BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.

PiraBit if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

romanorum1 Despite the title there is little action in this Korean War Drama. The focus is on the mobile army surgical hospitals that provided nearly front-line emergency medical attention to wounded soldiers. Our feature depicts the trials and tribulations of MASH unit #66, where surgeon Humphrey Bogart (Major Jed Webbe) and nurse June Allyson (Lt. Ruth McGara) are stationed. There are nice depictions of the difficulties in supply, transport, and component set-up. Those MASH units were really quite mobile after all, as they had to constantly shift their positions along the battle front. And those medical personal showed amazing courage in their efforts to save lives. Now Webbe, who is a woman-chaser, and Ruth are not supposed to fraternize too much, but of course they do. They fall in love. Bogie does show his war-weariness (age) in some scenes. Within a year, he would be stricken with the terrible cancer that would eventually take his life (1957). Anyway the performances are fine all around, and the film is decent. After all, there are not too many films wasted with Bogie in the cast. Although not a graphic portrayal, this movie is overall a more realistic and serious treatment of the subject than the future, popular, and satirical MASH feature (1970) and the TV series (1972-1983).

tieman64 A precursor to Robert Altman's "MASH", Richard Brooks' "Battle Circus" stars the inimitable Humphrey Bogart as a world-weary surgeon in the middle of war-torn Korea. Bogart is as watchable as always, but much of the film consists of a by-the-numbers romantic subplot in which he romances a new nurse (June Allyson, always miscast).As with most films set during the Korean War, "Battle Circus" entirely ignores politics. Elsewhere Brooks serves up a number of mildly tense sequences, like one in which nurses talk a wounded Korean soldier out of detonating a live grenade. Brooks would go on to direct a number of superior films, one of his best being "Elmer Gantry".Today, the US' bloody occupation of Korea has all but been erased from history. After WW2, the US hastily separated Korea (Roosevelt would suggest the separation to Stalin without even consulting the Koreans), essentially splitting it in two and giving the North to Russia whilst keeping the South for itself. This was meant to be a temporary division, but as was in the case in Vietnam (another country arbitrarily cut in half by the US), the US soon freaked out when it learnt that the Koreans wanted independence and were unanimously backing the Republican Party. Refusing to allow genuine self-determination to take root in Korea, and determined to destroy the majority supported Korean People's Republic party, the US hastily began scuttling all attempts at unifying the north and south, backed dictators in the south (some descendants of the old aristocracy), began supporting the local land-owning elite, outlawed the KPR and set about murdering "dissidents". On the Island of Cheju alone, as many as 60,000 of its 300,000 residents were murdered. South Korea, assisted by US forces, then conducted a ruthless campaign of cleansing the south of all dissidents, usually identifying them as "communists". Estimates of murdered civilians range anywhere from 400,000 to 800,000 by the time the hot war "officially" broke out in June 1950. The message was clear: you can have self-determination, but only if you do what we say.5/10 – For Bogart fans only. See "To Have and Have Not".

SimonJack This 1953 movie by MGM was filmed in the U.S. and hit theaters while the Korean War (then called a "police action" or conflict) was still going on. It was a precursor of the 1970 movie, M.A.S.H., and the long- running and highly popular TV series by the same name. It's only natural to compare the two films, and to compare them with the TV series that began 15 years after "Battle Circus." The TV series ran from 1972 through 1983 and was one of my all-time favorites. Some reviewers have commented on the more witty dialog in the later film and series, but I wonder how much of that might have been due to the change in our culture in the almost 20 years since the end of the Korean War. I wasn't aware of this earlier film about a MASH unit recent years. But, viewing it now gives a good perspective on that time and the experiences of the MASH units and personnel. In WW II Europe, my dad was a medic who then became a medical officer. He served in Japan and then stateside during the Korean War. The medical corps officers who were not doctors in those days were the ones in charge of the rest of the work to keep the medical services going – administration, supply, transport, meals, moving and setting up, etc. "Battle Circus" shows what all the support people did, and gives us an excellent picture of the work that went into the mobility of the MASH units. So, for that aspect alone, this film tops the later movie and series in its realism. As to the match of Bogart and Allyson for a romantic touch, I ask, why not? Bogie's character had the rank of major, so he would likely have been an MD who stayed in the service – active or reserves – after WW II. It seems to me in real life that there have been some famous couples with considerable age differences. And during war, might not a young green nurse fall for an older doctor in the service? I think that's just another touch of reality for this film. Sometimes, matches other than the usual Hollywood fare, might be best or more real. I think this one was right on target. When viewing a film, I try to get into the movie before me with no preconceptions, and without a Hollywood-influenced agenda of what the proper match should be for a film romance. That lets me best consider the actors for their performances and how their roles fit in the story. The acting, script, cinematography and scenery chosen for this film were all very good. As one of the very few films that have shown medical care in modern war, "Battle Circus" scores an A for its historical value alone.

audiemurph "Battle Circus" is interesting to compare to the TV series M*A*S*H. On TV, the camp of the medicos was a little too clean, and the doctors, especially Hawkeye, were always a little too ready with a joke. The one-liners never stopped at the 4077th, and there were few characters, especially in the last few years, who were not ever-ready to spew out endless dreary puns galore. Battle Circus is interesting in that it shows, I imagine, a more sober and realistic view of life in a MASH unit.Because they are located near the ever shifting front of the Korean conflict, the MASH must constantly move with it. This brings out the greatest strength of this film: a large number of scenes in this movie are dedicated to showing the teamwork and bee-hive like energy of the grunts of the unit, taking tents down, putting tents up, moving the hospital here, then to there, often through or frighteningly near enemy fire, all the while dedicated to keeping their patients alive. The many minutes of film spent on these thankless and glory-less activities increases our appreciation of the realities of the soldiers' daily routine.Here, there are few luxuries (unlike on the TV MASH, where many of the characters seem to have as many possessions as the Howells did on Gilligan's Island). Conditions in the personal tents of the characters are especially Spartan. Bogie's only possession seems to be a bottle of Scotch. When there is no time to bring everything with them, the soldiers burn whatever they must leave behind. Again, the starkness of existence suggests to this viewer a wonder that not all of the MASH members didn't go insane on a regular basis.Now I am not a June Allyson fan, and while the romance between Bogie and her is not all that interesting or convincing, it is not a complete waste of film either. I don't believe I have ever seen Humphrey Bogart smile and laugh and be so un-pessimistic in a film before, and this is quite entertaining (Bogie even falls in the mud, losing his dignity, and laughs about it with June Allyson! Yikes!). There is no such thing as useless celluloid when Bogie is on screen. However, these episodes of light-hearted Bogie are surrounded by plenty of periods of brooding and cynical Bogie, so he is not completely out of character.Robert Keith's colonel with the high-pitched voice complements Bogie's doctor very nicely in their scenes together. Keenan Wynn is also a terrific surprise; I usually find his raspy voice and abrasive characters unpleasant, but here he plays perhaps the most likable character (a can-do sergeant) in the whole film. His affection for a wounded Korean boy has the potential to be hokey, but he pulls it off very nicely.One more MASH comparison. Bogie's character, like Hawkeye Pierce, is a woman-chaser and a man who wants no more authority than necessary, as well as a first rate surgeon. But unlike Hawkeye, who is afraid of guns, Humphrey Bogart is as willing to pick up a rifle and fire at the enemy as he is top pick up a scalpel. A real man's man.Don't expect Gone With the Wind, and you will find this a quite interesting and quirky little war film.