Frank Borzage made so many great movies it is very difficult to find which one is the best.In the thirties,I do believe Borzage was the greatest director in America(and he might be the greatest in the twenties too).
Just compare the endings of "a farewell to the arms" " no greater glory" and "mortal storm" .A person has lost his/her love/child and holds him/her in his/her arms.The mother in "no greater glory" epitomizes all the weary mothers of the earth,all those who lost their son in a war (or a war game here) and still do not know what for.
After a short prologue which shows the horrors of war,Borzage films pupils who are brainwashing into believing that there's no greater glory when you die for your homeland .Like in EM Remarque's novel ,"Im Westen Nicht Neues" ,or Milestone's eponymous movie,the teacher is one of the first to blame.
When your teacher tells you it is the greatest glory,any child's dream is to be part of a glorious army.And not only a private,with your name in small letters...The greatest thing that can happen to you is to wear an officer's cap and to see your name in capital letters.
Borzage's directing is absolutely stunning.One should note that ,apart from two mothers (one of whom briefly appears),there are no girls ,no love plot,nothing romantic. The military iron discipline is so realistic (and so is the final battle) that they seem to be real soldiers (In the nineteenth century in France,during the First Empire or later during the third Republic,boys were taught manual of arms at a very early age).But Borzage's touch shows when he tells us that they remain children after all:they are afraid of a night owl or of a frog
Admirable scenes:the boy,in his bed ,trying to whistle;his beaming face ,when he is given the cap and made a captain;his delirium when he seems his commander leading his men to war..
"No greater glory" : War is not made for children;it's not made for grown-ups either.One of the greatest pacifist movies ever.
Just compare the endings of "a farewell to the arms" " no greater glory" and "mortal storm" .A person has lost his/her love/child and holds him/her in his/her arms.The mother in "no greater glory" epitomizes all the weary mothers of the earth,all those who lost their son in a war (or a war game here) and still do not know what for.
After a short prologue which shows the horrors of war,Borzage films pupils who are brainwashing into believing that there's no greater glory when you die for your homeland .Like in EM Remarque's novel ,"Im Westen Nicht Neues" ,or Milestone's eponymous movie,the teacher is one of the first to blame.
When your teacher tells you it is the greatest glory,any child's dream is to be part of a glorious army.And not only a private,with your name in small letters...The greatest thing that can happen to you is to wear an officer's cap and to see your name in capital letters.
Borzage's directing is absolutely stunning.One should note that ,apart from two mothers (one of whom briefly appears),there are no girls ,no love plot,nothing romantic. The military iron discipline is so realistic (and so is the final battle) that they seem to be real soldiers (In the nineteenth century in France,during the First Empire or later during the third Republic,boys were taught manual of arms at a very early age).But Borzage's touch shows when he tells us that they remain children after all:they are afraid of a night owl or of a frog
Admirable scenes:the boy,in his bed ,trying to whistle;his beaming face ,when he is given the cap and made a captain;his delirium when he seems his commander leading his men to war..
"No greater glory" : War is not made for children;it's not made for grown-ups either.One of the greatest pacifist movies ever.