Battle Circus (film)
| Battle Circus | |
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1953 film poster
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| Directed by | Richard Brooks |
| Produced by | Pandro S. Berman |
| Written by | Richard Brooks Allen Rivkin Laura Kerr |
| Starring |
Humphrey Bogart June Allyson Keenan Wynn Robert Keith |
| Music by | Lennie Hayton |
| Cinematography | John Alton |
| Edited by | George Boemler |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
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Release date
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Running time
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90 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1,201,000 |
| Box office | $2,362,000 |
Battle Circus is a 1953 war film directed by Richard Brooks, who also wrote the screenplay. The movie stars Humphrey Bogart and June Allyson, and costars Keenan Wynn and Robert Keith.
The film is set in Korea during the Korean War. Bogart (in his sole film for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) plays a surgeon and commander of Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) 8666 (shortened to "66" in the dialogue), with Allyson playing a newly arrived nurse. Despite their initial handicaps, their love flourishes against a background of war, enemy attacks, death and injury.
A young Army nurse, Lieutenant Ruth McGara (June Allyson), is newly assigned to the 8666th MASH, a mobile field hospital constantly on the move during the Korean War. At first, Ruth is a bumbling addition to the nurse corps, but attracts the attention of the unit's hard-drinking, no-nonsense chief surgeon Dr. and Major Jed Webbe (Humphrey Bogart). Jed cautions that he wants a "no strings" relationship and Ruth is warned by the other nurses of his womanizing ways. She sees that he is beloved by the unit, especially the resourceful Sergeant Orvil Statt (Keenan Wynn).
Three incidents punctuate their time at the front. When a young Korean child needs special care, Ruth entreats the chief surgeon to perform an open-heart operation, despite the reservations of the unit commander, Colonel Hilary Whalters (Robert Keith). Yet Jed is a relentless taskmaster, demanding Captain John Rustford (William Campbell) fly desperately needed blood supplies at night, even in the teeth of a fierce storm. When the helicopter lands safely, Jed goes on a binge, forcing Whalters to make his chief surgeon either straighten up or ship out. When a now more assured Ruth treats some North Korean prisoners, a frightened prisoner with a concealed grenade is calmly disarmed by her soothing words.
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Wikipedia