Kugeltanz nach Mitternacht

Actress Rita moreno says it was an Awful film..in a recent interview (on youtube), and had to fly herself in between filming to attend the 1960/61 Academy Awards from Manilla, to Los Angeles, CA, for her previous film 'West Side Story'. She thought she had a 'slim chance' to win eventhough the industry Favorite Judy Garland was also nominated for 'Judgement at Nuremburg',,, but at the time was in the hospital. .

Disney movie veteran James MacArthur does a real about-face in this impossibly tough war-drama about a young American man in the Philippines during World War II who is forced to grow up quickly after being unceremoniously placed into battle against the Japanese. Silvery black-and-white cinematography, some intriguing ideas, but mostly a grating, ungainly picture which MacArthur's youthful finesse can't quite elevate. Van Heflin, as a hard-drinking soldier who's also a rapist and murderer, gets stuck with the worst scenes, though Irving Lerner's direction is good and there are gripping sequences for fans of this genre. ** from ****

I'm sure that the title of this film Cry of Battle was no accident and I'm sure many a piece of change was spent on admission to this feature because folks thought they were seeing a re-release of the more well acclaimed Battle Cry. That was a big budget studio effort which had Van Heflin as a Marine Colonel during the Pacific War.

Cry of Battle also starred Van Heflin as a less admirable character and my guess is that the American players who appeared here did this as a boost to the Phillipine movie industry. Heflin shares top billing with Rita Moreno and James MacArthur with a cast of Filipino players.

The premise of this film is borrowed a bit from the ending of Stalag 17. William Holden in that film tells Don Taylor in no uncertain terms that he is helping him escape because of anticipated rewards from Taylor's rich family. James MacArthur is the rich son of an American planter who like many Americans is stranded there after Pearl Harbor and the attack on Clark Field. He meets up with Van Heflin who is a merchant seaman similarly stranded. Heflin figures there might be a big reward in helping MacArthur out.

Teaching him the facts of life involves rape for Heflin, but he's got an instinct for survival and he teaches MacArthur. They join up with a newly formed band of Filipino resistance and meet the captivating Rita Moreno who's a survivor herself. The rival gets good and heated.

I'm sure flush from her Oscar in 1961, Rita Moreno could have gotten parts in bigger pictures than this. But I do believe the Americans were just helping the Phillipines get some American dollars in receipts by appearing here. She's quite the fetching girl temptress in this film.

Van Heflin has never played a more loathsome character in his career. Yet he actually makes this guy likable, not an easy thing to do playing a rapist. But he's that skilled a player, he never gave a bad performance.

Fans of Van Heflin, including myself, would do well to see this film and see just how wide a range of characters that man could play.

For some unknown reason, Joe, 3rd mate on a merchant ship, is given a spot promotion to 2nd Lt, and given a squad of Philippinos with orders to attack a Japanese sugar processing plant. This is the last we hear of the plant.

Tagging along, again for unspecified reasons, is the snot-nosed scion of an unseen mogul who falls in love with the heroine. The heroine, alas, is something of an opportunist, and ends up in bed with Joe just because. Naturally, the green-eyed monster makes an appearance.

The only thing this film has to do with war are the 17 or so Japanese soldiers who occasionally make their appearance. Most of this movie deals with the angst felt by the snot-nosed kid in his never-ending attempts to pry the heroine away from Joe.

I found this film to be a grand waste of time.

Cry of Battle is a WWII film that portrays a side of the war not normally focused on, the conflicts in the Philippines. The film overall proved to be quite interesting in both the historical and plot aspects. Specifically the plot was just not focused upon a love triangle, but also corrupted friendships and the theme of man vs. man. The film held many underlying themes that were projected both to better tell the story and also display the historical context of the film. The three lead actors (Van Heflin, James MacArthur, and Rita Moreno) rightfully portrayed their characters developing them throughout the movie. All in all Cry of Battle is one of the thousands of war films glossed over during the mid twentieth century, except it actually was a diamond lost in a pile of rocks.