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An example of that now nearly extinct oxymoron- the quiet war movie. These were inevitably adaptations of plays. The theatre, in the olden days before television, 24/7 news cycles etc., once prided itself on being able to respond to current events and the significance of contemporary history. The WPA Theatre Project produced the Living Newspaper during the New Deal. After every war there were plays dealing with that war but unrecognizable from war movies because of the confined spaces of a theatre. The post WW1 period was particularly rich in war plays. This was the height of theatre and I guess the masterpiece of this genre was R. C. Sheriff's Journey's End.

American Lawrence Stallings (What Price Glory?) and others also wrote plays in the genre. Playwrights responded to ww2 in much the same way. Again the restrictions usually dictated a one set play, with maybe some change of scene in act two and perhaps a small adjunct set to play out some subsidiary action. These were later translated into films. EIGHT IRON MEN was adapted from a play and reduces the agonies of fighting a war to something like real time and a single human life. The classical unities of time and space are nearly totally observed. Remarkable for a war film. A eight man squad led by Lee Marvin Sgt. Mooney) is quartered in the basement of a ruined house. A three man patrol comes back minus one man who is trapped in a bomb crater being swept by a fearsomely placed machine gun.

The squad is due to be pulled back after 17 days on the line but are under orders not to go and rescue the pinned man. Captain Trelawny (Barney Phillips), aware of the heavy casualties of his unit, doesn't want three men killed trying to save one ("I came up here with a company and I'll be lucky to leave with a platoon"). The tension builds as it becomes closer to the time to move out and leave one of their buddies behind. That's it.

Basically one set with brief forays into another set depicting a rubble strewn street being periodically swept by machine gun fire. There was some attempt at opening out by literally visualizing the sub-erotic sex fantasies of the men particularly Bonar Colleano (Collucci) ("Tonight I'll be whistling at every dame in the country. You can't keep a healthy guy like me stuck away like this for too long - I go crazy - I get hair on the palms of my hands - the beast rises in me.") but almost all of the tension is provided in the dialogue between the men.' The conclusions reached reflect the hard bitten cynicism of men at war, of being used by fate, and of the connecting sinews which build between men at their extreme.

EIGHT IRON MEN is no masterpiece but it is very effective drama, just don't expect any of the usual visceral thrills which accompany most action oriented war films. There are no villains. The German's are never seen. The Captain is neither a sniveling coward nor a vain martinet who gets his men killed for his greater glory. Though he is aware his 'efficiency' is being scrutinized by higher ups, he shows some repressed satisfaction at the recovery of the missing man. This is not the kind of film where the more knowledgeable in the audience can guffaw "Aw, real people don't act that way."

This is merely a crumb in the vast shitcake of the continuing cruelty of a mankind which seems eternally waging war with itself. Its unfortunate that not only is there no more theatre like this but there are no more films like this, nor even TV like this (not since the 50s actually). It has all been replaced by 24/7 news and a whole host of too highly paid self advertising jackanapes entertainers under the guise of political pundits.

***SPOILERS*** Based on the little know 1945 Broadway play "A Sound of Hunting". The film "Eight Iron Men" has to do with a US infantry squad pinned down by German machine gun fire in an Italian town during the battle of Mount Cassino. One of the squad members Pvt.Smalls, George Cooper, end up stuck in a bomb crater with his fellow GI's tying to get him back, not knowing if he's either dead or alive, to safety and risking the entire infantry company by doing it.

Realistic and gritty war drama with Lee Marvin in his first staring role as Sgt. Mooney as he together with the rest of his squad are willing to risk their lives to save the life of a fellow GI. Pvt. Smalls turns out to have been fast asleep, with a twisted ankle and a shot of morphine, in a shell crater and totally unaware of all the commotion that he caused.

Defying orders from their commanding Officer Capt. Treiawny, Barney Phillips, Sgt. Mooney's squad refuses to withdraw giving the Captain fits with him on the verge of having court-martial Mooney and the rest of his men if he didn't comply. It turns out that squad members would rather spend the rest of their live in the brig knowing that they did their best to rescue one of theirs, a member of the "Eight Iron Men", then live the rest of their lives as free men not knowing that their inaction was the cause his death.

There's a somewhat comedy bit thrown into the story about a fruitcake that's to be split up between the GI's and the last piece, after the other even were given out to the men in the squad, is left for Pvt. Smalls. That causes a lot of tension with the men not knowing if Smalls is even alive to eat it and at the same time wanting to eat the goodie themselves. We also have the usual goof-off of the outfit Pvt. Collucci, Bonar Colleano, who likens himself to be a modern day Casanova with the ladies. Since there's no women in the deserted burnt and blasted town we have a number of dream sequences put into the film where lover-boy Collucci has all the beautiful dames that he can or even, and that may be asking a bit too much of Collucci,can't handle. Collucci is such a great lover, in his own mind, that he's even able to steal away the girl that fellow GI Pvt. Ferguson,James Griffith,had just married in his dream! Thats something which I doubt that even the great Cassanove would be able to do on his best day or night.

Sgt. Mooney and a number of his men going out to fetch the missing Pvt. Smalls are pinned by German machine gun fire and forced to retreat back to their defensive position. Just when he and his men are about to give up on ever finding Smalls Pvt. Collucci the great lover turns into the great warrior as he single handed takes out the German machine gun nest and a German sniper. Grabbing an unconscious, due to his injecting himself with morphine, Pvt. Smalls Collucci brings him back to the squad headquarters. Just when, a totally shocked and happily surprised, Sgt. Mooney and his men were about to leave without him or the already left for dead Pvt. Smalls.

Pvt. Collucci became the unlikely hero of the entire squad. In the end he got something far more real and satisfying then all the imagery gorgeous babes that he dreamed about all throughout the film. A real honest to goodness second piece of that delicious fruitcake. The piece that was reserved for the missing Pvt. Smalls.

Mainly confined to a couple of sets, the success or failure of this film rests very heavily on the script and upon the ensemble cast. Most of the actors work well, Bonar Colleano and Lee Marvin almost raising this film to a level above the slightly interesting. Unfortunately, the script just isn't punchy enough and you wait for tense moments that never arrive. The guy who gets stranded has proved himself pretty useless. Our heroes, need to contrast dark and light traits in humanity. Do they follow orders and abandon the sap or do the decent thing, ignore the orders, risk life and limb and try and rescue a guy who many of them think isn't worth the effort. The idea is sound, but though much of the dialogue is interesting, for the most part there is a palpable lack of tension. Richard Kiley as Carter should play a critical role, but his lines are pretty lame and he is unconvincing. Verbal sparring between him and Lee Marvin is so one sided, you're never sure what Carter is thinking about. The ending is also lacklustre, almost as if there should have been another scene and they forgot to record it. Worth seeing for the performances of Lee Marvin and the sadly short-lived Bonar Colleano and for the curious day-dream sequences, but saving Private Ryan it ain't!

EIGHT IRON MEN has one of those screenplays that started life as a stage play, so the action is centred in a single location. It's the tale of a group of WW2-era soldiers who are pinned down in a single location and must figure out a way to rescue their wounded colleague on the outset. I feel that such plays are hit or miss affairs and sadly this is one of the more dated examples of its type. The action is sparse and the dialogue comes thick and heavy, but the actors struggle with their uninteresting roles and lead Bonar Colleano is particularly irritating. You do get Lee Marvin delivering a typically bullish turn but his presence isn't enough to save the movie as a whole.

This WW2 drama from Columbia Pictures deals with the tense inter-relations between eight weary soldiers stuck in a small worn torn Italian town. Seventeen days waiting it out jammed in a cellar while one of them is pinned down by machine gun fire behind enemy lines. Rain, Cracker Jacks and fruitcake...dreaming about girls...and more girls. The squad is given orders to pull out without going to rescue their pinned down buddy. Mortar and German gun fire bouncing off the rubble strewn streets. Soldiers are flesh and blood...men with ambition, opinions and dreams.

Starring are: Lee Marvin, Bonar Colleano, Richard Kiley, George Cooper, James Griffith, Barney Phillips and Dickie Moore. And featured in dream sequences are Mary Castle, Angela Stevens, Sue Casey and Jill Jarmyn.

As a WWII buff, I try and watch any film that deals with the subject. Finally, thanks to Turner Classic Movies channel I got to see this film. With the cast, producer, director, and writer, expectations were high. But, my, what a disappointment! All the ingredients are there for a great film, including a realistic set, correct miliatry equipment, and characters that really look like they have been in the field for seventeen days - thanks in large part to the input of WWII veteran Lee Marvin.

But, with all of this going for it, the recipe fails. It's like the fruitcake that is a focal point in this film - great ingredients by themselves, but put together are often not edible.

The film opens with Private Coke getting shot at by a sniper. He shoots back with a burst from his Thompson submachine gun, then walks away, saying nothing about the sniper when he gets back. One would think that would be a cause for concern - there's a sniper in town! The when Private Small is left behind because of the German machine gun nest that's been set up in the town, there seems to be little concern about him, expecially at first. Then a sniper (the same one?) kills a soldier and it's quickly forgotten - no big deal!

Finally, in the middle of this gab-fest, Sgt. Mooney (Lee Marvin) decides to try and do something to save Small and takes a mortar team to try and take out the machine gun nest. Firing the hand-held (!) mortar tube, they are incredibly accurate, but fail. They don't seem to try and get eyes on Small or even call out to him to see if he's alive. As the squad is about to pull out, it's up to Private Coke to save the day on his own with a hundred-to-one grenade throw.

The dream sequences from the weary soldiers are meant for a comic diversion from the grittiness of war, but seem shockingly out of place. I guess the filmmakers decided they needed some eye candy to sweeten this dreary, mostly boring film.

Eight Iron Men is a WWII movie about a weary understrength squad that faces a dilemma in the rainy ruins of an Italian town. When the squad Sad Sack is pinned down by a German machine gun, the Squad Leader (Lee Marvin) wants to get him back but it has to be with approval of their Captain (Barney Phillips). Tensions mount as the German machine gun crew takes pot shots at the trapped GI and hidden sniper has the American position in his sights. The lead of this film was Bonar Colleano, Who? He plays the squad's girl happy wise-cracking member, Colluci. He daydreams about women lead to funny fantasy sequence. As the Captain, a supporting roles by Phillips that the strain of command is gnawing at him. His graying temples is a physical manifestation of the stress. It has been argued he was too old for the part. If that is case then nearly every actor in this film was as well. Contrary to popularly belief, not every American company commander was in their early twenties. Some were older. Mature men were needed to lead younger ones. That usually meant men who were over thirty. A interesting film that has been overlooked.

Stanley Kramer always made such wonderful social conscious films such Judgment at Nuremberg, the hilarious comedy It's A Mad Mad Mad World and The Defiant Ones. He must have had a bad day when he made this 1952 misery of a film.

We never see the enemy. We don't know exactly where the film is taking place and the scenes with the women are absolutely contrived and out right ridiculous at best.

For 1952, Lee Marvin looks old already and war in itself is made to look ludicrous by what Small was doing all along during this 80 minute film debacle.

Of course, you make every effort to save a missing soldier cornered by the enemy. The enemy was the one who thought of such a miserable film.