This movie had its pluses and minuses for me, mostly minuses.
The big plus for me was the actual World War II film footage used. I had seen some of it before, but others were new to me, and interesting. If you're interested in our part in the war in France in the second half of 1944, it's worth watching for that.
It's also, to a lesser extent, interesting to see the few short scenes that attempt to deal with race relations. The solutions are simplistic, but at least the issues are raised. For a 1952 movie, that's not bad. Not notable, but not bad.
There are, however, a lot of negatives. In no particular order:
1. Way too much of the dialogue comes off as speeches written by the Army. It's hard to imagine anyone delivering them without a script in real life.
2. I got tired of the endless glorification of Gen. Patton to the exclusion of all other generals. You would have thought that he won the war in Europe single-handed.
3. The men of the Red Ball Express were evidently something like 80% Black. In this movie, it is suggested that the ratio is 50/50, but it looks more like 80% white. The developed characters are almost all white. It would have created a different dynamic if most of the drivers had been Black, and most of the developed characters. In 1952 there were still plenty of Red Ball Express veterans around who could have been interviewed for their stories. Some could even have been used in the movie.
4. The back story, between the lieutenant and a sarge before they entered the war, was uninteresting and unnecessary. It should have been scrapped for stories that grew out of the present situation.
5. The salvaging of one of the major (white) characters at the end is really contrived.
6. And speaking of whom: the depiction of the young French woman, Antoinette, and her father leaves a lot to be desired. When the white GI meets her, she seems uninterested. But when he makes to leave, she explains that an air corps unit has already been there. The GI says words to the effect of "I don't want their leftovers."
Our Army commanders did try to keep our men from mistreating French civilians, but of course it did happen, and it was traumatic for the French. That was, in part, because some units had been told going over that "French women are easy," and eager to have sex with American soldiers.
The scenes with Antoinette and her family are short, but they should have been less ambiguous on this issue. The parents do speak of the deprivation they have gone through, but it's all in French without any translation, so it would have been lost on most American viewers.
If a movie were made about the Red Ball Express these days, it wouldn't focus on the lives of white soldiers, of course. But even in 1952, this movie could have been a lot better if it had actually showed what made these men, black and white, heroes. But I don't know that 1952 was really ready for a redefinition of hero. To the extent that it deals with interactions with French civilians - and there isn't much of that - it could also have given a more realistic depiction of what they had gone through during the liberation of their country.
The big plus for me was the actual World War II film footage used. I had seen some of it before, but others were new to me, and interesting. If you're interested in our part in the war in France in the second half of 1944, it's worth watching for that.
It's also, to a lesser extent, interesting to see the few short scenes that attempt to deal with race relations. The solutions are simplistic, but at least the issues are raised. For a 1952 movie, that's not bad. Not notable, but not bad.
There are, however, a lot of negatives. In no particular order:
1. Way too much of the dialogue comes off as speeches written by the Army. It's hard to imagine anyone delivering them without a script in real life.
2. I got tired of the endless glorification of Gen. Patton to the exclusion of all other generals. You would have thought that he won the war in Europe single-handed.
3. The men of the Red Ball Express were evidently something like 80% Black. In this movie, it is suggested that the ratio is 50/50, but it looks more like 80% white. The developed characters are almost all white. It would have created a different dynamic if most of the drivers had been Black, and most of the developed characters. In 1952 there were still plenty of Red Ball Express veterans around who could have been interviewed for their stories. Some could even have been used in the movie.
4. The back story, between the lieutenant and a sarge before they entered the war, was uninteresting and unnecessary. It should have been scrapped for stories that grew out of the present situation.
5. The salvaging of one of the major (white) characters at the end is really contrived.
6. And speaking of whom: the depiction of the young French woman, Antoinette, and her father leaves a lot to be desired. When the white GI meets her, she seems uninterested. But when he makes to leave, she explains that an air corps unit has already been there. The GI says words to the effect of "I don't want their leftovers."
Our Army commanders did try to keep our men from mistreating French civilians, but of course it did happen, and it was traumatic for the French. That was, in part, because some units had been told going over that "French women are easy," and eager to have sex with American soldiers.
The scenes with Antoinette and her family are short, but they should have been less ambiguous on this issue. The parents do speak of the deprivation they have gone through, but it's all in French without any translation, so it would have been lost on most American viewers.
If a movie were made about the Red Ball Express these days, it wouldn't focus on the lives of white soldiers, of course. But even in 1952, this movie could have been a lot better if it had actually showed what made these men, black and white, heroes. But I don't know that 1952 was really ready for a redefinition of hero. To the extent that it deals with interactions with French civilians - and there isn't much of that - it could also have given a more realistic depiction of what they had gone through during the liberation of their country.