kclark3

My words can only be inadequate when trying to review a classic of this quality. So I will only talk about the acting. Where is Jimmy Stewart now that we really need him? Wasn't Josephine Hull super? All of the following were superb: Cecil Kellaway as Dr. Chumley; Wallace Ford, the cabbie who sets us all straight; Clem Bevins, always good as Clem Bevins; Harry Hines, what a great character; Minerva Urecal. Jesse White and his love interest Victoria Horne. I guess I could go on till I'd listed them all, but this will suffice.

I just saw this one on TCM. The last time I saw it, I was a small child and I was thrilled. Sixty years later, I'm tickled. It's good for a belly laugh. Come on, dwarf savages, get real. These guys were surely around a few years later as Munchkins. I think I recognized the lolly pop kids. "The Elephant Graveyard," well, perhaps, but only if there were a lot of poachers , around. Oh, by the way, the savage (painted black) dwarves were beating Tom Toms and dancing to Native American war chants. I really liked that part. The best actor was Cheetah, but he probably wasn't credited. This movie is camp, pure camp. Loved it.

The Purple Heart was a very good movie for the times. The people who brand it "sappy" and "propagandistic", or the brain dead person who chortles about "patriotic lunkheads" enlisting in the armed forces because of this movie were not alive during that period. They know nothing about the horror of total war. The survival of this nation was in doubt, and men were dying or being captured by sadistic Japanese who murdered them while in captivity. Every parent dreaded the telegram delivery boy, thinking what it might mean. Ever heard of the Bataan Death March? This movie was a fact based story about captured Americans from the Doolittle raid, in which several American Airmen were tried as War Criminals, and some of them were executed. Such a show trial was not repeated, but it showed the beastiality of the Bushido warriors. Japan should hang it's head in shame. The performances were dead right for war time, and Dana Andrews was superb, there were few cliches, it was mostly truth. Mr Bartalotti was right, there was a great deal in a short time. A True achievement. For the silly few who worry about propaganda, remember we were at war, and remember Pearl Harbor.