People keep comparing this film with "A Fairwell To Arms" (1932). If that is true, then it can also be seen as a stepping stone to "The Americanization of Emily" (1964) — highlighting how changing American attitudes toward war have become gradually more cynical.Seems like the "Emily" team — writers and director — might have been influenced by Sgt. Joe 'Pete' Peterson (Holden character), transposing Garner's Charlie Madison to be an updated version of same. 1932 > 1951 > 1964.All three successfully integrate Romance and War, ably supporting the theme that Love is the stronger force. So why do we keep on making war?

this film was written about, but not about wwII. the location of the ridges of italy was no accident. it was picked to more replicate the terrain of the war being fought at the time of filming--and that was the almost brand new, ugly war in Korea.so what we have is a prior war standing in for an all too real non-declared war in Korea. the administration called it a police action. and this one was treated as a fart in a tea bag. despite how warlike it felt to the men who were fighting it.so instead of the us making korean war films, during what they called a conflict, they made wwII films--what a rip-off. no wonder the korean vets call this the forgotten war.all you can say is: anything that comes out of hollywoods mandated ignorance of non-reality has to be crap.the true reality being: you can't make a decent war movie without several years passing after the conflict--especially when the war you're filming is not the one you're filming.

It's hard to say if FORCE OF ARMS is a romantic love story with a war background or if it is a war film with a romantic background! Either way it comes across as an enjoyable 100 minute motion picture. Very loosely based on Hemingway's WW1 epic romance "A Farewell To Arms" it was produced by Anthony Veiller for Warner Bros. in 1951 and the usual workmanlike direction came from the legendary Michael Curtiz.Beautifully photographed by genius cinematographer Ted McCord in glorious black & white and from a splendid screenplay by Orin Jannings it starred William Holden as a battle weary, hard bitten GI who during the German occupation of Italy in 1943 and the Battle Of San Pietro falls in love with a reluctant WAC (Nancy Olson).Holden delivers one of his very best performances but he's left really to carry the movie almost on his own. This is a fault with the picture! He is surrounded by what is essentially a cast of minor players! Third billed is Frank Lovejoy who is as unimpressive as ever! Then we have what are called the supporting players (in this case Holden's GI buddies) such as the bland Gene Evens (who seemed to be in everything during this period), the irritating Dick Wesson (trying as usual to be humorous and not being very successful) and Paul Picerni who never did anything worthwhile with his career. But for me the most disappointing piece of casting is that of the pivotal female lead! Although she won an Oscar nomination for her performance in Billy Wilder's brilliant "Sunset Boulevard" I always found Nancy Olson to be an unremarkable actress and most wanting in the looks/glamour department. She always gave me the impression of looking more like a favourite aunt rather than a lover or even a leading lady! However, she must have held some fascination for Holden as she was his leading lady in three other films - "Sunset Boulevard"(1950), "Union Station" (1950) and "Submarine Command"(1951). Who knows - perhaps she was HIS aunt too! HUH?Besides Holden's winning performance, a literate screenplay, the atmospheric art direction (the Italian mock-ups are splendidly realised) there is also a wonderful score by the great Max Steiner. For the battle sequences he brings into play some military cues he wrote for other Warner war pictures he scored such as "Sergeant York" (1941). But the main central theme is an inspired and memorable bit of writing! First heard under the titles it is at once a sumptuous sweeping melody that is hauntingly used in the love scenes making them both meaningful and heartfelt.FORCE OF ARMS despite some iffy aspects is an enjoyable enough drama set in wartime with Holden as always making it watchable. A few years after its initial release in 1951 it was reissued with the unfortunate and unforgivable title "A Girl For Joe"!

The original story behind Force of Arms was written by Richard Tregaskis, war correspondent from World War II, best known for Guadalcanal Diary. Of course some would argue that Tregaskis borrowed a lot of the plot from the previous war that Ernest Hemingway chronicled in A Farewell to Arms. Still it's a nice romantic story brought to life by the teaming of William Holden and Nancy Olson who did four films together back at this time. Nancy Olson in fact got an Oscar nomination in the Best Supporting Actress category for Sunset Boulevard which was their first film together. After his company is relieved on the San Pietro front in the Italian theater, William Holden meets WAC Nancy Olson and a romance blooms. But it's back to the front, in fact Holden gets himself wounded twice during the course of Force of Arms.Actual combat footage from the Italian campaign is used along with newsreels from the liberation of Rome where the climax takes place. There are good performances here also by Frank Lovejoy and Katherine Warren as the respective commanding officers of Holden and Olson.This was Bill Holden's first great romantic role along the lines of Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca. It's a harbinger of what we would later get from him in films like The Bridges of Toko-Ri and Love Is A Many Splendored Thing.It's a sadly neglected film, one of Bill Holden's better films and should not be missed.