The Dryden will screen Battleground (William A. Wellman, U.S. 1949, 118 min., 35mm).

Returning to the territory he charted with The Story of G.I. Joe, Wellman crafts another deeply humanistic, documentary-like portrayal of American soldiers during the Second World War as vulnerable humans, and not heroic killing machines. Restrained almost to the point of neorealism, Battleground again follows a single company (327th Glider Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division) as they simply try to survive the notorious Battle of the Bulge. "And William Wellman . . . has done a tremendous job of making all the action—and reaction—plausible. In settings of striking realism, he has got the 'look' of that wintry battleground. And the split-second timing of his actors has made them utterly true to the life of 'Joe.' Among his masculine performers (there is only one girl, Denise Darcel, in a small role), it is difficult to make a selection of those who merit special praise. James Whitmore is magnificently shaggy and laconic as a veteran 'top kick,' and Douglas Fowley does a dandy job of playing a constant griper with a set of loose store-teeth. Van Johnson is honestly appealing as a wise-cracking, scrounging rifleman, and John Hodiak and George Murphy are solid as older and quieter men." — New York Times, 1949

[source: Dryden website, 2015-Jun-8]