The title of Raoul Walsh's film would indicate a high level of visual war action, but the action in this film is more like a television soap: Peyton Place Meets Boot Camp. Battle Cry is not a bad film by any means, but a mainstream 50's romance, and because it is Walsh, there are excellent things to be found, as long as you don't expect superior battlefield heroics; Aldo Ray and Van Heflin both turn in finely-tuned performances, Ray as a macho player evolving into a loving husband, Van Heflin as a commander who fails to maintain distance from his charges; a young Tab Hunter caught on with teens when he was cast as heartthrob Danny Forrester, and acquits himself nicely.Three years later, Stanley Kubrick would make the stunning Paths of Glory, a WWI film that revealed the true brutality of battle, and Spielberg would change mainstream war films for all time with Saving Private Ryan; Battle Cry involves the willing viewer in an intelligent adaptation of a best-selling novel and as such, succeeds.

When the worst thing the drill instructor can call the new recruits at boot camp is "Meatheads", you know that the movie is pulling its punches. Not that I thought that about "Battle Cry" when I saw it at the age of nine in 1956 at the movies, then I lapped up every minute of this film devoted to those most cinematic of warriors - the US Marines.The years have not been kind to "Battle Cry". It has dated in a way that "From Here to Eternity" has not. However it seems that many WW2 veterans like this film. They seem less critical of it than younger reviewers, and it's hard to argue with people who actually lived it rather than viewed it. To be honest, "Battle Cry" seems more truthful to the spirit of the marines of WW2 than a movie such as "Windtalkers" with all its gore and false heroics.Leon Uris wrote the novel based on his experiences with the marines during the war. It contained passages that were thrilling, funny and outrageous. The book's description of boot camp and the lustiness of the marines pulled no punches at all. But 1950's censorship made the movie a different matter.The story follows a group of marines from the time they head to boot camp until their return from battle in the Pacific. So many characters are introduced that some of them emerge as overly familiar stereotypes, but Tab Hunter and Aldo Ray hold their own. Although James Whitmore's performance as Mac, the master sergeant, is convincing, his narration often comes across as trite and intrusive.The movie concentrated as much on the encounters in the bedroom as on the battlefield, split evenly between the women the boys leave behind and the ones they find on their way to war with Nancy Olsen giving the strongest performance as the New Zealand widow who falls in love with Aldo Ray's character. The movie becomes more focused when the recruits pass through boot camp and join the battalion that takes them to war. Van Heflin as Major Huxley, the commanding officer, gives the standout performance in this film, providing the right combination of toughness and compassion as the professional given the job of moulding boys into marines. His performance goes a long way towards counteracting the negatives in "Battle Cry".The film's best sequence begins when Huxley pushes his men to outperform another battalion in a gruelling cross-country hike in New Zealand. After reaching their destination, he decides to do the return journey as well, pushing the men to their limits. When it seems they can't continue, the other battalion passes them on their way back mounted on trucks. The sight galvanises Huxley's men and resentment turns to pride as they march on bloodied feet back to camp. "When we hit that camp gate, let's give 'em a look at the best outfit in the Corps", exhorts Huxley as his men swing past to the accompaniment of Max Steiner's rousing score. Unlike music for war films of the last 30 years or so, which invariably play to the pathos and tragedy of war, Steiner went for the glory. Steiner's original marching song, "Honey Babe", provides an enduring memory of the film."Battle Cry" delivers its major battle at the end. The landing on Saipan is well staged if somewhat confusing, but it leads to an emotional ending as the surviving marines return home.The success of "Battle Cry" indicated that audiences of the day needed the reassurance of some core values: honour, duty, patriotism and sacrifice. "Battle Cry" over-delivered on those qualities. Vietnam was still ten years away, and then the generation brought up on movies like this would face some harsh realities of their own.It is difficult to recommend "Battle Cry" to a broad audience today. But with that said, it does boast a number of fine performances and a sequence or two that stays in the memory.

Raoul Walsh who may have directed more good action films than anyone else, did Battle Cry as a tribute to the 2nd and 4th Marine Divisions who fought that very battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II. We follow the Marines from basic training in San Diego to the invasion of Saipan in the Marianas, one of the bloodiest battles of the Pacific Theater.The action is equal on romance as it is on action and we see the lives of several Marines and their romantic encounters. All American kid Tab Hunter is engaged to Mona Freeman, but while in San Diego has an affair with Navy wife Dorothy Malone. When the Marines are stationed in New Zealand, farmer Aldo Ray gets to romance Kiwi farm girl Nancy Olson. whose family has lost plenty in the war. And we see other people who generally typify service pictures, city kid William Campbell, cowboy Fess Parker, intellectual John Lupton, troublemaking wiseacre Perry Lopez, and in his screen debut a most engaging hillbilly, L.Q. Jones.The unit is commanded by Major, later Lieutenant Colonel Van Heflin with second in command Carleton Young and top sergeant James Whitmore who narrates the film and whose eyes we see the story unfold. Heflin is a tough man, but a caring commander. One other reviewer said he was superpatriotic and a crazy man for wanting a combat assignment in the film. Not true at all, his is the profession of arms and his men are Marines by choice, an elite fighting group. This is what they are trained to do and combat is their job. Battle Cry got one Oscar nomination for Best Musical Scoring and it was because of the theme of Honey Babe which was prevalent throughout the film. It had a big success in the Fifties both as an instrumental and vocal hit.The combat sequences were very nicely staged by Raoul Walsh, I'm surprised Battle Cry wasn't nominated in the Special Visual Effects department. It's a fine film, still holds up well and still quite the recruiting piece for the Marine Corps.And this review is dedicated to the 2nd and 4th Marine Divisions who fought and died to secure the island of Saipan in World War II. May we always produce people like these in America.

Perhaps 50 years on, Amercans have realised that New Zealanders have their own accent? Pat speaks standard Hollywood American, her parents some sort of English English - where did she learn her American English?I know this is a movie of its time and well-meaning, but to make no attempt with accents is just sloppyOtherwise it is an average movie - cannot understand how it was nominated for awards - I am sure there were many better movies in 1955IMDb insists I add extra lines so this is what I am adding - why am I not allowed to be pithy and succinct?