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The Young Lions (1958)

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32 out of 34 people found the following comment useful :-
Although a good film, it did not use the right kind of ingredients to the fullest of their potential., 6 septiembre 2002
Author: shilinw (shilinw@erols.com) de Virginia, USA

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

This 1958 film "The Young Lions" is an adaptation of Erwin Shaw's great novel "The Young Lions", which examines World War II and conveys a strong anti-war sentiment through the stories of three characters - a terrific book to make into a film. There is also a terrific cast - Marlon Brando plays Christian Diestl, an idealistic Austrian ski instructor who joins the German army to serve the Fuher; Montgomery Clift plays Noah Ackerman, a Jewish kid from Brooklyn, who carries out his patriotic duty and answers the nation's calling to fight against tyranny and yet has to fight against tyranny of a different kind in his own barracks; Dean Martin plays Michael Whiteacre(and Oh what a wonderful role that could have been) , a playboy who finds himself somehow having a great desire to go to the front lines. The film also saw fit to cast Maximilian Schell with a supporting role in playing Captain Hardenberg, who is unhappy with his "police" duty in Paris and ends up sacrificing his men in North Africa. And there you also have Hope Lange who plays Hope Plowman who falls in love with Ackerman knowing her father dislikes anybody Jewish; and Dora Doll who plays the French girl Simone who hates Christian Diestl as the conqueror but loves him when he is helpless. All the right kind of ingredients are there for this to turn into an epic film, and yet it fell short of excellence. Good yes, but excellent, I am afraid NO.

The film did succeed in capturing the essence of the book in many scenes. Brando's portrayal of Diestl was brilliant right up to the end. His ideals, his heroism in France, his dissatisfaction of his duty, his affair with his Captain's wife, his disillusionment, his pitiful retreat, and his sense of humanity that is heavily clouded by his blind ideals were all vividly brought to the screen by Brando's skillful rendering. Scenes where Ackerman was mistreated and was forced to fight the three biggest guys in the barracks, where he met Hope's father, brought out the serious question of what people were in the war for, as did the book. And you merely have to look at Maximilian Schell to know that he was Captain Hardenberg.

Yet the film's biggest flop was its departure from the book. It sought to soften the much harsher reality presented by Erwin Shaw's writing, perhaps for fear that the audience would not like it. It gave the US military a much sweeter image in its upper brass than the book did. It over simplified Whiteacre's character and the audience were not given the in-depth examination, as is evident in the book, of this relatively well-to-do playwright's life, his desires and what eventually brought him into the war. The film, perhaps trying to cut its length, reduced Whiteacre into a savvy singer type, which was a terrible under-appreciation of Dean Martin's potential. (Incidentally, if you catch Dean Martin in "Airport"[1970], you'll find that he is capable of much more complex personalities.) The biggest disappointment, and its most unforgiving departure from the original novel, comes at the end when Christian Diestl smashes his machine pistol and gets shot by Whiteacre all too easily and Noah Ackerman returns home alive to reunite with Hope. Smashing the gun, although well done choreographically by Brando, only amounts to a poor attempt at a direct showing of anti-war sentiment. The book does it much more artfully with a detailed story that has Diestl fight to the last bullet killing Ackerman, and then has Whiteacre staring down and pulling the trigger at a wounded and smiling Christian Diestl. The film's having Ackerman stay alive in the end was just a bit too typical a happy-ending that was all too prevalent in those days of the 50's. Personally, I like the ending better if the hero dies, but that may just be me.

Overall, I would say this film did not use the right kind of ingredients to the fullest of their potential. It is a good film and yet it could have been much much better.

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24 out of 31 people found the following comment useful :-
A Fine Cinema Experience, 1 abril 2000

Author: Raul daSilva de New Haven, CT

A long time ago, some time before the powers that be decided that movies should be made only to extricate money from children by catering to their base instincts and in so doing destroy our civility, the American Cinema was devoted to the art and craft of story telling. In these stories, life was often celebrated through the study of the character of the human heart.

In THE YOUNG LIONS, we experience masterful story writing in the screenplay by a man named Edward Anhalt who adapted it from a novel by Irwin Shaw. In this fine example of the final years of the Golden Age of Hollywood we see a study of character, ideas and humanity seen amidst the greatest conflict this Earth has ever known, WWII.

Here, we experience both the Americans and Europeans, including Germans. They are played as they really were, not as depicted by latter day directors such as Steven Spielberg and others who have drawn WWII Germans as silhouette, cartoon characters, all vile and evil. Here, they are shown as singular human beings with personalities, hopes and dreams really exactly like our own. The opposing forces are caught up in a madness that somehow swept across the face of this planet at a specific time, when really probed, for reasons quite unfathomable. This was also one of the peak film renderings of Marlon Brando, whom some feel is one of the finest actors ever to have graced the silver screen.

If you yearn for a fulfilling example of American Cinema at a time when it was a serious, respected industry, this is one for you to see.

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22 out of 29 people found the following comment useful :-
A Tale of Four Soldiers, 9 mayo 2005

Author: bkoganbing de Buffalo, New York

I've always liked The Young Lions because it has the best explanation for the phenomenon that was Nazism in Germany. Always the question is asked how did they come to power? At the beginning with Marlon Brando romancing vacationing Barbara Rush in Bavaria on New Year's Eve, he provides one of the most lucid explanations of why people would choose to follow Adolph Hitler. It is one of Brando's finest moments on screen.

At the time of course he didn't know he was romancing the main squeeze of Dean Martin who with Montgomery Clift play the two American soldiers who's stories and growth as human beings is told. Martin is a Broadway musical comedy entertainer and Clift is just a department store clerk at Macy's who meet by chance at the draft board. Martin is trying to dodge the draft, Clift is fatalistically accepting what comes. Martin proves to be a man of far more character than we first think. Clift is a Jew and a man who with enough reason to be going to war against Hitler, has to deal with anti-Semitism here in America.

Clift and Martin's stories are told alternately with that of Brando and also Maximilian Schell. This was Schell's first appearance in an American production and he scores well as a proud Nazi officer. Let us just say that he gets quite a comeuppance all around during the course of this war he was so proud to be part of.

The two male actors who are always cited as the rebel heroes of post World War II America are Marlon Brando and Montgomery Clift. Too bad in their one film together they didn't exchange any dialog. Still I can't praise a film like The Young Lions too highly.

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22 out of 29 people found the following comment useful :-
An eloquent statement with a masterly musical score ever composed for a war film..., 27 marzo 2004

Author: ironside (robertfrangie@hotmail.com) de Mexico

More than a passing resemblance exists between Clift's Noah and the Robert E. Lee Prewitt of 'From Here to Eternity.' They are both "hard heads,' determined to live by their own special code of honor… The chief difference is that Noah is not alone… Throughout the film, he is accompanied by a friend, who has a number of reasons to be against the war… Also Noah gets the girl of his dreams… He even marries her…

'The Young Lions' retains its impact as one of the better films made about war... The combat scenes are limited in scale but brilliantly staged and photographed, with good direction of a complex script and a masterly musical score by Hugo Friedhofer…

Director Dmytryk never misses an opportunity to underline how war comes into collision with the destinies of people… When Brando encounters May Britt - as the wife of his superior officer, Maximilian Schell - she is the perfect image of Nazi vices: Corrupt, hedonistic, and, of course, condemned along with the rest of the decadent Germans… Her hazardous beauty is used as counterpoint to Brando's enthusiasm and beliefs: She represents all that is bad and immoral while he is everything noble and pure…

Dmytryk is less awkward depicting the relationship between Clift and Lange: Their Love is a natural condition… They belong together… Like Robert E. Lee Prewitt, Clift's Noah is ill-at-ease socially… When he meets Lange, his reaction is clear, spontaneous, purposeful, direct… He begins to babble a lot to make an impression on her, because, as he tells her later, "I was afraid that if I was myself you wouldn't look at me twice." But Hope was gracious enough to attend the guy… The young nice girl has at last found her favorite kind of hero…

Clift, who finds himself standing up for his rights and for principles he did not even know he had, pared his lines to the minimum needed to convey the essence of Noah Ackerman… The prison sequence is a clear and simple proof of it… The emotional urgency of the young couple is communicated through looks, small gestures, and soft and tender words of love and caring…

Nominated for Best Cinematography, Best music and Best Sound, Dmytryk's motion picture is a moving and eloquent statement of how war collides with the destinies of people and hurls them into a maelstrom…

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14 out of 17 people found the following comment useful :-
One of the most underrated war films of all time., 22 diciembre 2001

Author: Christopher Martin de Hollywood, CA

A movie that truly puts character above all else, this film examines three men and the common threads - more often than anything, the women - that bring them together. Bold statements on individuals' approach and reasons for war are nestled into realistic and moving dialogue. While an anti-war film, it is a fair and even-handed approach to the subject matter that lets you see things through the characters' eyes and lives, and lets an audience make up their own mind on things. This is not to say it is a strictly intellectual film, but the action is not as visceral as recent war films. Because of the directors' involvement with the HUAC, this movie was ignored in 1958 and fell into relative obscurity, but deserves to be rediscovered. I read the book after the film, and found the two together to be an incredibly stimulating lesson in film, literature, and life. See this movie.

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10 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
Young men thrown into a terrible conflict, 6 septiembre 2006

Author: juanmlleras de Colombia

An interesting vision of young men in war. The idealist, the shy and the playboy get to war. All will be changed by the horror of the conflict, not only with enemy troops, but within their ranks.

Lt. Christian Diestl's (Marlon Brando) sense of honor and gentle behavior clashes with the cruel, senseless attitude of his superior, Capt. Hardenberg, realistically played by Maximilian Schell.

Private Ackerman (Montgomery Clift) a shy unassuming Jewish boy becomes a courageous soldier, opposing both enemy soldiers and the bigotry of their comrades.

Private Withacre, a playboy who tries to avoid duty (Dean Martin), finally ends up resigning a safe post to join the fighting in Normandy, and becoming a soldier.

The usual Black and White shooting enhances the cruelty of WWII. If you find it, don't miss this performance by great actors.

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12 out of 14 people found the following comment useful :-
Terrific Film with Brando and Clift at Their Best!, 13 marzo 2006

Author: Al de United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

This a very good rendition of the great Irwin Shaw novel. There are some major differences in Brando's character "Christian", the German soldier. In the book, we see the slow disintegration of a normal decent man into an inhuman killer. Brando fought for a more compassionate portrayal that also works very well, but does change the outcome of the story. In the film he is also a simple decent man who through the course of the war manages to hold on to his character and humanity and because of that he is destroyed in a different way. Brando's performance is great and very sympathetic. One of the last acting roles he seemed to take seriously for a long while.

Montgomery Clift as Jewish-American Noah Ackerman is one of his greatest performances. Clift lost a great deal of weight and applied make-up to make him look more ethnic. He brings great dignity to Noah's character. Underplaying the part, Clift allows the audience to find their way to the humanity of Ackerman, a true fish-out-of-water in life who finds emotional sanctuary in his wife Hope, beautifully played by a young Hope Lange. These two play one of the most sweetly romantic scenes ever when Noah drops Hope off at her home. Watch it, you will weep for sure. Sadly, many people thought that Clift's gaunt and less attractive appearance was because of his earlier car accident. Clift, ever the consummate actor opted to alter his features and weight to support his internal portrayal of the enigmatic Noah.

Dean Martin is the third lead role as Mike Whitaker. In the book, Whitaker is the central character, kind of an everyman between Christian and Noah. He is in the theatre like Dean's "Whitaker", but has the less glamorous job of being a stage manager. In the film, his part is a little smaller and the studio makes use of Dino's singing and turns the character into a Broadway star. Although it might have been fun to see a more seasoned actor in the role working with Clift, Dean does a great job in his first dramatic film role, holding his own with Clift, who worked behind the scenes to help Dean Martin with his role. A bit of irony here is that a few years earlier, Clift was equally generous with a down-on-his-luck Frank Sinatra who later won the Oscar for his role in "From Here to Eternity", another WW2 classic.

There are a great many excellent supporting performances including: Barbara Rush probably the most underrated actress of her era is terrific as Dean Martin's long-suffering, smart girl friend Margaret, Vaughn Taylor is also wonderful in a very small but crucial role as Hope's father. It's a great scene with Taylor a Christian Vermonter meeting a Jew for the first time in his life; a Jew who wants to marry his daughter. It's a classic bit of acting between the two. Clift has no lines and Taylor is mostly talking around the real tension of the moment, but the two actors in behavior are right there with each other. May Britt is wonderfully evil and seductive as the selfish Gretchen Hardenberg. Maxmillian Schell is outstanding in his first American film as the over-zealous Nazi officer, Capt. Hardenberg. His performance is all the more amazing in that he didn't speak English at the time and had to learn his part phonetically. To get the part Schell impersonated his older brother at the audition, who was busy performing on stage in Germany.

Other great acting turns come from Arthur Franz, Dora Doll, a young Lee Van Cleef, Hal Baylor, Liliane Montevecchi, Parley Baer and Robert Ellenstein.

Edward Dmytryk does an excellent job directing an epic film with a giant cast. Edward Anhalt and Irwin Shaw ably adapt a 300+ page novel into a two hour film without compromising the true spirit of the story. Hugo Friedhofer's score is compelling and memorable.

This is a great film. Check it out.

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11 out of 13 people found the following comment useful :-
Peace in our time?, 11 noviembre 2002
Author: lauramae de Moss Landing, CA

I have seen this movie several times and catch something different every time I see it. Today is the first time I've seen it from the beginning. In the context of the time it was made, it was a bold statement about the human factor in any war. Brando shines and plays a sympathetic character who sees first hand the evil that men do in the name of patriotism.

Made at a time when the Americans that liberated the concentration camps were in their prime and there weren't any idiots running around claiming it was a lie, we see how ordinary citizens respond to the unthinkable. Brando's character stands in for the citizens of the Reich who claimed they were clueless about the genocide while the ashes from the smokestacks fell like snow on their towns. We see the horror and the denial.

It briefly explores a major taboo--interracial/interfaith marriages. It looks at racism in the context of anti-Semitcism (unfortunately still alive and well in America) and one man's courage in opposing it. Ironic this brand of racism, as the founder of the prevelant religion in America was a Jewish rabbi.

This movie is worth the 3 hours of time; it would make a great set piece with "Judgement at Nuremberg" which also showcases the talents of many of the actors from this film.

Good acting from all players in this film. It presages Robert Altman with the interweaving of the characters' lives from the first shot where Barbara Rush and Brando debate the merits of the Fatherland to the last scene in the forest where the end comes full circle.

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11 out of 18 people found the following comment useful :-
An Excellent Perspective of the Stupidity of a War, 18 noviembre 2003

Author: Claudio Carvalho de Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

`The Young Lions' is the Second War II presented through the participation of three soldiers. Christian Diestl (Marlon Brando) is an idealistic German, son of a shoemaker. He joins the Army believing that life could improve in Germany under the administration of the Nazis. However, being a soldier, he cannot accept `acting like a police' in an occupied Paris and requests transference to the front, where he has another disappointment with the cruelty of the war. Noah Ackerman (Montgomery Clift) is a shy American Jew, a very simple man, just married with Hope Plowman (Hope Lange) and very discriminated in his platoon for being Jew. He goes to the war and leaves his family. Michael Whiteacre (Dean Martin) is a successful actor who became friend of Noah while in New York and is also obliged to join the army and go to London. There, he decides to leave the office activity and join his platoon in the front. This movie is excellent. It shows common people being used by government in a senseless war. All the main characters are peaceful common persons: Christian is a very simple person, wishing to climb socially in life in a Germany without opportunities and is misguided by the speech of Hitler and pretty soon he becomes aware how stupid war is. Noah is also a very simple person, a salesman from a department store, who indeed wishes to be with his family and join the Army just for obligation. And Michael is a selfish actor and bon vivant, without any sense of patriotism and who is not interest in anything but to have his life back. These characters are put together in a stupid war, having to kill persons to save their lives and to obey orders, which they do not agree. This movie is an excellent perspective of the stupidity of a war. My vote is eight.

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5 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
Only the last sequences are impressive today., 19 octubre 2003
Author: dbdumonteil

Edward Dmytryk had just directed "the raintree county" another war epic,which also featured Clift-after-the-accident .His best works were already behind him ( "cross -fire" "the caine mutiny" "broken lance" ) and in the works to come ,only "Warlock" is worth watching.

Instead of one lead,Dmytryk 's follow-up to "raintree county" -which features a second lead,but a female one ,Taylor-"young lions " has three main characters ,but mainly focuses on a blond Brando whose part is the most interesting ,but who finally is not credible as a German officer;main problem is language:it's impossible to believe in a story in which everybody speaks English,even the poorest French woman.The two young girls utter one or two words in their first langage,but I hardly heard a German word in the 165 min of the movie.

The characters are sketchy :for instance Martin's one exists only because of the cowardice he's got to fight against -abetted or not by his squeeze Rush-;Clift is too subtle an actor to content himself with this cardboard character :his private resembles "From here to eternity" 's Prewitt,and if he is credible when he reads Joyce,he's definitely not a boxer.Clift is a superior actor but elsewhere ("suddenly last Summer" " Freud" "misfits" "a place in the sun" ...)

This is not a linear story but rather slices of life ,and once more,it's Brando who gets the lion's share (no pun intended).He's one the screen at least twice as long as his two co-stars.

The best scenes are the final ones,when Brando and then the American discover the concentration camp:the rest of the movie fluctuates between valid drama and soap opera ,but these scenes set the record straight and just one shot showing the survivors does more than all the rest of the movie.

Another good scene deals with euthanasia and thus predates "Johnny got his gun" .

It's a good Hollywoodian product ,quite watchable but which lacks depth and strength.

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