The Red Badge of Courage (1951)

☆ ☆ ☆ ½

The Red Badge of Courage (1951) – J. Huston

John Huston’s version of Stephen Crane’s famous civil war novel was famously hacked down to 69 minutes by the studio.  In this form, it has a haunting quality – seemingly showing Audie Murphy’s journey from frightened schoolboy to experienced soldier in a single night. Of course, it has been so long since I read the book (junior high school, perhaps) that its details are lost on me now – it may have focused on a single battle (apparently Chancellorsville, VA, in May 1863).  I also remember this to be an anti-war novel and certainly Henry Fleming (Murphy) and his fellow Union soldiers are depicted as full of fear -- and worried about their honour and how they will appear to others if they show this fear.  The title refers to the war wound that will demonstrate their courage (which Henry secretly hopes to gain).  The book is famous for its psychological explorations of its protagonist’s inner thoughts and the movie captures some of this (often with voiceover dialogue from a narrator) -- but the movie does not dwell on the futility of war or the horrible waste of life that it represents.  Perhaps this is implicit in the endless battle scenes and the way that bodies (even those of characters we once met) are shown carelessly pushed aside or crumpled on the ground in the middle of the path.  Murphy, a WWII hero of incredible renown, plays Fleming as though he is forcing such thoughts out of his mind and perhaps he knew this method through his own experiences.  In the end, Huston manages to capture some complicated emotions, a few moments of reverie through the trees, and a lot of smoke, dust, and traipsing about in the fields.  One wonders what a longer version of the film would have entailed – perhaps a clearer message may have come through – or perhaps we would have entered further into the mind of the soldier and the horror he faces.