"Battle Circus" is one of a relatively small number of war films dealing with the work of the Army medical services. Like the later television series and film "M*A*S*H*" it deals with the work of a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, or MASH, during the Korean War. The title was originally to have been "MASH 66", but this was rejected by the studio who felt that audiences would not understand it. Whether the title "Battle Circus" gives any better idea of what the film is about is debatable; it refers to the speed with which mobile hospitals can move from one part of the front to another in the way that circuses move from town to town.
The film was made in 1953, when it must have seemed very topical to make a film about Korea. (That was the year in which the Korean War ended). It does not tell us very much, however, about the politics of the war or about the military action. It does not even tell us much about the medical work of a MASH. It is essentially a romance set against the background of an army hospital. The main characters are the chief surgeon, Major Jed Webbe, and a young nurse, Lieutenant Ruth McGara. Ruth takes an initial dislike to Jed who frequently makes unwanted advances to her. It is, however, a classic rom-com trope that hatred at first sight is the prelude to true love, and so it proves here. Ruth starts to fall in love, but realises that she knows very little about Jed, who only wants a "no strings" relationship. She does not even know if he is married, and when she asks he refuses to tell her.
The early fifties were a vintage period in Humphrey Bogart's career; two years before making "Battle Circus" he had won his only Oscar for "The African Queen", and in 1954 he was to make three first-class films, "The Caine Mutiny", "The Barefoot Contessa" and "Sabrina". "Battle Circus" is not in anything like the same class as any of those. Some have said that he was miscast in this film, but I would say that the casting is not really the problem. Bogie had a wide range as an actor, and a tough, hard-bitten man of action would lie well within his compass. In 1953 some might have said that they could not see him as a romantic lead, but he was to give an excellent performance in a role of that type in "Sabrina".
The real problem in my view lies elsewhere. The film is frankly dull, with a boring script and little in the way of plot beyond its unlikely romance. Jed, a hard-drinking, womanising sex pest, is a deeply unsympathetic character, and the fault here lies with the scriptwriters rather than with the actor. Despite his undoubted talent, Bogart can do little to make him likeable, and a likeable hero is a sine qua non of any romantic film. Neither can June Allyson do much to show us why Ruth should have lost her heart so completely to such a man.
I have not seen all of Bogart's films, but of those I have seen this one is (by a considerable margin) the worst. Director Richard Brooks (who had earlier directed Bogart in "Deadline- USA") could also do much better than this, as he was to show with films like "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" and "Elmer Gantry". "Battle Circus" seems to represent a misstep in both men's careers. 4/10.
The film was made in 1953, when it must have seemed very topical to make a film about Korea. (That was the year in which the Korean War ended). It does not tell us very much, however, about the politics of the war or about the military action. It does not even tell us much about the medical work of a MASH. It is essentially a romance set against the background of an army hospital. The main characters are the chief surgeon, Major Jed Webbe, and a young nurse, Lieutenant Ruth McGara. Ruth takes an initial dislike to Jed who frequently makes unwanted advances to her. It is, however, a classic rom-com trope that hatred at first sight is the prelude to true love, and so it proves here. Ruth starts to fall in love, but realises that she knows very little about Jed, who only wants a "no strings" relationship. She does not even know if he is married, and when she asks he refuses to tell her.
The early fifties were a vintage period in Humphrey Bogart's career; two years before making "Battle Circus" he had won his only Oscar for "The African Queen", and in 1954 he was to make three first-class films, "The Caine Mutiny", "The Barefoot Contessa" and "Sabrina". "Battle Circus" is not in anything like the same class as any of those. Some have said that he was miscast in this film, but I would say that the casting is not really the problem. Bogie had a wide range as an actor, and a tough, hard-bitten man of action would lie well within his compass. In 1953 some might have said that they could not see him as a romantic lead, but he was to give an excellent performance in a role of that type in "Sabrina".
The real problem in my view lies elsewhere. The film is frankly dull, with a boring script and little in the way of plot beyond its unlikely romance. Jed, a hard-drinking, womanising sex pest, is a deeply unsympathetic character, and the fault here lies with the scriptwriters rather than with the actor. Despite his undoubted talent, Bogart can do little to make him likeable, and a likeable hero is a sine qua non of any romantic film. Neither can June Allyson do much to show us why Ruth should have lost her heart so completely to such a man.
I have not seen all of Bogart's films, but of those I have seen this one is (by a considerable margin) the worst. Director Richard Brooks (who had earlier directed Bogart in "Deadline- USA") could also do much better than this, as he was to show with films like "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" and "Elmer Gantry". "Battle Circus" seems to represent a misstep in both men's careers. 4/10.