Written by Gabriel Serrano Dennis
There is no shortage of classic war movies. From morale-boosting patriotic epics to anti-war indictments, history has proven that war movies can captivate audiences in visceral, emotional, and even spiritual ways. However, few have successfully conveyed the horrors of war while exploring the toll of ongoing violence and social alienation.
Today we can give some classic examples, such as Full metal casing, apocalypse now, the road to glory, and Saving Private RyanBut in 1945, at the end of World War II, a film called ” Special Forces Story Dare to show war being fought on the front lines, focusing on the human cost rather than the heroic deeds. Rejuvenated and given a clean restoration by Ignite Films, Special Forces Story Its naturalistic depictions of everyday soldiers remain authentic.
This is by no means an anti-war film; Special Forces Story First and foremost a tribute to the infantrymen and war correspondents who reported first hand the realities of war, Ernie Pyle. A screen adaptation of a column Pyle wrote for the Scripps-Howard newspaper that focused on what he called the “losers” of the U.S. military, Special Forces Story Centered on Pyle (by the great Burgess Meredith) joined Company C, 18th Infantry Regiment during the European campaign. On the road through Tunisia and Italy, Pyle became close to the infantry, especially Lieutenant Bill Walker (Robert Mitchum It was his first major role and only Oscar-nominated performance) and later became the captain of his men.
The film is told in a situational structure with no real plot to drive the narrative, centered on the day-to-day experiences of infantry soldiers. The film cuts between Pyle and the soldiers fighting, resting, and patrolling. In this way, the film simultaneously captures moments of boredom, danger, and friendship. Of course, the film also highlights some lighter moments, including a scene about a man’s marriage to a war nurse amid the ruins of an Italian church. In these moments, old Hollywood creeps in, injecting the film with a cheesy levity that sometimes feels out of place in such a sombre film.
despite this, Special Forces Story Never shy away from the cruelty of war. Just as a couple gets married and spends the evening together in a tender and funny way, the film soon turns to a grueling confrontation in a monastery that tests even the sanity of ordinary soldiers. Although Hollywood’s relaxed atmosphere is on full display, the director William A. Wellman (whose movie wing Winner of the first Academy Award for Best Picture) keeps the film grounded in reality and true to Pyle’s writing. Just as we laugh and share the friendship of our soldiers, we must also experience their death and trauma.
Even though the film is primarily a humane study of groups at war, that doesn’t mean it’s not short of action. The 18th Infantry’s first foray into the war was a horrific, chaotic series of light and dark images, illuminated only by shell explosions and gunfire. In newsreel style, we see the Green Man being thrown into Hell for the first time, a tragic war rarely seen at the time. Another battle at Monte Cassino brings to mind Steven Spielbergof Saving Private Ryan There are few musical cues as we follow soldiers through a war zone, and the sound of bullets and tank missiles fills the air. It’s a stunning display of combat, thanks to its succinct and straightforward depiction of war.
Ignite Film’s enhanced restoration of the Academy Film Archive print impresses with its cleanliness and deep contrast. The enhanced version of Ignite Film features preserved elements made from a replica nitrate print of the film, eliminating much of the flickering and scratching found in the original print. It looks very close to what modern audiences would have seen on the big screen in 1945.
We put a lot of work into de-flickering and grain management (as detailed in one of the great bonus features on the DVD and Blu-ray, “The G.I. Joe Story,” a feature on the film’s restoration) on some of the wide-angle shots It’s obvious that some details have been smoothed out as a result of this process. This is because the restoration was done from a third generation reproduction rather than the original negative (of which none is available). Still, the film looks great, with only a closer look revealing the lack of detail in the busy backgrounds. Faces and closer shots produce better results, as characters look sharp and textured in low-light and intimate settings.
Special Forces Story is a must-see war film, not only for its unromantic depiction of the lives of soldiers on the front lines, but also for the newfound love found in the physical release of this unsung gem. This is a film that truly deserves restoration and preservation. It was a moderate success when it was first released, but was later buried among the higher-profile war movies starring the biggest stars of the day. The new film introduces new audiences to a film unlike any other from the patriotic era, one not interested in heroism or the dominance of the American way. The only motivation behind these ordinary soldiers becoming soldiers is the most basic and most human of all: to get home.
