Up Front (film)

1951 film by Alexander Hall

Up Front
Film poster
Directed by	Alexander Hall
Screenplay by	Stanley Roberts
Produced by	Leonard Goldstein
Starring	David Wayne Tom Ewell Marina Berti
Cinematography	Russell Metty
Edited by	Milton Carruth
Music by	Joseph Gershenson
Production company	Universal-International
Distributed by	Universal-International
Release date	March 5, 1951 (1951年03月05日)
Running time	92 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	1ドル.95 million (US rentals)^[1]

Up Front is a 1951 American comedy film directed by Alexander Hall and starring Tom Ewell and David Wayne very loosely based on Bill Mauldin's World War II characters Willie and Joe . Mauldin repudiated it and refused his advising fee; he claimed never to have seen it.^[2] It takes place during the Italian Campaign of World War II.

Plot

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Based on the famed W.W.II cartoons: Lowbrow G.I.s Willie and Joe, on the Italian front, are good soldiers in combat, but meet the antics of gung-ho Captain Johnson and other military snafus with a barrage of wry comments. On a 3-day pass in Naples, Joe's penchant for wine and women involves the pair with luscious Emi Rosso and her moonshiner father, whose tangled affairs land them in ever deeper trouble.

Pre-Production

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Mauldin sold the film rights of Up Front to International Pictures in 1945, receiving assurance from producer William Goetz that he would maintain creative control.^[3] Frustrated with the quality of Hollywood war movies, Mauldin was determined for Up Front to be "the first honest war picture."^[4] Brothers John and Ring Lardner Jr. were hired to write the screenplay.^[5] The film's production was put on hold due to Universal's acquisition of International Pictures and eventually shelved, with executives believing that public interest in war movies had diminished.

Production picked up again in 1949, but Lardner's involvement in the Hollywood Ten made his script politically risky for the studio to work with. It was at this point that the script was rewritten by Stanley Roberts and the promise of Mauldin's creative role rescinded.

Cast

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David Wayne as Joe
Tom Ewell as Willie
Marina Berti as Emi Rosso
Jeffrey Lynn as Capt. Ralph Johnson
Richard Egan as Capa
Maurice Cavell as Vuaglio
Vaughn Taylor as MP Maj. Lester
Silvio Minciotti as Poppa Rosso
Paul Harvey as Col. Akeley
Roger De Koven as Sabatelli
Grazia Narciso as Signora Carvadossi
Tito Vuolo as Tarantino
Mickey Knox as Driver
Hal Baylor as Smitty
John Doucette as Walsh
William Frambes as Rogers
Henry Rowland as Krausmeyer
Kenneth Tobey as Cooper
Arthur Space as Col. Hayes
James Seay as Lt. Ferguson
Harlan Warde as Lt. Myers
Selmer Jackson as General
Eugene Borden as French Captain
Vito Scotti as Sergeant Clerk
John McGuire as Military Police Lieutenant
James Flavin as Military Policeman
Peter Graves as Military Policeman
Ann Tyrrell as Nurse
Midge Ware as Nurse
Gino Corrado as Waiter
Lucille Barkley as Nurse Receptionist
Pat Carroll as Italian Girl

References

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^ 'The Top Box Office Hits of 1951', Variety, January 2, 1952
^ DePastino, Todd (2008). Bill Mauldin: A Life Up Front. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. p. 224. ISBN 978-0-393-33488-3.
^ DePastino, Todd (2008). Bill Mauldin: A Life Up Front. Norton. p. 225. ISBN 978-0-393-33488-3.
^ Mauldin, Bill (1947). Back Home. New York: William Sloane Associates. p. 115.
^ Mauldin, Bill. "Bill Mauldin papers, 1941-1970". Library of Congress. Retrieved 2025年03月05日.