Review of The Scarlet Coat

It's hard to believe that John Sturges directed this film because he has several excellent films to his credit. He must have been pre-occupied or very limited by his execs during this film. This film is a textbook example of a poor overly complex screenplay coupled with poor directing, like a high school play with a Hollywood budget. The film tells the American revolutionary war story of Benedict Arnold's spy accomplices and exposure at West Point, in an amateurish confusing production that can best be described by yawning. The verbose script was rattled off by emotionless speed-reading manikins posing as actors in fancy phony sets and fancy phony stiff costumes. The camera shots were pretty basic in all the scenes with little variety and no reaction shots or embellishments at all. For some reason Sturges and his production crew couldn't manage action scenes or war scenes, so the film mostly consists of the principle characters posing in a string of boring convoluted stage scenes looking like store manikins with jaw hinges. Most outdoor 'action' scenes were short clips thrown in here and there of horse and riders trotting down Autumn New-England country roads.

Don't waste an hour and half of your life watching this poor attempt at movie production. Use your time instead for something much more interesting, like sleeping or watching paint dry. Better yet, read a good history book about Benedict Arnold.