Battle Circus (1953) User Reviews

A MASH before M*A*S*H*

[sddavis63 · 5/10 · 15 October 2011]

This is an interesting movie. It's not the best war movie you'll ever see; it's not the most exciting movie you'll ever see and it's not one of Humphrey Bogart's best movies by a long shot. But it's still very interesting in its own way. I was intrigued by it at first because it's the story of a MASH unit in the Korean War - long before MASH the TV series or MASH the movie or MASH the book. To be honest, I really hadn't been aware that a story that focused specifically on a MASH unit had been done before that. I have to say that I enjoyed this much more than I enjoyed "MASH" the movie. This seemed to take a far more serious approach to the subject, and it seemed to stay on topic far better. It makes many of the same points that author Richard Hooker would make in his 1968 book (and that would be the inspiration for the later movie and TV series of the same name) - the pointlessness of war, the heroics of the medical teams and the need for those involved to just find a way - any way - through, whether that meant alcohol or sex (or, I suppose, anything else.) It's different, though, in that it portrays a much more positive picture of the military.

Bogart played Major Webb, second in command of MASH 8666. He's a bit of a lonely figure with a past that doesn't really get explored much, but he's obviously a superb doctor. Into his life comes Lt. Ruth McGara (June Allyson) and they develop an interesting relationship that both sometimes fight against, that sometimes neither takes very seriously and that seems to eventually develop into something real. There wasn't really much passion (or chemistry) between them, but the relationship seemed believable to me in the circumstances, where such relationships probably come and go pretty quickly depending on who gets transferred where and when. It's a cautious relationship understandably, and so perhaps the emotional connection that sometimes seems lacking actually works. It's that relationship that's the plot device that moves this forward.

Interspersed are vignettes of war. The hospital comes under fire on occasion, it's constantly on the move to keep up with wherever the front happens to be, there's some reflection on the impact of the war on Korean civilians, and the most exciting scene of the movie is probably the North Korean prisoner who manages to smuggle a grenade into the hospital. It's not an exciting, action-packed war movie. It seems to simply give a look at the life of those serving in a MASH unit, and it seems to be one of the many "tribute" sort of movies that were made in the era. Although casualties are certainly present throughout, it's also not at all graphic in its depictions, and (even understanding the greater sensitivities the industry at the time had to such things) I found it ridiculous that Webb could perform chest surgery on a young Korean boy which included an open heart massage and yet apparently not get a spot of blood on him while doing it!

It's not great. I would call it interesting, mostly for its look at a MASH unit before M*A*S*H*. (5/10)

A quirky and realistic slice of Korea, with Bogie!

[audiemurph · 7/10 · 6 January 2012]

"Battle Circus" is interesting to compare to the TV series M*A*S*H. On TV, the camp of the medicos was a little too clean, and the doctors, especially Hawkeye, were always a little too ready with a joke. The one-liners never stopped at the 4077th, and there were few characters, especially in the last few years, who were not ever-ready to spew out endless dreary puns galore. Battle Circus is interesting in that it shows, I imagine, a more sober and realistic view of life in a MASH unit.

Because they are located near the ever shifting front of the Korean conflict, the MASH must constantly move with it. This brings out the greatest strength of this film: a large number of scenes in this movie are dedicated to showing the teamwork and bee-hive like energy of the grunts of the unit, taking tents down, putting tents up, moving the hospital here, then to there, often through or frighteningly near enemy fire, all the while dedicated to keeping their patients alive. The many minutes of film spent on these thankless and glory-less activities increases our appreciation of the realities of the soldiers' daily routine.

Here, there are few luxuries (unlike on the TV MASH, where many of the characters seem to have as many possessions as the Howells did on Gilligan's Island). Conditions in the personal tents of the characters are especially Spartan. Bogie's only possession seems to be a bottle of Scotch. When there is no time to bring everything with them, the soldiers burn whatever they must leave behind. Again, the starkness of existence suggests to this viewer a wonder that not all of the MASH members didn't go insane on a regular basis.

Now I am not a June Allyson fan, and while the romance between Bogie and her is not all that interesting or convincing, it is not a complete waste of film either. I don't believe I have ever seen Humphrey Bogart smile and laugh and be so un-pessimistic in a film before, and this is quite entertaining (Bogie even falls in the mud, losing his dignity, and laughs about it with June Allyson! Yikes!). There is no such thing as useless celluloid when Bogie is on screen. However, these episodes of light-hearted Bogie are surrounded by plenty of periods of brooding and cynical Bogie, so he is not completely out of character.

Robert Keith's colonel with the high-pitched voice complements Bogie's doctor very nicely in their scenes together. Keenan Wynn is also a terrific surprise; I usually find his raspy voice and abrasive characters unpleasant, but here he plays perhaps the most likable character (a can-do sergeant) in the whole film. His affection for a wounded Korean boy has the potential to be hokey, but he pulls it off very nicely.

One more MASH comparison. Bogie's character, like Hawkeye Pierce, is a woman-chaser and a man who wants no more authority than necessary, as well as a first rate surgeon. But unlike Hawkeye, who is afraid of guns, Humphrey Bogart is as willing to pick up a rifle and fire at the enemy as he is top pick up a scalpel. A real man's man.

Don't expect Gone With the Wind, and you will find this a quite interesting and quirky little war film.

With a name like "Battle Circus" How can you go wrong?

[forsythe60 · 7/10 · 23 July 2000]

While certainly NOT Maltese Falcon or To Have and Have Not, Battle Circus surprised me.

The Film has a bad reputation for being on the lesser end of Bogart films, with the chemistry between Allyson and Bogart about as exciting as that of Liver and mashed potatoes... I didn't agree with this once I watched it... Sure, it had cheesy dialogue and the sort, but the relationship between Allyson and Bogie could only be described as "quirky". It was not a dull movie, plenty of great lines (and a surprising amount of alluding to sex...) and a fun atmosphere. The film could have been better, yes, but seeing Allyson and Bogart in a War film together was good enough for me. I won't even go into the storyline; that's unimportant, what is important was I enjoyed it. That's good enough for me.

Dull

[Michael_Elliott · 7 January 2009]

Battle Circus (1953)

** (out of 4)

MGM drama about a MASH unit in Korea and a doctor (Humphrey Bogart) who falls for a new nurse (June Allyson). This is a pretty strange film that didn't quite work with me and I think a lot of that is due to the rather poor screenplay that never knows what it's trying to be. It starts off as a war drama then moves into a romantic comedy and then at the end tries to turn into something else. The moods of the film are constantly changing to the point where you don't know what or how you're suppose to be feeling. Bogart was an interesting choice for the role here because he's having to put on the charm from scene one until the end. Many have found his performance bad here but I thought he handled it pretty well. The sweet talk stuff doesn't sound right coming from someone like Bogart but that's why I found it charming. Allyson isn't nearly as strong in her role but she's adorable enough. Bogart and her do a nice job together, although I had a hard time believing he'd actually fall so hard for her. I've read several comments that have attacked the film and Bogart's character because he's pretty much sexually harassing the woman throughout the movie. Even when she wants nothing to do with him he still uses his power as a doctor to touch her and so on. I personally didn't take this stuff that serious as I don't think it was meant to be seen as any sort of harassment. In the end, the film doesn't work and turns out to be one of the legendary star's lesser films.

***

[edwagreen · 7/10 · 28 October 2017]

Even though Bogart and Allyson appear in one comic scene in this 1953 film, the film is anything but a comedy.

At the beginning, I thought that Allyson was out of her league here. However, as the film went on, she showed her mettle. For Bogart, even though he was war weary, he was somewhat subdued from his usual portrayals.

The film depicted the successes and failures of a MASH unit during the Korean War. It does show how army nurse Allyson and surgeon Bogart fall for each other.

The film deals with constant evacuations but even with the seriousness of having to evacuate so often, you never really get the feeling of dire circumstances prevailing.

isn't this MASH?

[jedmdoc · 6/10 · 13 July 2009]

It's amazing that this movie is overlooked as an earlier version of Mash, yeah it's not wild and crazy but all the elements are there: especially the operating room scenes that are gruesome.The film has loose feel and lack of a real plot other than Bogie trying to get into June Allison and everyone trying to cope with the realities of war.Bogie seems out of character as a surgeon that doesn't care about anything but it's worth watching if only to compare it to Mash the movie. One has to wonder if Robert Altman saw this film before he made his version,which he had to, it's about a mobile army surgery unit in the Korean war, and their day to day trials and tribulations.

Battle Fatigue

[bkoganbing · 4/10 · 19 June 2005]

Maybe if MGM had realized that a generation later, a comedy classic would be launched about a MASH unit in Korea, they might have opted for a more lighthearted treatment of the subject here.

One of the other reviewers is of the opinion that Humphrey Bogart is acting like a sexist pig in this film. He certainly is, probably just as much a one as Hawkeye Pierce. The problem here is June Allyson who just ain't no Hotlips Hoolihan. She's terribly miscast here, what was needed was someone who could have fielded Bogey's passes with a smart wisecrack in the right place. Gee, Lauren Bacall would have been good casting here.

The supporting cast is pretty good though with Robert Keith as the commander of the MASH unit and Keenan Wynn as the top sergeant in the place. MASH the television series always turned deadly serious in the operating room and the same here. Nice action sequences as well.

Philip Ahn has a small bit as a frightened North Korean prisoner who gets a hold of a live grenade in the operating room. Interesting because it's one of the few times that very capable oriental actor actually played a Korean which was his ancestry.

Humphrey Bogart just doesn't gel with June Allyson though. She would rather have had Van Johnson and of course Bogey would have had Betty if he had his druthers. So would have I.

Interesting take on MASH with annoying romantic plot

[basilisksamuk · 6/10 · 19 February 2013]

I always hated MASH - it is a film full of unpleasant people and a very nasty line in misogyny. It was interesting then to see this much earlier film featuring a MASH unit during the Korean war. The soldiers depicted here are much more believable, at least in terms of having a command structure and enough discipline to function in a theatre of war.

Unfortunately, over fifty per cent of the movie concentrates on the romance between Humphrey Bogart and June Allyson. I'm sure it reflects the time it was made but Bogart's character would be on a charge for sexual harassment in the modern age and he comes over as rather creepy in this role though this clearly wasn't intended.

There are a couple of set pieces that are first rate and stand comparison with much better-known war movies but the ongoing romance just undermines the drama of the piece.

Definitely worth a look for the MASH elements though clearly somewhat sanitised for audiences of the day.

Many small moments of candor and skill don't patch up this mediocre mash-up

[secondtake · 5/10 · 27 September 2014]

Battle Circus (1953)

An awkward movie with really uneven acting and some routine (or worse) dialog. Even the battle actions scenes, which have along history of success in Hollywood, are sometimes clumsy. You have to accept all this up front to get anywhere further here and appreciate the sincere shreds of insight into a little known aspect of war, and of the Korean War in particular at the time—the mobile hospitals that followed the front line fighting.

Of course MASH the movie and then MASH the t.v. show took the idea and made it everyday material (with a not-so-hidden commentary on the Vietnam war). "Battle Circus" is unusual in coming right as the "Korean Conflict" was ending (the war ended in 1953), and a decade before Vietnam grew into an actual war for the U.S. And so it is very interesting—if you are a student of war, and war movies, that is. It's a bit of a slog as a drama, however, even watching the kinds of vehicles in use or the hardships of weather and war. The methods of setting up these hospitals so quickly is quite accurate and the army cooperated with some of the filming.

There is also Humphrey Bogart. When an actor reaches his kind of fame, even his lesser movies take on meaning. He has a central role as a leading officer in the group, and of course he has near-misses and a few near-kisses with the women—nurses—who are the center of activities. He's portrayed as a womanizing, practical man, not especially nice but eventually very admirable—like many of his characters, in fact.

Some of the scenes are quite serious and strong, taken by themselves. But they get beaten down by the stiff romance that is forced on Bogart and his counterpart, June Allyson. She has to play a naive, smart, well-meaning "girl next door" and while that might be the truth sometimes, it makes for a kind of false set-up, and she's a lightweight presence.

So the movie stumbles along in a weird zone. The decision of Altman making MASH to turn it truly comic was essential (the humor here is rare and flat, like falling in the mud). So tune out in the love scenes and get absorbed in the genuine intensity of the best of the staged war scenes and the hospital dynamics. The title, by the way, is suggested very early when Allyson cheerfully says that moving the tents every few days is just like a real circus on the move.

"They haven't invented a medal yet for those people."

[classicsoncall · 6/10 · 3 January 2006]

Humprey Bogart is a doctor with the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, MASH Unit #8666, in a non comedy preview of the more notable TV Series of the early 1970's. The early going in the film really left me disoriented when the unit's encampment undergoes strafing fire, while more than once and clearly visible, a warplane bearing USAF markings is shown flying by. Seems to me like someone should have caught that.

Besides some interesting scenes portraying the daily life and death struggles of a Korean War medical team, the story follows Major Jed Webbe's (Bogey) romancing of a newly assigned nurse, Lt. Ruth McGara (June Allyson). However there's nothing subtle about Webbe's approach, and it's surprising that McGara allows this affair to blossom considering how much of a chauvinist the Major turns out to be. In fact, he's a genuine creep when you get right down to it.

Keenan Wynn is fairly effective as Sgt. Orvil Statt, competently running the basic mechanics of the unit, with impressive views of breaking down and setting up camp. Robert Keith is the no nonsense Lt. Col. Walters, who takes Webbe down a peg for getting drunk on his own time, and later offers him a drink after a particularly hairy operation. War is hell.

You'll have to really pay attention to the only attempt at comic relief here, since it's a visual - the sign underneath the camp cook's serving table states "This Mess Recommended by Romanoff".

Humphrey Bogart made a number of war films, but much like the Westerns in which he appeared, this just doesn't appear to be his element. He was much better suited for the gangster and noir dramas that made him famous, and "Casablanca" didn't hurt either. Here, with his age showing through, he seemed entirely mismatched with the younger June Allyson, whose clout as a leading lady here is much subdued.

With only one tense scene involving a Korean prisoner (Philip Ahn) threatening to blow up a grenade in an operating room, the film offers no defining moments and very little battle action. In fact, the movie doesn't really even have an ending. As the MASH Unit detours it's way around an active battle zone, all you have left is Bogey and Allyson walking off into the sunset as it were, perhaps wondering what might have happened if the grenade went off.

Teaming Bogart with June Allyson was a big mistake...

[Nazi_Fighter_David · 5/10 · 23 April 2005]

"Battle Circus" is another vehicle written and directed by Richard Brooks, with less satisfying results… Very likely the major fault was in teaming Bogart with June Allyson, an actress of extremely limited range whose perpetually simpering attitude and breathy whining of lines must surely have kept Bogart's nerves on edge…

The idea of the film was a sound one, a semi-documentary approach at portraying the day-by-day activities of a mobile field hospital behind the front lines during the Korean War…

The film fell apart, however, when an almost juvenile love plot interceded… One laughable scene found Allyson disarming a partially crazed prisoner who was threatening to blow everyone up with a hand grenade, thereby proving her courage under fire to a rather uninterested Bogart, who finally falls in love with her

June and Humphrey - fun to watch

[bukumi · 8/10 · 3 January 2009]

The black and white photography, camera angles and editing of Battle Circus are top rate adding verisimilitude to an unusual story about medics during the Korean War.

The dialog between Bogie and June is hard-boiled and cheesy and quite wonderful. It is entertaining to see a big-hearted 1950's female character (Allyson) deflecting an in-your-face, unapologetic wolf (Bogart) without need of feminist presumption, sexual harassment law and political correctness cops.

With their distinct, defining and appealing faces and voices, both leads make the film's romance seem some what logical within the logic of 1950's Hollywood. It sure is fun watching them.

And so too is a terrific Keenan Wynn and the mechanics and team work required to set up MASH units in a war zone. In the film, the tented hospitals were set up, taken down and hauled off and set up again by men and women who were clearly experienced in the service.

The surgery tents and medical sequences in Battle Circus are sanitized compared to what one sees on television these days and what was depicted in the TV series M.A.S.H! Back then, the entertainment world respected the privacy of someone's innards particularly when their guts were spilling out of a body ripped by shrapnel.

The Original M*A*S*H*

[romanorum1 · 6/10 · 4 June 2014]

Despite the title there is little action in this Korean War Drama. The focus is on the mobile army surgical hospitals that provided nearly front-line emergency medical attention to wounded soldiers. Our feature depicts the trials and tribulations of MASH unit #66, where surgeon Humphrey Bogart (Major Jed Webbe) and nurse June Allyson (Lt. Ruth McGara) are stationed. There are nice depictions of the difficulties in supply, transport, and component set-up. Those MASH units were really quite mobile after all, as they had to constantly shift their positions along the battle front. And those medical personal showed amazing courage in their efforts to save lives. Now Webbe, who is a woman-chaser, and Ruth are not supposed to fraternize too much, but of course they do. They fall in love. Bogie does show his war-weariness (age) in some scenes. Within a year, he would be stricken with the terrible cancer that would eventually take his life (1957). Anyway the performances are fine all around, and the film is decent. After all, there are not too many films wasted with Bogie in the cast. Although not a graphic portrayal, this movie is overall a more realistic and serious treatment of the subject than the future, popular, and satirical MASH feature (1970) and the TV series (1972-1983).

Third rate Bogart and Brooks would be fifth rate with anyone else

[JimB-4 · 5/10 · 25 November 2005]

It's hard to believe that Richard Brooks (he of "In Cold Blood" and "The Professionals") directed this. Having coincidentally seen another Korean War film, "One Minute to Zero," immediately before this one, I can vouch for the fact that "Battle Circus" is a major improvement. However, that in itself is no great recommendation. Humphrey Bogart is his usual excellent self, professional and expert in his handling of the role of a MASH unit doctor. And June Allyson is endearing and fine in her role as the nurse who loves him. But despite the fact that plenty of screen romances have survived a greater age difference between couples than the 18 years that separates Bogart and Allyson, Bogart just comes off as uncomfortably old to be pulling the kind of shenanigans he tries with Allyson here. Never mind that in real life Bogart's fairy-tale romance with Lauren Bacall was between two people 25 years apart in age -- this is the movies, and at 53, Bogart seems slightly creepy, forcing his attentions on a young nurse and getting somewhat pissy when she dares to ask if he has a wife. Nonetheless the performances are good and occasionally overcome a difficult script (difficult not in complexity but in mediocrity). Robert Keith, who seems to have managed a long Hollywood career without ever varying his performances one whit, does what he always does as Bogart's commanding officer. Keenan Wynn is substantial and believable as the tough sergeant who keeps things running. But outside of a couple of intense moments (such as the one where a terrified North Korean soldier -- Philip Ahn -- threatens to blow up the operating room), the movie hovers like a helicopter over the no-man's land between drama and soap opera, unable quite to make up its mind where to set down.

Imagine MASH without a script.

[historian1 · 27 June 2004]

This appears to be more a demonstration of how MASH units work than in actually putting together a movie. Bogart is the only one who gives this film any life even though he seems to feel his time is being wasted, which it is. June Allyson is cute, but with a script this lame even cute can't go very far. Keenan Wynn as an army grunt spends his time raising and lowering tents and smuggling booze but his handlebar mustache is the most interesting thing about his role. It starts out with Bogart in a MASH unit clearly trying to hide his alcohol abuse which gets him in trouble, and then along comes June Allyson as a new nurse. He moves in on her in a way that would get him kicked out of today's army and then the movie gets more and more pointless with a completely predictable ending.

A war procedural

[panzerthegreatnterrible · 7/10 · 15 July 2013]

What nobody has mentioned is that this movie shows how a mobile surgical unit actually functions, in loving detail, which MASH never did. Makes for an interesting watch. It does for a MASH unit what Air Force did for a bomber -- shows how everybody cooperates to make the thing work. One of Brooks' better films actually. His films are usually more preachy than this.

The big flaw is June Allyson, who is, IMO, miscast in every movie she made, but never more so than here. Bogart is as professional as always, and Keenan Wynn gives one of his best performances. Philip Ahn, who I'm familiar with because of his work in silly B pictures and serials, does well in a serious though brief part here.

Bogey and Allyson--Both Miscast!

[bsmith5552 · 6/10 · 11 October 2018]

"Battle Circus" was an ambitious effort by Director Richard Brooks to portray the day to day operations of a mobile MASH unit in Korea. It was filmed during the Korean War and pre-dates the more popular M*A*S*H by some 17 years. Unfortunately, the two leads were hopelessly miscast.

Humphrey Bogart plays Major Jed Webbe an overage man on the prowl and June Allyson a nurse who is going to win the war single handedly. Bogart and Allyson have little chemistry together and their love scenes are hard to watch. Bogart is way too old to play a "Hawkeye" type doctor and Allyson was more at home in those MGM frothy type musicals.

The film follow a typical period of activity within a MASH unit showing the loads of wounded being brought in and treated by an overworked team of surgeons and nurses. They are forced to tear down and move to new locations frequently as the war closes in on them. Those sequences are good. The helicopter bringing the wounded was used in the opening of the TV series.

Also in the cast are Keenan Wynn as the crusty Sergeant who is in charge of all of the moves between locations, Robert Keith as the Commanding Officer Lt. Col. Walters and William Campbell as Capt. Rusty Rustford, the helicopter pilot.

This was Bogey's only film for "A" studio MGM. He should have stuck to the trench coat and folded down fedora.

Love is a battlefield

[utgard14 · 4/10 · 11 October 2016]

Snoozer of a war picture about an Army surgeon (Humphrey Bogart) and a wide-eyed young nurse (June Allyson) falling in love on the battlefront. Notable (I suppose) for focusing on a MASH unit years before the film and TV series made that more widely known. But really it's not a very good picture. For a war movie, it's pretty dull and for a romance, it's nauseating. Bogart and Allyson have no chemistry. I've never been a big June Allyson fan to begin with, so that didn't help matters any. Poor Bogie, in his fifties at this point, plays a character that's supposed to be some kind of Romeo with the ladies. This movie has some of the most cringeworthy work I've ever seen from him. I had to look away at times because it was so awkward. It's actually kind of painful to watch the love scenes. Anyway, it's not something I would recommend unless you are a Bogart or Allyson completist. Best thing about it is the supporting work from Keenan Wynn and Robert Keith.

Bogart and Allyson in a M.A.S.H. Unit in Korea

[zardoz-13 · 6/10 · 8 July 2023]

"Blackboard Jungle" helmer Richard Brooks co-wrote and directed "Battle Circus," starring Humphrey Bogart, June Allyson, and Keenan Wynn, about a U. S. Army Mobile Medical Unit in the Korean War. For the record, this hospital-in-fatigues saga that focused on the doctors and nurses struggling to save the lives of casualties was released while the war was still being fought. The United Nations coalition waged the Korean War between June of 1950 to July of 1953, and MGM screened this opus in April of 1953. Mind you, "Battle Circus" was unique in that it depicted the trials and tribulations that doctors and nurses faced behind the lines in a M. A. S. H. unit. This trim, 90-minute melodrama confines itself largely to the tents where medical personnel labor feverishly to save lives. Reportedly, the title "Battle Circus" summed up the uncertainty of their predicament. These units staked themselves out as close to the front lines as they dared. Historically, the use of helicopters to transfer casualties from the battlefield to the M. A. S. H. units saved the lives of half of all wounded and injured soldiers. The rugged Korean terrain made it even onerous for these units, which is why helicopters were deployed. Veteran character actor William Campbell portrays one of the intrepid chopper pilots who ferried the wounded as well as medical supplies under the worst possible circumstances.

Although it doesn't qualify as a classic of its kind, "Battle Circus" has its moments. Supposedly, this MGM release spawned the long-running television series with Alan Alda and Wayne Rogers. The emphasis here, however, is on dire drama, with romantic interludes between Major Jed Webbe (Humphrey Bogart of "The Big Sleep") and Lieutenant Ruth McGara (June Allyson of "The Stratton Story") as they become attracted to each other. Like Alan Alda in "M. A. S. H.," Major Webbe is a womanizer. As the film unfolds, another starry-eyed nurse is warbling like a dove about the Major as she confides in her fellow nurses about Jed, using his first name. Sadly, for this gal, Lieutenant McGara changes all of that. Jeb drops the other nurse like a hot potato when he gets a look at McGara. Ruth is young and extremely green about combat conditions. Webbe reprimands her because she hasn't learned the ropes of survival in combat. Often he cradles her in his arms as explosions erupt and tear up the landscape.

The ordeal of operating on men under these desperate circumstances becomes traumatic in one scene. An enemy soldier is escorted into the unit. The technicians shove him into a portable X-ray machine, and this hapless Asian freaks out. Earlier, when these captured soldiers were about to be given medical treatment, one soldier slipped a hand grenade to another. The soldier with the hand grenade is so addled by his experience on the X-ray machine that he threatens to pluck the pin out of the grenade. He wanders around the unit, eventually blundering into a surgical suite in one of the tents where Jed and company are operating on a soldier. Lieutenant McGara manages to talk the enemy soldier out of certain suicide, and he relinquishes the hand grenade to her. Actually, this is the most thought-provoking scene in "Battle Circus." Too bad Brooks and his writers passed up a ripe opportunity to punch up the action. Had that grenade gone off, the damage would have been considerable.

Greater difficulties arise when the unit must break down the tents, pack up the truck, and head off for wherever headquarters dictates these sudden moves without warning. Sergeant Orvil Statt (Keenan Wynn of "Mackenna's Gold") hails from Florida. He participated in the teamwork of moving the Barnum & Bailey circus before Korea, so he can improvise in a pinch. He does so in one instance when he rigs a cargo truck so it can cruise along the railroad because a long-awaited hospital train hasn't arrived. Everybody in "Battle Circus" adopts a friendly attitude to the refugees whose lives have been disrupted by the hostilities. "Battle Circus" emerges as barely above average, but a far cry from a truly memorable war picture. None of the surgeons lose any patients on the operating tables. What Brooks does best is show the grueling circumstances and conditions under which these M. A. S. H. toiled. The romance between Bogart and Allyson, who make a less than charismatic couple, is tolerable. Jeb's wife walked out of him when he went off to war. Now, he cannot keep his hands off the nurses. Some of Brooks' dialogue is catchy, but this movie rarely does anything memorable. Hollywood in the 1950s wasn't geared to this kind of film. None of the battle casualties is truly horrific. There is little sense of camaraderie and the sarcasm of risking one's life to save others isn't examined as thoroughly as it would be in the television series. However, one scene sticks out primarily for its physical action. Major Webbe must remove all the patients from the trucks because the vehicles must negotiate a steep descent onto another road to avoid being targets for the enemy. One jeep tumbles on the way down the slope with the driver in plain sight as the vehicle rolls over in one shot and the driver emerges intact without any injuries. Was this a stunt? Or was this an example of something spontaneously happening that was not rehearsed? Battlefield footage is occasionally inserted at points to provide authenticity and atmosphere. Nevertheless, "Battle Circus" lacks the depth of substance a good war movie must have.

Bogart must have forgotten this one, worse than Swing Your Lady

[paparay · 4/10 · 26 July 2003]

I pulled this one down off the shelf the other day to watch it for about the half a dozenth time. I couldn't get through it. The love story is not very realistic. Can somebody answer this one for me? Why is a US fighter jet firing on their own soldiers? The scene with the Korean threatening to blow up the hospital with a hand grenade and the one where they save the little boy's life were worth seeing the movie... once.

like a bland episode of MASH without the laughs and it gets worse each time I see it!

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 16 July 2005]

This is indeed a strange movie. Apart from MASH, I can't think of another film that deals with Korean War mobile hospitals. This COULD have been interesting, but it wasn't. Most of it is because the war is really secondary. The primary focus of the film is the horny character played by Bogart in his never-ending quest to get inside June Allyson's underwear! And he is SO unconvincing in this role and her character is such an idiot!! Mostly because Bogey frankly looked too old to be playing a young horn-dog and the dialog they gave him was unbelievably corny and filled with sleazy double-entendres! And, because he is the lead, you KNOW that regardless of how unappealing his character is and how much he SHOULD be taken up on sexual harassment charges, he'll get the girl by the end of the picture. As for June Alysson, she plays a complete dummy, as each time Bogey makes totally inappropriate advances on her, she blames herself for his pig-like behaviors!!

The only positives in the film were the performance by Keenan Wynn as well as the behind the scenes portions (such as showing the MASH unit packing and moving). Unfortunately, these positives are hugely outweighed by the negatives. So, unless you are a MAJOR Bogart fan, avoid this picture.

Not at all what I was expecting

[jeffhaller · 8/10 · 8 October 2017]

Another one I always avoided. Again, I grew up with this one on commercial television with an interruption ever 15 minutes. It just will not work that way. The only thing that didn't work here was when June and Humphrey tried to be funny by falling down in the puddles as the rain destroyed their tent. And June playing cock teaser again when she is way too old, isn't believable. But this movie got some things right by not just making another WW2 patriotic movie. There are some real war horrors here. The tents and helicopter presage MASH. The scene with the grenade is tense. I found the developing love affair to be touching and honest which is something I never expected. The combination of Allyson and Bogart is great because it is hard to imagine two actors cast more against type; this is perhaps what made the romance credible. Then you get actors like Keenan Wynn and Robert Keith giving solid support. And don't ignore the fine actresses playing the nurses and exploring the challenges of doing such work with tremendous challenges. Way more adult than most war movies. Probably was not a success in 1953, but it is a really compelling work.

Pallid war movie

[funkyfry · 5/10 · 1 March 2004]

A MASH unit is the source of this drama's minimal story and, well, drama. Allyson is her usual one note self, Bogart is present in body but perhaps not in spirit.... it really feels like everyone just walked through this one. That said, this one passes the time all right, but could never qualify for classic.

A bit more script attention, or interest, would have helped, I suppose. This feels like a movie that was made simply to have been made, as if "well, we gotta make war movies, and we gotta put Bogey in some movies, so let's put Bogie in this war movie." Not much to look at here, but not much to be bothered or offended by either. Bogey and Allyson are not convincing as a pair.

Slick production has merit

[jarrodmcdonald-1 · 1 March 2014]

The Korean war had already found its way on to American movie screens when BATTLE CIRCUS came along. And some of those other films, like FIXED BAYONETS! and THE STEEL HELMET, are infinitely better. But this slick MGM production has its merits and should be watched, if anything for the script and direction by Richard Brooks.

Less convincing, though, is the casting of June Allyson and Humphrey Bogart in the lead roles. Does anyone really think they have much chemistry? I will concede there is a slightly romantic scene where they run through the rain and fall in the mud. But eventually, that gets gooey (in more ways than one). And how does this make us relate to these characters and the deeply personal bond they have managed to forge given the circumstances of their immediate situation?

What helps us temporarily forget the more inane aspects of their relationship are the key action sequences depicted in the story. And those moments convey a great deal of tension and are very well staged. The movie also gets points for knowing that the 'M' in M*A*S*H stands for mobile. We see the main characters uproot and move around to administer to the injured and dying like they would be required to do in such a dangerous environment.

By a considerable margin, the worst Bogart film I have seen.

[JamesHitchcock · 4/10 · 13 March 2023]

"Battle Circus" is one of a relatively small number of war films dealing with the work of the Army medical services. Like the later television series and film "M*A*S*H*" it deals with the work of a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, or MASH, during the Korean War. The title was originally to have been "MASH 66", but this was rejected by the studio who felt that audiences would not understand it. Whether the title "Battle Circus" gives any better idea of what the film is about is debatable; it refers to the speed with which mobile hospitals can move from one part of the front to another in the way that circuses move from town to town.

The film was made in 1953, when it must have seemed very topical to make a film about Korea. (That was the year in which the Korean War ended). It does not tell us very much, however, about the politics of the war or about the military action. It does not even tell us much about the medical work of a MASH. It is essentially a romance set against the background of an army hospital. The main characters are the chief surgeon, Major Jed Webbe, and a young nurse, Lieutenant Ruth McGara. Ruth takes an initial dislike to Jed who frequently makes unwanted advances to her. It is, however, a classic rom-com trope that hatred at first sight is the prelude to true love, and so it proves here. Ruth starts to fall in love, but realises that she knows very little about Jed, who only wants a "no strings" relationship. She does not even know if he is married, and when she asks he refuses to tell her.

The early fifties were a vintage period in Humphrey Bogart's career; two years before making "Battle Circus" he had won his only Oscar for "The African Queen", and in 1954 he was to make three first-class films, "The Caine Mutiny", "The Barefoot Contessa" and "Sabrina". "Battle Circus" is not in anything like the same class as any of those. Some have said that he was miscast in this film, but I would say that the casting is not really the problem. Bogie had a wide range as an actor, and a tough, hard-bitten man of action would lie well within his compass. In 1953 some might have said that they could not see him as a romantic lead, but he was to give an excellent performance in a role of that type in "Sabrina".

The real problem in my view lies elsewhere. The film is frankly dull, with a boring script and little in the way of plot beyond its unlikely romance. Jed, a hard-drinking, womanising sex pest, is a deeply unsympathetic character, and the fault here lies with the scriptwriters rather than with the actor. Despite his undoubted talent, Bogart can do little to make him likeable, and a likeable hero is a sine qua non of any romantic film. Neither can June Allyson do much to show us why Ruth should have lost her heart so completely to such a man.

I have not seen all of Bogart's films, but of those I have seen this one is (by a considerable margin) the worst. Director Richard Brooks (who had earlier directed Bogart in "Deadline- USA") could also do much better than this, as he was to show with films like "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" and "Elmer Gantry". "Battle Circus" seems to represent a misstep in both men's careers. 4/10.