I know little about the play on which this was based, nor have I seen the previous silent film version of that play. So my gripes aren't about how faithful this is or isn't. I just think this movie stunk to high heaven and I can't believe James Cagney, let alone the great John Ford, had anything to do with it. This is a very lame, tired war comedy with a paunchy old Jimmy Cagney and Dan Dailey lusting after a younger woman (Corinne Calvet) while World War I is going on. There are some attempts at staying true to its serious backdrop but that just makes matters worse all jumbled together with the sophomoric comedy. One good thing I'll say about it is that Corinne Calvet is easy on the eyes. Avoid this unless you are a Ford or Cagney completist. Or, for whatever reason, you are a big fan of Dan Dailey. Written by the parents of Nora Ephron!

In the mid-1920s, when What Price Glory? debuted as a play and was filmed for the first time, there was a popular anti-war mood, and cultural works attacking the First World War proliferated. In the early-1950s, with World War Two a recent memory and the Korean war still going on, war movies of every kind were at the height of their popularity, but there was no way they could be openly anti-militaristic. Hence, when Fox Studios decided to resurrect the classic story in 1952 it was largely a comical and de-politicised affair.With a screenplay by Henry and Phoebe Ephron, this version of What Price Glory? uses virtually none of Maxwell Anderson's original dialogue. The job of direction was handed to John Ford, who was known for staging extended improvisations, creating little vignettes of military life with comical drunkenness and good-natured fistfights. In What Price Glory? this is done to the extent that it actually overshadows any semblance of plot. And not just the anti-war business; the romantic subplots seem weak and disjointed as well.That's not to say there aren't some good things about this picture. The Technicolor cinematography by Joe MacDonald is often breathtaking, giving a haunting quality to the mist-shrouded battlegrounds. Ford was as always a good visual director, often using stark contrasts in depth to bring different ideas to our attention in the one shot. For example, as the troops march off to the front, a mass of drab browns and greys, we see Corinne Calvet in a bold red, white and blue dress – a human flag and a reminder of what the men are leaving behind them. And James Cagney is good fun in one of his purely comic roles.But there is little else to recommend about this What Price Glory? Various scenes look to have been filmed with an emphasis on pathos, but they don't work within the structure of the whole thing. When a young Robert Wagner makes the central speech in which the words of the title are spoken, it seems barely to relate to the rest of the picture. And it's not the mixing of comedy with the realities of war per se that makes it fall apart – after all this is the basis of such classics as The Big Parade and MASH – it's just that the balance is wrong. It simply fails to take the war seriously enough, and the "serious" moments seem like flimsy little inserts. Of course, if it had been a tight and hard-hitting anti-war drama, it would most likely have fallen foul of the censors and/or stifled the careers of its creative team. As it was, this vague mish-mash of bar songs and army jokes was conveniently inoffensive.

This patriotic war film is the bees knees for slap stick, witty comedy. The mixture of wussy brown nosing privates and annoyed sarcastic generals provides a hilarious bitter sweet feeling that can put a smile on your face. Not to mention the constant friendly rivalry between the comedic loud mouthed Captain Flagg (Cagney being Cagney), and the irritated Sergeant Quirt played by Dailey, for the cute and innocent French waitress Charmaine. This movie not only made a great world war 1 film, but proved Cagney was still his energetic, pound for pound, hard nosed self even at 53 years old. The only downside to the movie was the poorly portrayed dramatic war speeches and the failed attempts at giving a life lesson. But all around 8/10

Excellent performances by James Cagney and Dan Dailey with good support from William Demarest and a super young Robert Wagner. Interesting contrast of characters from the battle tested professionals like Cagney and Dailey to the fresh out of basic training and high school Wagner. Also brings out the issue of battle fatigue or "shell-shocked" and how it sometimes affects soldiers directly and indirectly by its effect on the morale of their buddies. The interaction with the townspeople is also well done. All in all I thoroughly enjoyed this movie every time I have seen it. It is like vintage wine and seems to get better with age. The first time I saw this movie was in l954 and I learned to sing the song "Its a long way to Tipperary" from watching it one time.