The Long Gray Line (1955)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

John Ford

Writers:

Nardi Reeder Campion (book)
Edward Hope (writer)

Release Date:

9 February 1955 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Comedy | Drama | Sport

Tagline:

Warms Your Heart! STIRS YOUR BLOOD! and fires your imagination!

Plot:

The life story of a salt-of-the-earth Irish immigrant, who becomes an Army Noncommissioned Officer and...

Plot Keywords:

West Point | Cadet | Military | Immigrant | Irish

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Tyrone Power	...	Martin 'Marty' Maher
Maureen O'Hara	...	Mary O'Donnell
Robert Francis	...	James N. Sundstrom Jr.
Donald Crisp	...	Old Martin
Ward Bond	...	Capt. Herman J. Kohler
Betsy Palmer	...	Kitty Carter
Philip Carey	...	Charles 'Chuck' Dotson (as Phil Carey)
William Leslie	...	James Nilsson 'Red' Sundstrom
Harry Carey Jr.	...	Dwight Eisenhower
Patrick Wayne	...	Abner 'Cherub' Overton
Sean McClory	...	Dinny Maher
Peter Graves	...	Cpl. Rudolph Heinz
Milburn Stone	...	Capt. John Pershing
Erin O'Brien-Moore	...	Mrs. Koehler (as Erin O'Brien Moore)
Walter D. Ehlers	...	Mike Shannon

Runtime:

138 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.55 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo

Certification:

Australia:G | West Germany:12 (nf) | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | Argentina:Atp

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Average Shot Length (ASL) = 13 seconds

Goofs:

Anachronisms: Red's Medal of Honor that Kitty shows to Marty and Mary is the current design that goes around the neck. In the story, Red earned it during World War I and at that time the Medal of Honor was on a suspension ribbon like most other US medals. It wouldn't be redesigned for around the neck wear until 1944.

Quotes:

Jim O'Carberry: This is Marty Maher. Whitey Larson.
Martin 'Marty' Maher: How do you do, sir?
Jim O'Carberry: If you have any trouble with horses, drop around and see Marty.
Whitey Larson: But he's in the infantry!
Jim O'Carberry: Well naturally! He knows horses. You don't think they'd put him in the cavalry, do ya?

Soundtrack:

Rosen aus dem Süden

Irish heartbeats

Although the film has a running time of two hours+ ,for it tells the story of a man's entire life ,from his enlistment (and even before) to his old age,there is never a dull moment .

John Ford was one of the most wonderful storytellers that ever was.The first part of the film is made of trivia,but everything is endearing ,moving .Take the dad's and the brother's arrival:no syrupy violins and choirs needed: the Irish are doing Mary's cooking justice and they are not in a hurry to hug Marty.The same goes for Marty/Mary when they fall in love:what could be more down to earth than this kitchen ?And however something vibrates ,as the love they all feel for the country they left behind.

The second part deals with wars and if the tone has changed ,the spirit remains intact:what could be more prosaic than burning Mary's toilet to celebrate the end of WW?Although the hero experiments tragedy ,Ford always avoids pathos and melodrama: the child's death during the celebration is given a sober treatment.Mary's passing is perhaps the most beautiful scene in the whole movie,being Fordesque to the core (remember the death of the mother in "three godfathers") and her fleeting reappearance at the very end of the movie is not irrelevant.

A life is made of small joys and big griefs.