BY DOUG OSWALD
Fans
of military movies will appreciate “Screaming Eagles†which purports to tell
the “Blazing Untold Story of the 101st Airborne’s HELL RAIDERS!†Unlike the
many years later fact-based exploits told in the “Band of Brothers†mini-series,
this 1956 movie offers a more personal and brief fictional account of Company D
in the days leading up to and after D-Day.
The
movie offers the usual war movie clichés that typify the war movie genre. We
meet the main characters in a roll call during a practice jump in the opening
credits. The men are identified as members of fifteenth paratroopers of Company
D, 502nd Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division of the U.S. Army.
The
story begins in England, June 1944, and three replacement soldiers arrive to
join “Dog†Company days before the Normandy Invasion of France. The
replacements meet Sgt. Forrest, played by Pat Conway, and Lt. Pauling, played
by Jan Merlin. The Lieutenant welcomes the new guys with a pep talk while Sgt.
Forrest singles out Pvt. Mason as trouble and makes it clear that he has to be
a part of the team. Pvt. Mason, played by Tom Tryon, has a chip on his shoulder
and quickly establishes himself as a hot-head. Martin Milner plays Pvt.
Corliss, one of the other replacements and Mason’s buddy.
Pvt.
Mason receives a “Dear John†letter and knocks over the other guy’s equipment
after getting drunk. On the eve of the D-Day invasion, the men reach out to Sgt.
Forrest who talks with Lt. Pauling. Forrest wants Mason out, but the benevolent
platoon commander gives Mason a second chance after talking with the men of “Dogâ€
Company. Mason screws up during a practice jump and the mistrust lingers
throughout the rest of the movie.
After
landing in France, the men discover they have missed their drop zone and their objective
by several miles. They hike through German occupied France and make their way
to the bridge which they have to take and hold in order to prevent German
advances to the Normandy landings at Utah and Omaha beaches. The men are
ordered to hold their fire so they don’t attract unwanted German attention. A
German soldier spots Lt. Pauling and Mason kills him with his knife as the
German gets off a shot which starts a fire-fight. Lt. Pauling is blinded in the
aftermath of the firefight by a wounded German soldier and Mason becomes Pauling’s
guide.
They
take a German occupied farmhouse and befriend Marianne, a French woman played
by Jacqueline Beer. They capture a German radio operator, but none of the men
speak German. Marianne speaks German, but does not speak English. Conveniently,
the blinded Lt. Pauling speaks French and they begin a series of misinformation
communications via radio to redirect the Germans away from the bridge. The men
of “Dog†Company make their way through a village and several fire-fights on
their way to the bridge with the aid of Marianne.
This
was an early movie in the careers of Martin Milner and Tom Tryon. Tryon may be best remembered from such movies as “I Married a Monster
From Outer Space,†“The Story of Ruth,†“The Longest Day,†“Moon Pilot,†“The
Cardinal,†“In Hams Way†“The Glory Guys†and many TV roles. He also had a
prominent role in the uncompleted Marilyn Monroe movie, “Something’s Got To
Give.†He also became a bestselling author.
Milner
is probably best remembered as the star of two iconic TV series during the 60s
and 70s. He starred in “Route 66†from 1960-64 and played Officer Pete Malloy
during the seven season run of “Adam-12†from 1968-75. He also featured in the
movies “The Sands of Iwo Jima,†“Halls of Montezuma,†“Operation Pacific,â€
“Destination Gobi,†“Gunfight at the O.K. Corral,†“Sweet Smell of Success,â€
“Valley of the Dolls†and appeared in just about every TV series during the 50s
and 60s including “Twilight Zone†and a return as Captain Pete Malloy in the
brief 1989-91 series “The New Adam-12.â€
Jacqueline
Beer was Miss France in 1954 and married to adventurer/director/ writer Thor Heyerdahl.
She had small roles in several prominent Hollywood movies including “The
Buccaneer†(1958), “Pillow Talk,†“The Prize†and “Made in Paris†as well as appearances
in several TV series.
The
movie also features Alvy Moore, who is probably best
remembered by fans of “Green Acres†as Hank Kimball, Joe di Reda, Mark Damon,, Paul
Burke, Robert Blake and Ralph Votrian.
While
the use of American surplus vehicles painted up as German vehicles and post-
WWII aircraft used as stand-ins for planes of the era may be distracting to
nitpickers like myself, most viewers will likely not notice. Overall, there’s a
nice attention to detail and good use of archive combat footage. The German’s
speak German and the German radio
operator, played by Werner Klingler, is also credited as the technical advisor
for the German military.
“Screaming Eaglesâ€
was directed by long-time Hollywood contract director Charles F. Haas and was
released by Allied Artists in May 1956. The black and white widescreen image
looks terrific and the movie sounds great, landing at a swift 81 minutes
running time. There are no extras on this bare-bones burn-to-order DVD via the
Warner Archive Collection but this is a welcome edition for war movie fans.
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