Not so much a "relic" as an artifact of a particular time and place -- and state of mind. While Sherwood's play was quite a strong (and sometimes heavy handed) criticism of the nature of man (and woman) as we approach an inevitable war; his adaptation for the screen is lighter, quirkier, and focuses far more on the American, Harry Van, than on the French weapons-monger (who has been radically Americanized and re-molded into a capitalist-industrialist.) Before we had the luxury of hindsight about Hitler, Mousselinni, Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt, fascism, Naziism, and capitalism, the focus was on the use of war as a social whip -- both restraint and stimulus. The play takes place completely in a resort in the Italian Alps -- but the film only gives us this setting as Act II. As a result, much of the preamble politics of the play are missing, instead replaced by an extended romance between Gable and Shearer for movie audiences.
The artifact (aside from a wonderful look at the con and film-flam of traveling entertainers and the crowds they draw) here is the political analysis of a looming war BEFORE we knew what WWII would eventually become. The "Anti-War" of Idiot's Delight is anti-war in general, not anti WWII. This is film is a pacifist -- not an isolationist. And, Harry Van's & Norma Shearer's con and film-flam are identical to that of the master politicians -- an attempt to distract us from what is coming with dancing girls, fancy stage effects, and mind-reading tricks.
It is also interesting that it was released in January of 1939 -- the bookend for that year's OTHER Gable war film, Gone With The Wind. While GWTW looks back at a war that pitted brother against brother and neighbors/friends against each other -- complete with all war's worst foibles and consequences -- this one is looking forward through the mist of mis-information and missing information at the war in Europe. It is forecasting the same foibles and consequences as the Civil War, WWI, and all other conflicts which wasted lives, inflicted unbelievable pain, wasted the wealth of nations, and de-stabilized the lives of all -- all for such laudable motives as greed, pride, lust for power, and jingoistic nationalism.
It's hard to believe (and yet believable, because we do have artifacts like this) that the conversation about the looming war in Europe during the late 1930s wasn't so much about Hitler, the Nazis, or global domination as it was about occupation, tyranny, and profit to be made at the expense of lives.
And that is what makes this film an artifact, rather than a relic. Relics are just old and outdated physical evidence of the past. Artifacts show our connection to the past -- because they tie our humanity to the same emotions, behaviors and thoughts of those who came before us.
The artifact (aside from a wonderful look at the con and film-flam of traveling entertainers and the crowds they draw) here is the political analysis of a looming war BEFORE we knew what WWII would eventually become. The "Anti-War" of Idiot's Delight is anti-war in general, not anti WWII. This is film is a pacifist -- not an isolationist. And, Harry Van's & Norma Shearer's con and film-flam are identical to that of the master politicians -- an attempt to distract us from what is coming with dancing girls, fancy stage effects, and mind-reading tricks.
It is also interesting that it was released in January of 1939 -- the bookend for that year's OTHER Gable war film, Gone With The Wind. While GWTW looks back at a war that pitted brother against brother and neighbors/friends against each other -- complete with all war's worst foibles and consequences -- this one is looking forward through the mist of mis-information and missing information at the war in Europe. It is forecasting the same foibles and consequences as the Civil War, WWI, and all other conflicts which wasted lives, inflicted unbelievable pain, wasted the wealth of nations, and de-stabilized the lives of all -- all for such laudable motives as greed, pride, lust for power, and jingoistic nationalism.
It's hard to believe (and yet believable, because we do have artifacts like this) that the conversation about the looming war in Europe during the late 1930s wasn't so much about Hitler, the Nazis, or global domination as it was about occupation, tyranny, and profit to be made at the expense of lives.
And that is what makes this film an artifact, rather than a relic. Relics are just old and outdated physical evidence of the past. Artifacts show our connection to the past -- because they tie our humanity to the same emotions, behaviors and thoughts of those who came before us.