Home of the Brave

Some weeks back, TCM brought in frequent guest co-host Donald Bogle to present a night of movies about movies from 1949 dealing with racial issues alongside Ben Mankiewicz. One of the movies they showed was one I hadn't blogged about before, Home of the Brave. So I recorded it, and having a long weekend for Christmas, sat down to watch it and do a post on here.

The movie opens on a Pacific island during World War II, where a couple of soldiers are discussing a mission they were on and how one of the other soldiers on the mission, Pvt. Peter Moss (James Edwards) is being seen by an army psychiatrist (Jeff Corey) because the mission left Moss with psychosomatic paralysis.

Flash back to before the mission. This is a voluntary mission to go to a neighboring island and survey it as part of the advance against the Japanese. Maj. Robinson (Douglas Dick) is in command, and has already brought in cartographer Finch (Lloyd Bridges), and soldiers Sgt. Mingo (Frank Lovejoy) and Cpl. T.J. Everett (Steve Brodie). The only surveyor who volunteered for the mission is Moss, who happens to be black.

This of course was set during World War II, which was before President Truman integrated the military, so having a black guy be part of the mission was going to controversial in any case, but making it voluntary is a way to get around any possible issues of historical inaccuracy. As for the four soldiers, Finch and Moss went to high school together and were basketball teammates, so he's supposedly the one guy who isn't supposed to have any racist views. The Major and Mingo are both trying to do their jobs, but growing up in a segregated country, they of course have bigoted attitudes in the back of their mind. T.J., however, has them in the front of his mind. Moss, understandably, carries a lot of resentment, expecting every white person to be racist to him.

Still, since Robinson is trying to be professional and there is a mission to carry out, he's going to try do the best he can with the volatile situation he's been given. Mingo gets shot in the shoulder, and is eventually going to have to have his arm amputated. But things get worse when Finch calls Moss a "ni-", stopping himself before finishing the word although everybody knows what he was going to say and Moss knows what even Finch was thinking. Just after this, Finch gets shot as well, telling Moss to keep on with the mission which is more important.

Moss is beside himself over not being able to save Finch, but eventually takes the maps back to the beach since that's the mission. Finch wasn't killed by the Japanese shot, instead getting captured and tortured by the Japanese, and that is what brings about Moss' paralysis.

The story of the mission presented in Home of the Brave is interesting enough on its own, with the social commentary of racism adding an element that makes the movie more worth a watch. Apparently, the movie is based on a play where the social element was anti-Semitism, but since Hollywood had already covered that topic with Crossfire and Gentlemen's Agreement, the topic got changed to racism. This gave James Edwards his first big role, and he shines, although the supporting cast is mostly good even if the characters all might seem a bit formulaic 70 years on.

One thing that bothered me was the ending, which seemed a bit too pat and happy, and not like what might have happened in real life back in World War II. Neither Mingo nor Moss would have had a completely changed world view like what the movie implies. I noticed it right away watching the movie, and Bogle pointed it out in the post-movie commentary with Ben Mankiewicz. But the question of how we get to a point where the sort of reconciliation Mingo and Moss had might actually be realistis was left unanswered.

So, although Home of the Brave definitely has its flaws, it's still more than worth a watch. The TCM Shop does list is as being available on DVD.