La fin du voyage

This is one of the most powerful movies I've ever seen. It is an early talkie, so the camera is static and the copy I have is grainy, but the performances transcend all that and make you forget the problems. Colin Clive is perfect as the brusque, alcoholic (but ultimately sympathetic) Captain Stanhope. His intensity is mesmerizing. It's sad that he didn't get a chance to make more films before he died. David Manners, who I never cared much for in his romantic lead roles, does a surprisingly good job as Raleigh. Ian Mclaren also does a good job as the older, gentle Osborne. This is one movie that is just begging for release on video. It needs to be discovered by modern viewers. I give this movie 10/10 simply because of the power of the performances.

Understandably many people have called Journey's End an Anti-War film and it seems so because it reflects the terrible plight in the trenches. However R.C.Sheriff did not write this as an indictment of the Great War. It was of the brotherly love felt between two people in a time of stress. Sheriff, who served in the trenches before being wounded at Ypres never felt the great anger that appeared in All Quiet on the Western Front, Goodbye to all that etc. In fact a majority of serving personnel felt anger towards the pacifist nature of Sassoon and fellow anti-war writers.(read A subaltern's War by Charles Edmonds or some of the Ira Jones Books) One must remember that many had spent four years of hell in the trenches and to be all told that it was wasted time was pure anathema. In today's world, where we have been educated on the 'Oh, what a lovely war", Barkers trilogy and BirdSong it is more clear, in hindsight, as to the failure of Generals and the pointlessness of it all. By the way, one of the first actors to read for the London production was an unknown young actor called Lawrence Olivier

The United Kingdom's answer to What Price Glory as a World War I play is Journey's End. And this film version which came out after the play opened in London in 1928 had the advantage of sound which What Price Glory did not. And it also had the director of the original cast James Whale doing the film version and in the process making his screen debut as a director.

Also from the London cast was Colin Clive playing the lead as Captain Stanhope who took the place of young Laurence Olivier who was the original Stanhope when the play opened. Olivier left for another engagement and Clive took the role and made it his own.

As on stage the entire play is mostly taking place in the makeshift mess the officers have dug out for themselves on their portion of the trench line on the British front. Clive as Stanhope is in command and under him are Ian McLaren, Billy Bevan, Anthony Bushell, and new man David Manners. Back in civilian life Manners was at school where Clive was a schoolmaster. In addition Clive is also seeing Manners's sister. Their ties in civilian life present difficulties for him, a lot of it in his own mind.

Just like What Price Glory, Journey's End gives us a look at the terror and the tedium of the routine of life in the trenches on the western front. Clive who knows he has to keep up appearances in the best British stiff upper lip tradition is a tired man. No one is lightening his burden, his one confidante is McLaren whom the others call 'Uncle'.

Whale did a wonderful creating the day to day existence of trench warfare British style. The use of some battle newsreels is expertly woven into the fabric of the film. And he got uniformly good performances by his ensemble cast. I've no doubt Whale pushed Universal Pictures to cast Colin Clive as the Baron in the original Frankenstein movie given their association.

Journey's End holds up well today, as good as All Quiet On The Western Front which came out around the same time. And it's a play frequently revived showing the timelessness of the subject.

If you liked All Quiet On The Western Front and What Price Glory definitely catch Journey's End.

Whale's debut came via this filmization of a classic war-themed play by R.C. Sheriff (for its 1976 remake ACES HIGH, the milieu of grimy trenches was changed to accommodate the aerial dog-fights!), which he and leading man Colin Clive had actually originated on Broadway (with Laurence Olivier taking the lead in its run at London's West End!). I purchased the book during a local book fair in the mistaken belief I would never get to watch the film in view of its rarity – which I then acquired via an old but serviceable Channel 4 TV broadcast complete with intermittent publicity spots! A British production, it was however shot in Hollywood and, following its success, director and star stayed on, re-teaming not long after for FRANKENSTEIN (1931) – which obviously cemented their reputation.

For the record, the same year as this one saw the release of two other major anti-war films i.e. Lewis Milestone's ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT and G.W. Pabst's WESTFRONT 1918. Whale's effort, albeit rather thin for a 2-hour movie, compares quite favorably in spite of its necessarily talky nature (oddly enough, what the various characters seem mainly concerned with is nourishment!) and staginess (not to mention the fact that it was made by a debutante). Though rarely straying outside its central underground setting (Whale's background as a set designer invariably came in handy here), with resultant static camera-work, its one battle sequence is magnificently staged (in this respect, at least, it is clearly superior to Whale's subsequent and generally more fluid war effort THE ROAD BACK [1937]).

Being an early Talkie, I was afraid that the all-important dialogue would suffer from the primitive Sound technique; however, this came off reasonably clearly most of the time. Equally pivotal was the casting: interestingly, this would incorporate numerous actors who would come to be associated with the horror genre – not just Clive but David Manners (DRACULA [1931], THE MUMMY [1932] and THE BLACK CAT [1934]), Anthony Bushell (THE GHOUL [1933]) and Billy Bevan (DRACULA'S Daughter [1936])! All gave solid performances: that said, Manners' rookie hero-worshipping Clive – interestingly, their relationship parallels that of Richard Cromwell and John King in THE ROAD BACK – is not really any deeper than his romantic leads in the horror pictures. Bevan has a sizeable part for once, while Bushell plays a cowardly officer who arouses Clive's contempt and ire – even if the latter, still a young man himself despite the weathered look (augmented by mellifluous voice and a perennially tortured demeanor), admits to submerging his own fears in drink. Tragically, this form of solace was undertaken by the actor himself (following Whale's own advice!) which would turn into a chronic vice soon enough and claim his life seven years later at just 37!

In 1918 after four tears of unimaginable attritional warfare and with more and more reinforcements arriving from America Germany was on the brink of collapse . People were starving on the streets and another winter would have probably seen Germany descend in to revolution as seen in Russia the previous year . Mindful of this German military leaders launched a Spring of offensive with the aim of knocking out the British , capturing Paris and ending the war before American reinforcements became a major factor . After initial tactical success the Germans failed to capture the major communication centre at Amiens . The allies rallied their forces and counterattacked in the one hundred days offensive that saw the Germans unconditionally sign an armistice . The cost of victory wasn't cheap with the British army in 1918 suffering more dead than it did during the entire second world war

History is a very strange thing . We tend to look back on things with a mind set that only exists in the present time . Revisionists tend to paint a picture that the First World War was bad and the Second World War was good but in reality there's little difference between Imperial Germany invading Belgium in 1914 and Nazi Germany invading Poland in 1939 . Certainly there wouldn't be much difference in a British Tommy's way of thinking in the fields of France in 1918 to that of 1944 . The anti-warsentiment given to the First World War , of bungling butchers such as General Haig sending thousands of young men to their death wasn't untrue but certainly wasn't a uniquely British trait and in the one hundred days offensive the British army killed , wounded and captured more Germans than the French , American and Belgian armies combined

A former veteran of the First World War director James Whale brings the 1928 stageplay by RC Sheriff to the big screen and does it very well . Certainly it can't be described as " pro-war " but neither does it descend in to revisionist anti-war cliché . Public school boy officers actually had a lower life expectancy than working class men and if you don't believe me take a look at your local war memorial where the ranks of the fallen are given that confirm that the carnage brought upon a generation of men was an egalitarian horror wrought upon all classes . There's an honesty to JOURNEY'S END that is rarely seen in media that has 1914-18 as its theme

At this point it's needed to point out the homosexual subtext of the film - there is none . Yes Whale was homosexual and because of this critics will scrutinise every single line and scene . The closeness of the characters and the paternalism of the Uncle figure mirrors the real life camaraderie of soldiers in combat and is not to be read as any type of comment on the love that dare not speak its name . The characters will also surprise a 21st Century anti-war audience as they get hung up on seemingly frivolous subjects but as a great many contemporary accounts from the conflict agree the worst thing about the war wasn't dealt out by shells , bullets and bayonet from the enemy but the food from their own side

From a technical point of view the film is sometimes limited and for long segments it is rather obvious that its genesis was in theatre but Whale does manage to make the battle scenes appear cinematic . It's also impossible to not mention that this the movie that caused the director to move to America use the superior sound facilities of Hollywood and decided to stay in the country where he made FRANKENSTEIN , THE OLD DARK HOUSE and THE INVISIBLE MAN all classic genre films fondly remembered today and all of which are down to James Whale working on this film . It's such a pity JOURNEY'S END remains such an obscure film which has only had seven comments so far and is never shown on network television . It should be essential viewing in history classes dealing with the Great War