When I first saw this movie, I was quite surprised that I had never even heard of such a masterful work before. It is worth watching again and again.
The story begins just as World War I ends, and it's about a group of pilots from that war. As I see it (perhaps adding some interpretation here), these pals saw enough death, misery and bloodshed in the war to last them a lifetime. In reaction, they attempt to create their own childlike, innocent world, where hate and meanness have no place.
This world consists of just the bunch of them, going to bars, drinking, making facetious banter, joking and talking in non-sequitors. They're a lot like college students, really.
One recurring flippancy is this: whenever one of them has to go to the bathroom, he makes up an outlandish task he's headed for, like "I've got to go see a man about a Chinese horse" or something -- I can't remember a specific one right now.
Helen Chandler fits in well with the group and their innocent world. As another reviewer has said, she seems fragile herself, and she gets right into the spirit of their banter. Her memorable joke is: whenever somebody starts reciting a long list of ANYTHING, she always says, "I'll take vanilla" (as if they were reciting ice-cream flavors, you see).
But this innocent, harmless world can't last. The mean, dirty real world keeps breaking in. There's an outsider, who lusts after Helen Chandler and attaches himself parasitically to the group. He eventually causes them great trouble. Also, one of the group gets gored to death by a bull.
One way or another, the real world breaks up this happy group. Yet at the end there's hope for a better world for at least some of the group.
(I was greatly taken with Johnny Mack Brown in this movie, as in some others I have seen. He's not just a cowboy star, but a fine actor.)
The story begins just as World War I ends, and it's about a group of pilots from that war. As I see it (perhaps adding some interpretation here), these pals saw enough death, misery and bloodshed in the war to last them a lifetime. In reaction, they attempt to create their own childlike, innocent world, where hate and meanness have no place.
This world consists of just the bunch of them, going to bars, drinking, making facetious banter, joking and talking in non-sequitors. They're a lot like college students, really.
One recurring flippancy is this: whenever one of them has to go to the bathroom, he makes up an outlandish task he's headed for, like "I've got to go see a man about a Chinese horse" or something -- I can't remember a specific one right now.
Helen Chandler fits in well with the group and their innocent world. As another reviewer has said, she seems fragile herself, and she gets right into the spirit of their banter. Her memorable joke is: whenever somebody starts reciting a long list of ANYTHING, she always says, "I'll take vanilla" (as if they were reciting ice-cream flavors, you see).
But this innocent, harmless world can't last. The mean, dirty real world keeps breaking in. There's an outsider, who lusts after Helen Chandler and attaches himself parasitically to the group. He eventually causes them great trouble. Also, one of the group gets gored to death by a bull.
One way or another, the real world breaks up this happy group. Yet at the end there's hope for a better world for at least some of the group.
(I was greatly taken with Johnny Mack Brown in this movie, as in some others I have seen. He's not just a cowboy star, but a fine actor.)