Shadow in the Sky

Earnest little movie that's almost a sleeper, thanks to a solid cast, good production values, and an affecting story. Ex-Marine Burt (Meeker) is in a VA hospital suffering from periodic bouts of battle shock, especially when it rains. Meanwhile, his solid citizen sister Betty (Davis) and her husband Lou (Whitmore) live close by. Burt wants to get out of the confinement and move in with them. But Betty and Lou have two kids and are wary that the unpredictable Burt may prove a live-in hazard. The predicament is compounded by the fact that Burt saved Lou's life during the war, thus Lou has an obligation. So how these various threads get resolved forms the core of the plot.

Hats off to glamorous MGM for foregoing the usual glitz with location filming and a sturdy, if non-glamorous cast. Whatever her politics, Davis-Reagan was a fine actress, excelling at everyday roles, while Meeker at this stage was a Brando-type, though here he calibrates in non-emoting fashion. Of course, Whitmore is Whitmore, looking like an everyday guy as the role requires. Together, they make this story of post-war wounds both affecting and believable, even if in a Hollywood manner. I especially like the rapport between Burt and Lou, which ultimately relies on the male bonding so common among men in battle. Understandably, there were a number of these war trauma films made during this period. However, this obscure little B-film can hold its own even among the bigger boys.

They didn't call it post traumatic stress or PTSD back in those days, the term was shell shocked. But that is what Ralph Meeker is in this film Shadow In The Sky from MGM's B picture unit.

Meeker is a former Marine who served in the Pacific where his sergeant was James Whitmore who happened to marry his sister Nancy Reagan. Meeker has been in an out of veteran's hospital since the end of World War 2. He has a phobia about rain and the presence of Whitmore who was his sergeant during the war, but received a million dollar wound and went home acts as a kind of security blanket for Meeker.

We never really learn what his issues are and they certainly are a lot more complex than Shadow In The Sky lets on. But that was the way with most Hollywood films that dealt with psychological issues back in the day.

It's a good cast ensemble MGM gathered for this film which also includes Jean Hagen who works at the VA and might like to get something going with Meeker once he straightens himself out.

A good film for Veteran's Day.

**SPOILERS** During the fighting in the Solomon Islands in the Pacific Theater of War Burt,Ralph Meeker,suffered wounds far greater then any Japanese bullet or navel bombardment could ever inflict on him.

Pinned down by Japanese gunfire in the rain-soaked Guadalcancal jungle Brut carried his fellow marine , and future brother-in-law, Lou Hopke, James Whitmore,a half mile to safety thus saving his life. Suffering from a sever case of "jungle Rap" Burt was diagnosed as being unable to blend in with society and sent to a US military hospital for shell-shocked servicemen back in the states. It's now some seven years later and Burt is deemed well enough, by his military doctor Edward Frenz, to be sent home but the only home he knows is that of his friend and brother-in-law Paul Hopke and the problem is will Paul as well as Burt's sister Betty, Nancy Davis, take him in?

Much like Marlon Brando's "The Men" the film "Shadow in the Sky" tells of the horrors of war that stays with those who fought in it for the rest of their lives and how they fight to cope and overcome them. Burt knows what his in-laws and sister think of him and doesn't want to burden them with his presence but it's that very reason, to be accepted and not be feared by them, thats the only cure to his crippling psychosis.

Finally agreeing to have Burt stay the Hopke's fear that he'll flip out whenever it starts to rain, which touches off his "Jungle Rap" paranoia, and may not only hurt himself but them, the Hopke's, and their two young children Chris & Nina, Dennis Ross & Nadine Ashdown, as well.

The movie shows how hard it is to get over experiences suffered in a war zone and Ralph Meeker is at his best as the mentally broken war vet who knows that he'll have to go through a hell almost as bad, if not worse, as being in a war itself to overcome them. The Hopke's grudgingly take Burt into their home, after the insistence of his civilian volunteer nurse Stella Murphy (Jean Hagen),has him doing his best to fit in. The fact that he's, as well as Lou & Betty, terrified of a normal rainy day or night makes things very difficult and sooner or later Burt and the Hopke's know that "The Rains Will come" and with them Burt's worst fears about himself and what he may do to those around him.

Very moving story with a hard edge to it in how a man overcomes his worse fears by not running but confronting them head on which turns out to be the best medicine and treatment that he could have.

Burt's fears of rain, it not only reminds him of Guadalcanal but the blood dripping all over him as he carried the badly injured Lou to safety, was also overcome by telling Lou the truth, about the guilt he felt; about him wanting Lou to die so he would no longer have to carry him.

Lou in return sets Burt straight by telling him he has a sense of guilt too; he didn't want to invite Burt to stay with him and his family, thus having him stay alone and unwanted in the military hospital. It was only because Stella insisted that Lou realized that he couldn't leave Burt alone in the world to die, or never recover from his mental illness, when Burt risked his life to save his own back then in the hell that was called Guadalcanal.

Thoughtful (if not particularly incisive) look at mental illness in veterans brought on by their war experiences after suffering extreme duress in the midst of battle. One emotional Marine, recuperating at a hospital in southern California, is deemed well enough to leave, but his sister and brother-in-law (whose life the soldier saved overseas) are reluctant to take him in because of his volatile nature. Excellent performances from Ralph Meeker, Nancy Davis, and James Whitmore nearly compensate for Ben Maddow's sketchy screenplay which begins as a study of human frailties but soon becomes a family melodrama (its subject matter whittled down to one case). Thus, scenes such as a dance at the Veteran's Hospital serve no real purpose, with the viewer left in the uncomfortable position of waiting for Meeker's Marine to lose self-control. Nevertheless, an unusual product to come from MGM, with several taut and moving sequences--though not enough to quite fill its running-time. **1/2 from ****

This is a post-war story about the effects of what today we'd call PTSD. Ralph Meeker is a former marine who's confined at a VA facility in California. 90% of the time, he's a standup guy who seems to have a promising future, but whenever it rains, he turns into a major head case who can't escape his past wartime experience in the South Pacific. Nancy (Davis) Reagan plays his sister who is married to James Whitmore's character. They vacillate between whether or not to take in Meeker to provide a little support for his condition and give him a stable home life, as well as a potential job working with Whitmore at his roadside gas station and garage. The problem is that they've also got two young kids at home, and they don't want to expose them to their uncle's episodes whenever the weather turns inclement. They also are afraid Meeker might really wig out and hurt his niece and nephew during one of his "bad" days.

Jean Hagen plays Meeker's love interest. She too has some kind of mental incapacity, but the film never really explains how she got that way. And therein lies the problem with this picture. It's a great story with good performances by the four leads, but the script is a real puzzler. There are so many holes and unanswered questions with so little back story of the characters. This movie was released about 3 months after "Singin' in the Rain" came out, and it was fun to see how good an actress Jean Hagen was when you compare the two pictures. "Shadow in the Sky" is only an hour and 18 minutes long, and if the script were given an extra 20 or 30 minutes, some of those unanswered questions could have been addressed. It's the only film I can think of where Ralph Meeker can be seen in a speedo.