Phonearl Good start, but then it gets ruined

Onlinewsma Absolutely Brilliant!

Bluebell Alcock Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

praxistens848 Street tough Jerry Plunkett never ducks a fight until the shooting starts & in the trenches in France is responsible for the deaths of several of his comrades (by foolishly setting off a flare that draws enemy fire), including the brothers of Sgt. "Big Mike" Wynn (Alan Hale) & Joyce Kilmer (Jeffrey Lynn). CO "Wild Bill" Donovan (George Brent) has Plunkett court-martialed, & he is due to be executed.During intense shelling of the bivouac, Father Duffy (Pat O'Brien) releases Plunkett from confinement & counsels him about the two roads he can take: escape or back into the fray. Plunkett rescues Fr. Duffy from beneath some fallen timbers & takes off for the front, where he hooks up with a wounded Big Mike.Cagney's Plunkett is fictional, but there are several real-life 69th soldiers represented: Fr. Duffy, Joyce Kilmer, & Maj. Donovan. Lotsa big screen stars of the day: Brent, Hale, John Litel, Frank McHugh, Dennis Morgan, O'Brien. Movie also features off-screen friends Frank Wilcox (Mr. Brewster in the early episodes of The Beverly Hillbillies) & future "Superman" George Reeves.

writers_reign Mercifully I've spent my whole life in sublime ignorance of this piece of cheese though I am inclined to curse the day - last week - when I spotted it in a Charity shop and bought if for a pittance on the strength of names like George Brent, Alan Hale, William Keighly not to mention that threadbare vaudeville act Cagney and O'Brien.What a crock. There was barely one frame that was watchable. Talk about the mixture as before. William Keighly may have been a journeyman director but he was on some fairly tasty movies not least Each Dawn I Die which was right before this one and he shared a director credit (though I wish someone would explain why) with Michael Curtiz on THE version of Robin Hood (the one with Errol Flynn that they STILL can't equal seventy years later). Clearly he phoned this one in as did virtually everyone connected with it. Pure banjo pics.

PathetiCinema This movie is a rehash of Angels With Dirty Faces but with grenades instead of electric chairs.Father Nice Guy (Pat O Brien) offers Jerry Plunkett a solution to all of his cowardice. He should either be thrown onto a grenade or go to the electric chair.Plunkett is not too keen on the electric chair ( His cousin, Rocky Sullivan died screaming and begging on the way to one) so he figures if he's gonna die he'd better be dragged toward a live grenade.Predictably, the moment comes and Plunkett's comrades drag him toward a live grenade and throw him onto it.This has been done before and much better.

Boba_Fett1138 This movie is just like most of the other movies from the '40's. It isn't too expensive or impressive looking but the movie serves its purpose.Calling this movie a masterpiece would be an offense to other- true brilliant war movies. The movie remains way too simple and predictable for that. It doesn't make this movie as powerful as it perhaps could had been with a better story-flow and storytelling in general.The movie its story is pretty simple and it mostly relies on themes such as comradeship and courage during a war situation. It provides the movie as a whole with a sort of patriotic undertone that however never really fully distracts from the movie. The movie still works well and at times also effective but it isn't all too impressive or memorable. Probably the only thing that makes this movie still a true recommendable and above average one, is the presence of James Cagney, in the main lead.The rest of the acting is a bit bland and typically '40's over-the-top at certain points. Basically the James Cagney character is the only interesting one because of this but he honestly is not powerful or likable enough in his role, to carry the entire movie on his own.It's sort of nice to see a movie focusing on WW I for a change. There really aren't that many WW I movies around, even though it was a really interesting time period with more than enough great and powerful stories to tell. The movie is certainly not bad looking but it uses a bit too much stock-footage with as a result that the movie looks a bit cheap and perhaps even a bit silly. Further more the movie is also filled with a couple of odd and misplaced sequences (mostly patriotic and moralistic ones) that don't help to make this movie the easiest or most pleasant one to watch.Good enough to watch it and effective at some points but for most part the movie remains nothing more than a distant and simple WW I movie.6/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/