The Long Gray Line is perfectly John Ford. It takes a historical subject and splices it with comedy (including a bit of slapstick) into what begins as an awkward biopic, but ends with grace, nostalgia, and wholeness. It's the life story of Marty Maher (Tyrone Power) at West Point; the clumsy day-to-day of an Irish immigrant who falls in love with Mary O'Donnell (Maureen O'Hara) at first sight, and documents their married life from year-to-year. Eventually Marty becomes a non-commissioned officer, a big step for a guy who was doing dishes at his entrance into the academy. The narrative is as awkward as Powers' foreign character: new characters pop into the story with as much grace as Bush Jr. reading poetry, and then are suddenly gone only to reappear scenes later. As you work through the story none of it seems to be going anywhere, and you're not sure why Who and What is important to the movie. Then by the last half hour of the movie it all culminates into a beautiful picture of personal history. A recurring scene of soldiers marching in formation in the field is a mirror of what Marty saw years past; the same image of Marty's memory is played out in the plane of space before him. With a lot of nostalgia, the seams of Marty's life are blended into two final scenes that assure his place into the collective memory of his counterparts, and into history as a whole. It's a surprising tearjerker ending of a film that only scenes earlier didn't make sense.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
The Long Gray Line - 1955 - DVD
Monday, March 12, 2007
The Long Gray Line is perfectly John Ford. It takes a historical subject and splices it with comedy (including a bit of slapstick) into what begins as an awkward biopic, but ends with grace, nostalgia, and wholeness. It's the life story of Marty Maher (Tyrone Power) at West Point; the clumsy day-to-day of an Irish immigrant who falls in love with Mary O'Donnell (Maureen O'Hara) at first sight, and documents their married life from year-to-year. Eventually Marty becomes a non-commissioned officer, a big step for a guy who was doing dishes at his entrance into the academy. The narrative is as awkward as Powers' foreign character: new characters pop into the story with as much grace as Bush Jr. reading poetry, and then are suddenly gone only to reappear scenes later. As you work through the story none of it seems to be going anywhere, and you're not sure why Who and What is important to the movie. Then by the last half hour of the movie it all culminates into a beautiful picture of personal history. A recurring scene of soldiers marching in formation in the field is a mirror of what Marty saw years past; the same image of Marty's memory is played out in the plane of space before him. With a lot of nostalgia, the seams of Marty's life are blended into two final scenes that assure his place into the collective memory of his counterparts, and into history as a whole. It's a surprising tearjerker ending of a film that only scenes earlier didn't make sense.
The Long Gray Line is perfectly John Ford. It takes a historical subject and splices it with comedy (including a bit of slapstick) into what begins as an awkward biopic, but ends with grace, nostalgia, and wholeness. It's the life story of Marty Maher (Tyrone Power) at West Point; the clumsy day-to-day of an Irish immigrant who falls in love with Mary O'Donnell (Maureen O'Hara) at first sight, and documents their married life from year-to-year. Eventually Marty becomes a non-commissioned officer, a big step for a guy who was doing dishes at his entrance into the academy. The narrative is as awkward as Powers' foreign character: new characters pop into the story with as much grace as Bush Jr. reading poetry, and then are suddenly gone only to reappear scenes later. As you work through the story none of it seems to be going anywhere, and you're not sure why Who and What is important to the movie. Then by the last half hour of the movie it all culminates into a beautiful picture of personal history. A recurring scene of soldiers marching in formation in the field is a mirror of what Marty saw years past; the same image of Marty's memory is played out in the plane of space before him. With a lot of nostalgia, the seams of Marty's life are blended into two final scenes that assure his place into the collective memory of his counterparts, and into history as a whole. It's a surprising tearjerker ending of a film that only scenes earlier didn't make sense.
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