Journey's End

This is one of the most powerful movies I've ever seen. It is an early talkie, so the camera is static and the copy I have is grainy, but the performances transcend all that and make you forget the problems. Colin Clive is perfect as the brusque, alcoholic (but ultimately sympathetic) Captain Stanhope. His intensity is mesmerizing. It's sad that he didn't get a chance to make more films before he died. David Manners, who I never cared much for in his romantic lead roles, does a surprisingly good job as Raleigh. Ian Mclaren also does a good job as the older, gentle Osborne. This is one movie that is just begging for release on video. It needs to be discovered by modern viewers. I give this movie 10/10 simply because of the power of the performances.

Understandably many people have called Journey's End an Anti-War film and it seems so because it reflects the terrible plight in the trenches. However R.C.Sheriff did not write this as an indictment of the Great War. It was of the brotherly love felt between two people in a time of stress. Sheriff, who served in the trenches before being wounded at Ypres never felt the great anger that appeared in All Quiet on the Western Front, Goodbye to all that etc. In fact a majority of serving personnel felt anger towards the pacifist nature of Sassoon and fellow anti-war writers.(read A subaltern's War by Charles Edmonds or some of the Ira Jones Books) One must remember that many had spent four years of hell in the trenches and to be all told that it was wasted time was pure anathema. In today's world, where we have been educated on the 'Oh, what a lovely war", Barkers trilogy and BirdSong it is more clear, in hindsight, as to the failure of Generals and the pointlessness of it all. By the way, one of the first actors to read for the London production was an unknown young actor called Lawrence Olivier

This straightforward but gripping record of R.C.Sherriff's play like most depictions of The Great War concentrates on the nervous calm behind the lines before the final apocalypse; ending irrevocably with most of those with whom we have been sharing their final days going over the top, swept up into the awaiting maelstrom, and from then on now belonging to the ages.

The United Kingdom's answer to What Price Glory as a World War I play is Journey's End. And this film version which came out after the play opened in London in 1928 had the advantage of sound which What Price Glory did not. And it also had the director of the original cast James Whale doing the film version and in the process making his screen debut as a director.

Also from the London cast was Colin Clive playing the lead as Captain Stanhope who took the place of young Laurence Olivier who was the original Stanhope when the play opened. Olivier left for another engagement and Clive took the role and made it his own.

As on stage the entire play is mostly taking place in the makeshift mess the officers have dug out for themselves on their portion of the trench line on the British front. Clive as Stanhope is in command and under him are Ian McLaren, Billy Bevan, Anthony Bushell, and new man David Manners. Back in civilian life Manners was at school where Clive was a schoolmaster. In addition Clive is also seeing Manners's sister. Their ties in civilian life present difficulties for him, a lot of it in his own mind.

Just like What Price Glory, Journey's End gives us a look at the terror and the tedium of the routine of life in the trenches on the western front. Clive who knows he has to keep up appearances in the best British stiff upper lip tradition is a tired man. No one is lightening his burden, his one confidante is McLaren whom the others call 'Uncle'.

Whale did a wonderful creating the day to day existence of trench warfare British style. The use of some battle newsreels is expertly woven into the fabric of the film. And he got uniformly good performances by his ensemble cast. I've no doubt Whale pushed Universal Pictures to cast Colin Clive as the Baron in the original Frankenstein movie given their association.

Journey's End holds up well today, as good as All Quiet On The Western Front which came out around the same time. And it's a play frequently revived showing the timelessness of the subject.

If you liked All Quiet On The Western Front and What Price Glory definitely catch Journey's End.

This is the film that started it all (in more ways than one). This was the play and subsequent film which gave rise to the career of James Whale - acclaimed director of such hits as Waterloo Bridge, Showboat, The Man in the Iron Mask, as well as being the father of horror with Frankenstein, The Old Dark House, The Invisible Man, and The Bride of Frankenstein. Without his directing this play, whose meteoric rise in England paved his way to Hollywood, we might never have been given the same treatment of Shelley's opus and the key to modern horror films.

The film itself is also a first in that it was the first major film to deal with World War I in such a way that brought it's own brand of horror to the masses. As with other filmmakers whose actual wartime experiences have brought us closer to the realities of war (Oliver Stone, Samuel Fuller, to name a couple) the material was emotional and close to Whale.

Although the first film of this type and a box office hit, Journey's End would yield to All Quiet On the Western Front as the definitive WWI film. Truthfully, All Quiet... is a much better film, however, they are two distinct films dealing with the "reality" of war from wholly different perspectives. All Quiet... gives stirring battle sequences which still stand up but also attempts to represent the common soldier's experience. Journey's End, a play written by RC Sheriff tells the story from the perspective of English officers, of which Sheriff and Whale had both been apart. In this regard, the material can be appear dated and seem more melodramatic than intended.

The film suffers more from the simplistic camera settings than from its significance as an early talkie. Whale's direction is handled perfunctorily as if recreating the stage play. There are a few scenes which go beyond this limitation but they are few in 120 minutes of film. The true success is the first film performance of Colin Clive who handled the material for Whale on stage as Captain Stanhope (after Laurence Olivier left the play after its initial run). Clive is cast perfectly as the tormented Captain (a mood he would later immortalize in Frankenstein). Ian McLaren also deserves recognition as the intelligently human face of Lt. Osbourne.

There are many reasons to seek out this rare historical film. From its place in cinematic lore and significance in the War genre to the fine performances. Either way, its a treat.