kjell1

I was intrigued by this movie, because it was shot in my hometown of Cleveland -- actually at Cain Park (Summer) Theater in Cleveland Heights.

A pre-med student, Tom Hulce, takes a summer job as a prop man at Cain Park. He meets perennial summer actor-singer, Frank Langella. The veteran Frank still has dreams of making it big on Broadway, but it likely will never happen. However, he manages to impart his dreams of the theater onto Hulce, who by the end of the movie, loses his virginity and commits his hopes to the theater rather than medicine.

Fine acting by Hulce, Langella, Glynnis O'Connor and Kevin McCarthy, who has a small part as a lecherous agent near the end of the movie. He dashes Langella's hopes again, but Langella acquires another agent "who can get him places that (the mcCarthy character) can only dream of."

This is one of the best films, in my view, and not just war films. It's full of wonderful actors. I particularly enjoyed Nigel Green, playing Colour Sergeant Bourne, and why his character, if he did exist, did not get a Victoria Cross is beyond me.

The film is full of memorable lines. My favorite is when Lt. Chard asks Owen what he thinks of the chanting Zulus, about to charge. Owen replies: "They've got a good bass section, mind, but they don't have a top tenor!" Owen then leads the South Wales Borderers into the famous scene where they sing "Men of Harlech" as the Zulus charge.

Also, particularly stirring, is the final scenes when Richard Burton narrates. He lists the men who won the Victoria Cross. There is a wonderful pregnant pause, the music swells, and he names the final recipient, the hero of Rorke's Drift, John Ross Michael Chard. Every Britisher must have swelled with pride at that particular moment.

An early commenter may have mentioned this, but this was Michael Caine's first major role.

Perhaps this movie is a little too long, but it still has some charm 45 years later. The main roles seem more appropriate for Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh. I could care less about Gary Cooper, but Ingrid Bergman is fine, particularly in dark hair. The movie is worth seeing for the supporting cast: Flora Robson is terrific as a mulatto servant. She is a white woman in blackface, and can have an expression of evil or of a voodoo mistress. Jerry Austin as a servant dwarf has a delightful role, that keeps you chuckling despite some overlong scenes. Speaking of scenes, Florence Bates steals most of the ones she is in as a dowager social lady. I didn't understand the outcome of the railroad fight at the end of the movie, and the last scene was pure Hollywood dreck. It's an odd feeling when you realize the film title refers to a railroad rather than a piece of luggage!