Review of The Men (1950) by Paul Z — 04 Mar 2009

Marlon Brando's first film role is a WW II veteran, who is seriously injured in combat, and the struggles he faces as he attempts to re-enter society. The normally competent filmmaker Fred Zinnemann's helming of Stanley Kramer expects that it is realistic because it depicts, in an upfront, unhopeful approach, with a subject simply denied at the time by the relative artifice of Hollywood. We are strongly informed near the beginning that there will be no phenomenon treatment for these paraplegics. We will thus be left without any sweetened anesthetic ending, any compromise being impermanent and burdened.

This could have been a good film. But on top of being a horribly edited film, distracting with its conspicuous gaps in single shots among other disastrous flaws, it is a condescending attempt at a message movie. Depicting the post-combat lives of these paralyzed vets isn't enough, it seems, as the filmmakers stock so many characters full of philosophical spiels that are too generally observable to be portrayed as profound.