A Walk in the Sun: The Definitive Restoration [Blu-ray] [2 Discs]

Director: Lewis Milestone Lewis Milestone

Overview

Harry Brown's honest, unsentimental WW2 novel A Walk in the Sun has been effectively adapted for the screen by Robert Rossen. Dana Andrews stars as Sgt. Tyne, a platoon squad leader in Italy who ends up assuming command of his platoon after a series of deaths. As they prepare to attack an isolated Nazi-held farmhouse, each of the infantymen reveals his true character as he dwells upon his background and contemplates the job at hand. The film's effectiveness lies in the non-cliched characterizations by a carefully chosen all-male cast. Huntz Hall of "East Side Kids" fame is particularly good in a scene wherein he argues over whether the human body or the leaf is the most complicated natural structure. Director Lewis Milestone's use of a ballad to link the action predates High Noon by some seven years.

Product Details

Release Date:	02/08/2022
UPC:	0760137689881
Original Release:	1945
Source:	Kit Parker Films
Language:	English
Sales rank:	18,828

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Dana Andrews	Sgt. Bill Tyne
Richard Conte	Pvt. Rivera
John Ireland	Pfc. Windy Craven
Lloyd Bridges	Sgt. Ward
George Tyne	Friedman
Sterling Holloway	McWilliams
Herbert Rudley	Sgt. Porter
Norman Lloyd	Archimbeau
Steve Brodie	Judson
Huntz Hall	Carraway
James B. Cardwell	Sgt. Hoskins
James Cardwell	Sgt. Hoskins
Chris Drake	Rankin
George Offerman	Tinker
Richard Benedict	Tranella
George Offerman Jr.	Tinker
Danny Desmond	Trasker
Victor Cutler	Cousins
Tony Dante	Giorgio
Harry Cline	Cpl. Kramer
Jay Norris	James
Alvin Hammer	Johnson
Don Summers	Dugan
Malcolm O'Guinn	Phelps
Grant Maiben	Smith
John Kellogg	Riddle
Dick Daniels	Long
Matt Willis	Sgt. Halverson
Ted Offenbecker	Tinker
George Turner	Reconnaissance
Robert Lowell	Lt. Rande
Fred Carpenter	Soldier
Ray Elder	Monty
Jack Ellis	Soldier
Burgess Meredith	Voices
Freddie Rich	Composer

Technical Credits

Robert Rossen

Harry Brown

Lewis Milestone	Director,Producer
Robert Rossen	Screenwriter
Harry Brown	Screenwriter
Samuel Bronston	Producer

Editorial Reviews

Lewis Milestone's solid, low-key war film manages to avoid the flag-waving clichés of most WWII pictures, as it concentrates on the thoughts of the members of an infantry platoon as they undertake an assault on a German-held farmhouse outside Salerno. Robert Rossen's script is less dramatic than novelistic in its effect, as the voice-over narration allows the characters to express the fear of death, boredom, cynicism, and even their rapport with their weapons, in a way that's rare in a combat film. Emphasizing the isolation of the group of G.I.s united only by their common mission, the closest the film comes to gung-ho sentiment is their quietly repeated pet phrase, "Nobody dies." In the equanimity with which the soldiers advance on the farmhouse, Milestone underlines the many battles these veterans have yet survived, and the peace that even the most frightened have made with death. Dana Andrews projects quiet authority in a film that is more than most an ensemble piece, leading a cast that includes John Ireland, Lloyd Bridges, Richard Conte, and surprisingly good Huntz Hall.

All Movie Guide - Michael Costello