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While certainly NOT Maltese Falcon or To Have and Have Not, Battle Circus surprised me.

The Film has a bad reputation for being on the lesser end of Bogart films, with the chemistry between Allyson and Bogart about as exciting as that of Liver and mashed potatoes... I didn't agree with this once I watched it... Sure, it had cheesy dialogue and the sort, but the relationship between Allyson and Bogie could only be described as "quirky". It was not a dull movie, plenty of great lines (and a surprising amount of alluding to sex...) and a fun atmosphere. The film could have been better, yes, but seeing Allyson and Bogart in a War film together was good enough for me. I won't even go into the storyline; that's unimportant, what is important was I enjoyed it. That's good enough for me.

"Battle Circus" is another vehicle written and directed by Richard Brooks, with less satisfying results… Very likely the major fault was in teaming Bogart with June Allyson, an actress of extremely limited range whose perpetually simpering attitude and breathy whining of lines must surely have kept Bogart's nerves on edge…

The idea of the film was a sound one, a semi-documentary approach at portraying the day-by-day activities of a mobile field hospital behind the front lines during the Korean War…

The film fell apart, however, when an almost juvenile love plot interceded… One laughable scene found Allyson disarming a partially crazed prisoner who was threatening to blow everyone up with a hand grenade, thereby proving her courage under fire to a rather uninterested Bogart, who finally falls in love with her

It's hard to believe that Richard Brooks (he of "In Cold Blood" and "The Professionals") directed this. Having coincidentally seen another Korean War film, "One Minute to Zero," immediately before this one, I can vouch for the fact that "Battle Circus" is a major improvement. However, that in itself is no great recommendation. Humphrey Bogart is his usual excellent self, professional and expert in his handling of the role of a MASH unit doctor. And June Allyson is endearing and fine in her role as the nurse who loves him. But despite the fact that plenty of screen romances have survived a greater age difference between couples than the 18 years that separates Bogart and Allyson, Bogart just comes off as uncomfortably old to be pulling the kind of shenanigans he tries with Allyson here. Never mind that in real life Bogart's fairy-tale romance with Lauren Bacall was between two people 25 years apart in age -- this is the movies, and at 53, Bogart seems slightly creepy, forcing his attentions on a young nurse and getting somewhat pissy when she dares to ask if he has a wife. Nonetheless the performances are good and occasionally overcome a difficult script (difficult not in complexity but in mediocrity). Robert Keith, who seems to have managed a long Hollywood career without ever varying his performances one whit, does what he always does as Bogart's commanding officer. Keenan Wynn is substantial and believable as the tough sergeant who keeps things running. But outside of a couple of intense moments (such as the one where a terrified North Korean soldier -- Philip Ahn -- threatens to blow up the operating room), the movie hovers like a helicopter over the no-man's land between drama and soap opera, unable quite to make up its mind where to set down.

It's amazing that this movie is overlooked as an earlier version of Mash, yeah it's not wild and crazy but all the elements are there: especially the operating room scenes that are gruesome.The film has loose feel and lack of a real plot other than Bogie trying to get into June Allison and everyone trying to cope with the realities of war.Bogie seems out of character as a surgeon that doesn't care about anything but it's worth watching if only to compare it to Mash the movie. One has to wonder if Robert Altman saw this film before he made his version,which he had to, it's about a mobile army surgery unit in the Korean war, and their day to day trials and tribulations.

Maybe if MGM had realized that a generation later, a comedy classic would be launched about a MASH unit in Korea, they might have opted for a more lighthearted treatment of the subject here.

One of the other reviewers is of the opinion that Humphrey Bogart is acting like a sexist pig in this film. He certainly is, probably just as much a one as Hawkeye Pierce. The problem here is June Allyson who just ain't no Hotlips Hoolihan. She's terribly miscast here, what was needed was someone who could have fielded Bogey's passes with a smart wisecrack in the right place. Gee, Lauren Bacall would have been good casting here.

The supporting cast is pretty good though with Robert Keith as the commander of the MASH unit and Keenan Wynn as the top sergeant in the place. MASH the television series always turned deadly serious in the operating room and the same here. Nice action sequences as well.

Philip Ahn has a small bit as a frightened North Korean prisoner who gets a hold of a live grenade in the operating room. Interesting because it's one of the few times that very capable oriental actor actually played a Korean which was his ancestry.

Humphrey Bogart just doesn't gel with June Allyson though. She would rather have had Van Johnson and of course Bogey would have had Betty if he had his druthers. So would have I.