1948.

The prologue from producer Dore Schary, director William A. Wellman and Robert Pirosh’s original screenplay, James Whitmore the drill sergeant, MGM men in his platoon including John Hodiak and Ricardo Montalban, Scotty Beckett and Marshall Thompson commenting, opening Battleground, 1948.

This isn’t the big moment but rather the immediate context, Jarvess, Pop and Kipp (John Hodiak, George Murphy, Douglas Fowley) press their German counterparts until Holley (Van Johnson) and a general staff officer (Ian MacDonald) return, confirming the historically correct reply, in Battleground, 1948.

Holley, Rodrigues and Jarvess (Van Johnson, Ricardo Montalban, John Hodiak) sent out on patrol, now certain that disguised Germans are infiltrating the positions of the 101st Airborne during the Battle Of The Bulge, from Robert Pirosh’s screenplay, in MGM’s Battleground, 1948.

American soldiers in France fight to survive a Nazi siege just before the Battle of the Bulge in Battleground (1949), directed by William Wellman and starring Van Johnson, John Hodiak and Ricardo Montalban.