No Greater Glory

Is this an allegory? Is it intended to show the futility of war? Is it just a story of a moment of boys' life? Supposedly it is somewhat autobiographical, a story by Ferenc Molnar.

Whatever its intent, and I suppose a viewer is allowed to see what he wants, it is a moving and beautifully done film.

There is one very sad irony: Jimmy Butler, who gives a magnificent performance, and who shows so much talent you just know he is going to be a big star, was later a casualty of the real war, World War II.

He shows astonishing presence, especially for one so young -- he was 13 when "No Greater Glory" was released -- and gave a performance not surpassed by many adults.

Frankie Darro, sometimes billed as "Darrow," was nearly always simply great (You must see him in "Wild Boys of the Road," where he performs surely the first "break dance" on film.), and he is a stand-out here.

Ralph Morgan and Lois Wilson are wonderful as parents of the boy played by George Breakston, just heartbreaking as they wish their little son recovery from his illness.

Really, even when an occasional player is less than great, this movie and the portrayals are enthralling.

Turner Classic Movies is to be commended for letting us see this.

No Greater Glory is Frank Borzage's adaption of a biographical novel by Ferenc Molnar. It's set in the postwar depression that Germany had after World War I. As it opens we first see a veteran talking about the futility of war and then it cuts to a German school where the boys, there are no women in this film other than the lead character's mother, are being spoonfed the same militaristic propaganda that sent Lew Ayres and his friends off to the trenches.

These kids learn well and Lord of the Flies like they split into communities, rival communities that we call gangs. The gang we first meet is the Paul Street Boys and their leader Jimmy Butler. Another group of slightly older kids are trying to push these kids out of the vacant lot that the Paul Street kids play in. This means war and these kids have developed their own rules about it.

One kid, small and scrawny George Breakston wants so much to belong to the gang, but the others tease him and tell him he's too little. He spends the rest of the film trying to prove himself worthy.

No Greater Glory is a really heartbreaking film about kids with misplaced values, the kind who would later become good recruiting fodder for the Nazis. Breakston's performance will elicit tears from the stone lions at the New York Public Library. Frankie Darro and Butler as the rival gang leaders do well by their roles.

I'd love to know how Frank Borzage got Harry Cohn at Columbia Pictures to OK this project. It's a B film, no big stars involved at all, still it's not the most commercial of projects. Yet if you do see it, you will discover a classic.

What makes NO GREAT GLORY atypical for Borzage is that there is no central romantic couple, but this film, a stirring and vivid anti-war drama from the perspective of children (based on Molnar's THE BOYS OF PAUL STREET, which has been filmed on several other occasions), remains one of Borzage's most powerful, and shows the great range of his talent. Using a large cast of children, he is able to get some of the finest performances from many of the child actors, most of whom were Hollywood veterans by this point: George Breakston, Frankie Darro, etc. Yet here, with Borzage's patient guidance, they give fresh and touching performances. Borzage is always able to find great humanity in his performers, and the sorrowful story becomes truly tragic, because Borzage truly engages your emotions and your mind. This is another movie that is not available, and should be made available (and should be shown as often as possible).

No musical spots, no romantic sub-plots, not even a girl around! Well, there's the great Lois Wilson as the leading kid's mother, and she's always worth watching, but make no mistake - this is about how boys develop their thinking process, their pecking order, and their views of the world. Not a hint of "boys will be boys," but boy, is it ever obvious in this unusually fearless, serious piece of anti-war propaganda. I would love to see this film restored, revived, and road-show-presented to every school in the country. It doesn't matter a dot that there are no girls in the story, either, as the subject is more valid today, perhaps, in light of world terrorism and how boys are being raised in other lands, than it might have been considered in 1934. We've enjoyed Molnar plays and tales - Liliom, The Good Fairy, The Guardsman, et al, but nothing prepared me for this hard-hitting, no holds barred filming of his book, the Paul Street Boys. There are plenty of marvelous character players, including Christian Rub, Samuel S. Hinds, Ralph Morgan, and of course, Miss Wilson, but it is the younger actors who race away with this picture, particularly everyone's favorite brat, Jackie Searle (who will not disappoint you!), and everyone's favorite tough guy, Frankie Darro, here offering a more layered, thoughtful performance than he is usually allowed to give. Though all the boys are terrific, one stands out, young Georgie Breakston (remember that wonderful moment in IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT just after everyone sings "The Man on the Flying Trapeze" - the bus hits the mud and everyone goes flying - it was Georgie Breakston who broke the mood with his plaintive "Ma! Ma!" and gets the money from Colbert and Gable!!) effectively carrying the picture on his tiny shoulders. His performance in NO GREATER GLORY makes a lot of more famous child players seem like cardboard cut-outs. Write to your Congressman about this one, but try and find a copy and show it to your children!

Frank Borzage's films puzzle me in many respects. I can't figure out how he manages to move us but he does. I've seen all the often-quoted films - "Three Comrades", "Mortal Storm", "Man's Castle", "Seventh Heaven" - on more than one occasion and yet each time I am truly moved.

I first caught "No Greater Glory" at the Cinematheque in Paris with a friend when we were studying film. The audience was actually moved to tears! We're talking here about a French audience, a foreign language film not particularly well dubbed on film, an era never experienced by the young audience present at the time and performances by child actors unknown for the most part. Yes, the context in the film was European as were the names and places but the situation was Depression-era America, let there be no doubt about that, as were the actors and production staff. I'm still amazed why and how it worked its magic.

The young actors are never "cute", the lines in the film are more adult than child-like, the performances quite adequate but with no pulling-out-all-the-stops Academy Award-winning emoting. In short, it doesn't "feel" like a manipulative movie in any traditional sense of the word, yet we are manipulated by Borzage's hatred of war in general and his remarkable compassion and sincerity in translating his feelings onto the screen. This film is an absolute must!

Curtis Stotlar