What Price Glory

A marine captain (James Cagney) rivals a sergeant (Dan Dailey) for an innkeeper’s daughter in World War I France.

What Price Glory shouldn’t work. It’s an awkward mix of comedy and drama that never finds the right voice or balance. To top it off, it was originally conceived and planned as a musical. But it’s a testament to the strength of James Cagney that the film does work, as his larger-than-life performance eclipses most of the film’s shortcomings.

He’s a charismatic ball of fire, tearing through his lines and chewing up scenery like a force of nature. He handles the comedy and the drama equally well, and does his best to smooth over the script’s awkward transitions. Indeed, he’s so relentlessly watchable, he almost overcomes the movie’s innate problems. Almost.

Like many a film that tries to marry comedy and drama, this one’s wildly uneven, jerking between serious wartime drama and broad physical comedy. In this case, the comedy works better, as that’s more or less what the film opens with, and when it tries to change gears to a more somber mood, you don’t buy it. Again, Cagney tries, and almost pulls it off, but not quite.

Perhaps What Price Glory needed Howard Hawks instead of John Ford. While Ford is certainly no slouch, this tale of male camaraderie amid impossible pressure is right up Hawks’ alley. Further, Hawks lacks Ford’s tendency to try to humanize the film’s dramatic aspects, which don’t work here given the film’s lighthearted, comedic setup.

Thus, this is a hard film to recommend, simply because it’s so flawed, but damn if Cagney isn’t so good that it’s also a hard film not to recommend. That said, if you’re a Cagney fan this is a must see, though others may want to give it a look as well.