Review of Battleground (1949) by Michael H — 26 Nov 2007

I'm not typically a fan of old movies. Not even old war movies, because there were about a zillion of them made after WWII ended and there are so many cliches involved that watching them gets kind of old. The style was different, technology was different and they're usually just not my cup of tea.

Battleground is different though. When I came in 30 minutes into it, I thought, this looks cool. Cool is one word for a snowy forest in Belgium, but that's not the point. It's not just that it was cool, although it did win an Oscar for Cinematography in 1949. It was an intense movie with an engrossing story.

The 101'st airborne is surrounded in Bastogne, and they're not just goofing off and being heroic. They're trying to stay alive. It has a feel of realism that you don't always find in movies from that era.

It's shot in black and white and the soundtrack doesn't consist of the typical upbeat orchestral music (which tends to drive me nuts). As a matter of fact, there wasn't much of a soundtrack, which added to the overall feel of tension and realism.

I've seen dozens of these post-war movies, and this has to be among the best. It doesn't tend towards the breezy propagandistic style of so many, nor does it go like Bridge on the River Kwai towards anti-war sentiment. It stays in the middle. Those men weren't having fun out there. But when it was over, they were proud of what they had done.