In Love and War

Enjoyable , agreeable movie depicting lives of three Marines in San Francisco during World War II. Frankie O'Neill (Robert Wagner) visits his poor and troublesome family ; Nico Kantaylis (Jeffrey Hunter) learns his lovely , pure-hearted girlfriend (Hope Lange) is pregnant ; and the upper-class Alan Newcombe visits his father and high-living , socialite girlfriend (Dana Wynter) . Soon after , O'Neill drowns his troubles in alcohol and along with a friend Lorraine (Sheree North) , losing the respect of his potential lover ; Kantaylis marries his fiancée ; while Alan leaves his socialite and drunk girlfriend for a Hawaiian nurse , Kalai (France Nuyen) . The coming battle results to be a dangerous and nearly impossible assignment in a strongly armed Japanese position at an isolated island . Love-Hungry Youth amid the fires of war. THE ONE TRULY GREAT STORY OF THE U. S. MARINES!

This dramatic film in Soap Opera style dealing with unresolved love stories , concerning the family lives of three San Francisco Marines affected by their personal experiences on the front lines in the Pacific and vice-versa, along the way , each must decide whether to make the best of his situation or break out of it . Marines life is narrated aboard a ship , en route through Pacific , by means of flashbacks , in with they reminisce about their love stories , including a dramatisation of the landings and battles in which heroic acts cost some of the Marines their lives . The movie utilizes an often-used plot of the war movie genre which has soldiers in love with the women , whose romances are broken due to WWII, while remembering their lives in flashbacks . Impressive and breathtaking final scenes when there takes place Japanese island invasion , including landing crafts , tanks , explosions and and fierce battles . The ending images and survival of some protagonists will determine the surprising denouement in which one comes together to her . Quartet protagonists are pretty good , Robert Wagner gives a restrained interpretation as a Marine who hides his lower-class dysfunctional family , Bradford Dillman as the enamored upper-class soldier who falls deeply with the beauteous France Nuyen and Jeffrey Hunter is nice as the upright and brave Sergeant . Support cast is frankly well , such as Sheree North , Mort Sahl, Harvey Stephens , James Best , Barry Brown and the little girl Veronica Cartwright , future passenger of Alien film.

It contains sensitive and evocative musical score by Hugo Friedhofer. Colorful cinematography in Technicolor by the splendid director of photography Leo Tover . Shot on location in California , the naval scenes were filmed at the former Long Beach Naval Shipyard at Terminal Island California, Monterey, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, Oakland, California, and at the Fox Studio back-lot . The motion picture was professional but slowly directed by Philip Dunne . He was an expert writer , getting some successes , such as Anne of the Indians , Sinuhé, the Egyptian , The Robe , Martin the Gaucho , Pinky , David and Betsabe , The Ghost and Mrs Muir , Demetrius and the Gladiators , Lydia Bailey . And he directed some movies as Blindfold , El inspector , Wild in the Country , 10, calle Frederick , Three Brave Men , Hilda Crane , The view from Pompey's Head.

The story follows three marines, and their girls, from home leave to combat in the Pacific.

The movie's very much a mixed package. With a couple exceptions, war films of the 1950's shied away from combat realism, whose trauma might easily overwhelm audiences. The second half of this war film does a pretty good job portraying the so-called fog of war, along with perfectly natural emotional and physical reactions to combat death. These scenes are done on exterior sets and are uglified to maximal extent. Such grim scenes are then intercut with sunny scenes in San Francisco, done in glowing candy box colors. The resulting contrast is appropriately jolting, to say the least, and leaves no doubt that between "love" and "war", which is to be preferred.

The trouble lies with a swollen narrative that is too conventional in the "Love" part. It also shows what happens when a big studio, TCF, decides to promote a younger cast into possible stardom. Everybody—about the top seven in the cast list—gets cameo screen time, in the film's first half, especially. This draws out the runtime, and coupled with a conventional script, tends to drag out the first part, long after we've gotten the idea. The actors perform well enough, though O'Neill's (Wagner) drunken binge is over the top, maybe the only time in the actor's generally restrained career. Note, in passing, the post-war symbolism of pairing Newcombe (Dillman) with Kalai (Nuyen).

All in all, the movie's a good look at how Hollywood shaped WWII to commercial needs of the big screen. But is otherwise forgettable.

"In Love and War" was one of that group of Hollywood films of the 1950's based on best selling novels about WW2. They were written by men who had experienced the war first hand: "The Young Lions", "Between Heaven and Hell" and "Battle Cry" among others.

Being around 10 years of age at the time, they were the kind of movies I couldn't wait to see. However they usually had as much time devoted to the bedroom as to the battlefield - lots of mushy stuff. "In Love and War" wasn't kidding when it put 'Love' first in the title. At the time though, I thought Dana Wynter was about the most beautiful woman in the world - I'm not sure that I still don't.

These days I can handle the mushy stuff better and actually appreciate it more than the rather bloodless, unrealistic action scenes that were the norm for those films.

"In Love and War" had an overload of beautiful people. Along with Dana Wynter there was Robert Wagner, Jeffery Hunter, Hope Lange, Bradford Dillman, Sheree North and France Nuyen - stunning in her second movie.

The story is about three marines from different backgrounds. Their lives reflect different levels of society, but there are problems all around: the spoilt rich girl bored with life (Dana), a bit of interracial tension (France Nuyen) and an evil stepfather for Robert Wagner's character. By 1958, anti-war sentiment was de rigueur - Brad Dillman's character rages against the senselessness of war. Unfortunately the various strands of the story seemed plucked from a file of alphabetically listed stock plots.

The island the marines storm is unnamed. The author, Anton Myrer, was wounded serving with the marines on Guam, but the battle here seems to be representative, not specific.

Many war films at the time combined documentary footage with the re-creations, and it was never seamless. That was the case in this film despite a few gritty scenes. However they pale when compared to the 2010 mini series, "The Pacific".

"In Love and War" has one element that pulls the whole thing together, a magnificent score by Hugo Friedhofer. It captures the heroism and tragedy of war, the epic along with the intimate. The score for this film is one of its stars.

I can still enjoy this movie even if nostalgia plays a part. As for modern audiences, this is what a big glossy movie of the time looked like with stars who seemed better than life.

Although made in 1958, this is one of those patriotic WWII movies that are a hit with Americans who appreciate the sacrifices made for our freedom. Yet, there was plenty of home front footage as well with very good acting. Dana Wynter, whom I had just seen in Sink The Bismarck, did a wonderful job in a difficult part. The writing for the part was superficial and the reasoning behind it not believable. And yet, Ms. Wynter took it and made it believable. What an actress! And darn good looking too! The male leads were all well done, Jeffrey Hunter, Robert Wagner and Bradford Dillman. One finds oneself rooting for all three Marines to make it through the battle scenes. Hope Lange, a great actress as always and a real beauty. Remember her in the TV version of The Ghost and Mrs. Muir? France Nuyen, a sweet face and good acting, what more could we want? One face popped up that I recognized right away - a Corcoran boy! This one is Brian who played Israel Boone on the old Daniel Boone TV show. But it was his brother Kevin Corcoran whom I thought about - the great child actor who did Old Yeller, Pollyanna and others. His sister in the movie is Veronica Cartwright, the real life sister of Angela Cartwright of the Danny Thomas show, Lost in Space and Brigitta in the Sound of Music movie. Of course Veronica made news herself as Jimima Boone on the same TV show as Brian, Lumpy's sister on Leave It To Beaver, Spencer's Mountain and other good parts. All in all, excellent acting in this movie, good drama and exciting WWII action by the Marines. Well worth seeing.

About half of the film is all about relationships between three marines and their sweethearts, three very different characters of very different backgrounds, and so are their sweethearts. The second half is dominated by the war in the Pacific, greatly depicting the arduous hardships of the marines and their unimaginable heroic efforts and deeds. You get a very extensive and clear picture of what the war in the Pacific really was like. The three girls encounter the ordinary fates of female civil victims of the war, one is widowed with a child, another sinks down in alcohol and tragedy, and no one gets out of it unscathed, although there is always a continuity. It is beautifully photographed and filmed, and Hugo Friedhofer's music adds to its high quality. This is a film you would like to see again sometime.