The Long Gray Line (1955)

A young Irish immigrant (Tyrone Power) arrives at West Point in 1898 as a waiter in the enlisted men's mess hall. He eventually enlists in the U.S. Army and although he never sees battle, he remains at West Point for over 50 years as a non commissioned officer and athletic instructor. Based on the autobiography BRINGING UP THE BRASS by Martin Maher and directed by John Ford. If it weren't for the awful MARY OF SCOTLAND, I'd call this John Ford's worst film. Almost of two and a half hours of Irish blarney with Power doing a Barry Fitzgerald imitation. It's as if Ford gathered all his faults as a film maker and put it in one movie. It's like over two hours of Power, Maureen O'Hara (as his wife) and Donald Crisp (as his father) screaming, "We're Irish! We're Irish!" and you want to yell back, "Okay, we get it. Can we move on now?". The film does something I wouldn't think possible. It renders Maureen O'Hara (who I normally find irresistible) unappealing. As usual with movie bios, the screenplay fudges on the facts to make the story more dramatic. On the plus side, for a wide screen novice (this was Ford's first CinemaScope film) he does some impressive work in the format though to be fair that might be because of Charles Lawton Jr. (3:10 TO YUMA), the cinematographer. It's advised you take an insulin shot before watching, the sentimentality in this makes THE SOUND OF MUSIC look like porn! With Betsy Palmer, Ward Bond, Philip Carey, Peter Graves, Patrick Wayne, William Leslie, Erin O'Brien Moore, Harry Carey Jr. and the ill fated Robert Francis whose last film this was (he was only 25 when he died).