Stringimi forte tra le tue braccia

It would be easy to pass off Force of Arms as just another post-WWII action/romance movie until you're a few frames into viewing it. Surprisingly realistic with actual combat footage interspersed with filming. Strong yet sensitively-understated performances by Holden, Olson, and, in a supporting role, Frank Lovejoy. An inspired and superior script helps convey the chaos of combat, its effects on those who are scarred by it, and the powerful force of love that can somehow emerge in the midst of the sheer will to survive. A classic that feels as real in 2017 as when it was filmed.

Directed by Michael Curtiz (Casablanca) with music by the great Max Steiner (King Kong, Gone With The Wind, Casablanca, Treasure of the Sierra Madre) The script crackles with great dialogue, William Holden is the best I've ever seen him, Nancy Olson is able to deliver the most romantic lines with real emotional honesty--not an easy thing to do. The idea here is a kind of bleak existential gallows humor mixed with a deeply felt love story. It also brings up PTSD. All the actors are at their best and believable. The photography mixes real combat footage well.The war attitude is soldiers wanting to do a job because they feel a responsibility to their brothers-in-arms and their loved ones back home. It's a real gem and I'll never forget it.

It's been tough fighting in Italy. Sgt. John 'Pete' Peterson (William Holden) and his men are getting pulled out for five days after a terrible battle. He meets WAC Lt. Eleanor MacKay (Nancy Olson). Maj. Blackford (Frank Lovejoy) has a battlefield commission for him. He gets closer to Lt. MacKay and soon has to go back to the front.

This movie is divided between love and war. The love part has a melodramatic romance with some limited heat. She's a good girl on the rebound from a trauma. He's been in the thick of it. The romance is rather old fashion. The war part has some functional battles with a mix of real and staged footage. The fighting is somewhat realistic with many friendlies killed.

I wasn't sure what to make of this at first since I had never heard of the movie before I saw it on Turner recently, but almost right off the bat this earnest war/romance drama shows it's mettle.

William Holden is a GI on a short leave in Naples during the Allied advance up Italy. He meets WAC Nancy Olson , and after a short resistance on her part they fall in love , more or less at first sight. I liked the dialog between the two of them during this 'courtship' , it is well written and though Holden plays the wisecracker he so often did in his roles, it seems natural in these scenes.

The rest of the film tracks their time in Italy, together and apart, as Holden returns to the front and faces the need to prove his courage and cool under fire.

The thing that made this movie stand out is the treatment of a war time in service romance that is neither played for laughs or pathos. It is slightly melodramatic at times, but appropriately so for the material.

One of the better films of this type I have seen.

I really liked this movie. I fast forwarded through the love scenes though. I am a Holden fan and I seem to like his snide comments he always seems to make. His comments are usually like "gallows humor". In times of stress everything seems to take on a different view or meaning. I also liked where Holden seems to exhibit PTSD. He talks about the horror of the battlefield and his men dying for no reason. I liked this because I thought the US Government did not want anything but us the good guys and the enemy the bad. Most war movies show us never getting hurt and the enemy all dying, What tipped me off was the word "San Pietro". John Huston made a movie called that and it was banned by the Government and not shown because it showed people actually getting killed. Lastly, all the equipment looked real and used in the real manner even down to the mail room! Usually I can find many errors in guns and ammo. Another good movie to watch is, "Pork Chop Hill" with Gregory Peck. You actually see men using body armor and guns and ammo used in the proper manner.