Journey's End

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.

Colin Clive (Stanhope) is the Captain in charge of a troop of officers in the trenches of World War One. He is given intelligence that a German attack is imminent and he has to ensure that orders in response to this are carried out. Into his charge comes fresh-faced David Manners (Raleigh) who knows him from school and who idolizes Clive. However, Clive is a changed man. He likes a drink these days and he has a temper to go with it.

Interestingly for me, I live on a street named after Colin Clive's ancestor. The acting can be slightly wooden and exaggerated - step forward David Manners and cowardly Anthony Bushell (Hibbert) but Clive is good in his role as is his trusted officer and friend Ian Maclaren (Osborne). The setting is realistic and the constant background shelling gives you a feeling of actually being on location!

I found the film much better than expected given that I knew to expect a 2 hour staged play. The scenes give depth to the characters and we watch the relationships between them grow. Pass the whisky.

James Whale had served in World War 1, and this powerful anti-war film has a strong feeling of authenticity as a result. Whale obviously understood the feeling of being in the trenches of World War 1, and manages to convey this feeling strongly to his audience. In a way the terrible technical restrictions of early sound recording help to convey the claustrophobia of trench warfare - the lack of camera and actor movement make the audience feel like they too are stuck in the trenches. Of course it would have been great if the rare action sequences were less confusing and better filmed, but in the end the film is still quite overwhelmingly emotional. This is due in no small part to the excellent performances. Colin Clive and David Manners are particularly memorable.

Whale does not have the opportunity, in this early talkie, to display the great visual flare that he would later become renowned for, but it is, nonetheless, an auspicious start to a great career. 8/10.

In 1918 after four tears of unimaginable attritional warfare and with more and more reinforcements arriving from America Germany was on the brink of collapse . People were starving on the streets and another winter would have probably seen Germany descend in to revolution as seen in Russia the previous year . Mindful of this German military leaders launched a Spring of offensive with the aim of knocking out the British , capturing Paris and ending the war before American reinforcements became a major factor . After initial tactical success the Germans failed to capture the major communication centre at Amiens . The allies rallied their forces and counterattacked in the one hundred days offensive that saw the Germans unconditionally sign an armistice . The cost of victory wasn't cheap with the British army in 1918 suffering more dead than it did during the entire second world war

History is a very strange thing . We tend to look back on things with a mind set that only exists in the present time . Revisionists tend to paint a picture that the First World War was bad and the Second World War was good but in reality there's little difference between Imperial Germany invading Belgium in 1914 and Nazi Germany invading Poland in 1939 . Certainly there wouldn't be much difference in a British Tommy's way of thinking in the fields of France in 1918 to that of 1944 . The anti-warsentiment given to the First World War , of bungling butchers such as General Haig sending thousands of young men to their death wasn't untrue but certainly wasn't a uniquely British trait and in the one hundred days offensive the British army killed , wounded and captured more Germans than the French , American and Belgian armies combined

A former veteran of the First World War director James Whale brings the 1928 stageplay by RC Sheriff to the big screen and does it very well . Certainly it can't be described as " pro-war " but neither does it descend in to revisionist anti-war cliché . Public school boy officers actually had a lower life expectancy than working class men and if you don't believe me take a look at your local war memorial where the ranks of the fallen are given that confirm that the carnage brought upon a generation of men was an egalitarian horror wrought upon all classes . There's an honesty to JOURNEY'S END that is rarely seen in media that has 1914-18 as its theme

At this point it's needed to point out the homosexual subtext of the film - there is none . Yes Whale was homosexual and because of this critics will scrutinise every single line and scene . The closeness of the characters and the paternalism of the Uncle figure mirrors the real life camaraderie of soldiers in combat and is not to be read as any type of comment on the love that dare not speak its name . The characters will also surprise a 21st Century anti-war audience as they get hung up on seemingly frivolous subjects but as a great many contemporary accounts from the conflict agree the worst thing about the war wasn't dealt out by shells , bullets and bayonet from the enemy but the food from their own side

From a technical point of view the film is sometimes limited and for long segments it is rather obvious that its genesis was in theatre but Whale does manage to make the battle scenes appear cinematic . It's also impossible to not mention that this the movie that caused the director to move to America use the superior sound facilities of Hollywood and decided to stay in the country where he made FRANKENSTEIN , THE OLD DARK HOUSE and THE INVISIBLE MAN all classic genre films fondly remembered today and all of which are down to James Whale working on this film . It's such a pity JOURNEY'S END remains such an obscure film which has only had seven comments so far and is never shown on network television . It should be essential viewing in history classes dealing with the Great War

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.