The Red Badge of Courage

This was a unique and intimate Civil War movie. Wasn't expecting this kind of approach. Felt human. Shows the soldiers as people, actual persons, all part of the higher-up's pawns, trying to process what they're actually a part of. I think the impressions made here is going to be a slow burn for me, grasping the impact it's made gradually over time.

Solid war film with great battle scenes that capture a view of battle as completely unfollowable chaos. Strong performance by Murphy and well handled by Huston. The film was famously cut by the studio from 120 to 69 minutes without consultation with Huston. I would have loved to have seen Huston's original vision for this, though it is believed to be lost.

Pretty good, though not too subtle. Awful short. I keep reading about the way the studio cut it, which is a shame.

Impressive battle scenes and the unusual compositions and tilted camera angles gives it an eerie feeling ahead of its time. But the studio-added narrator and butcher-cuts completely ruins it.

Star Rating: ★★★★1/2

Feels too slight to really dig into it's themes. Famously heavily cut and one of those movies like Ambersons that one would really like to know just what was filmed and what existed in it's director's mind. Still well-made, well-acted and with an interesting twist on the experience of likely facing one's death in battle.

It's undercut by its stilted emphasis on fidelity to the book and the horrendous cuts at the hands of the studio, but even so there's a beauty and fragility that shines through. Moments of absolute grace and magnificence. The strength of its character despite awkwardness and false starts is very much in spirit with the appeal of Crane in the first place.

I don't see how even restoring this to its original cut would improve upon the terrible casting choices. The whole thing just has the feel of a made-for-TV movie.

The battle scenes were pretty good but the rest of the movie was boring or out dated.