The Young Lions (1958) Reviews

• A Tale of Four Soldiers

  bkoganbing2005-05-09

  I've always liked The Young Lions because it has the best explanation for the phenomenon that was Nazism in Germany. Always the question is asked how did they come to power? At the beginning with Marlon Brando romancing vacationing Barbara Rush in Bavaria on New Year's Eve, he provides one of the most lucid explanations of why people would choose to follow Adolph Hitler. It is one of Brando's finest moments on screen. At the time of course he didn't know he was romancing the main squeeze of Dean Martin who with Montgomery Clift play the two American soldiers who's stories and growth as human beings is told. Martin is a Broadway musical comedy entertainer and Clift is just a department store clerk at Macy's who meet by chance at the draft board. Martin is trying to dodge the draft, Clift is fatalistically accepting what comes. Martin proves to be a man of far more character than we first think. Clift is a Jew and a man who with enough reason to be going to war against Hitler, has to deal with anti-Semitism here in America. Clift and Martin's stories are told alternately with that of Brando and also Maximilian Schell. This was Schell's first appearance in an American production and he scores well as a proud Nazi officer. Let us just say that he gets quite a comeuppance all around during the course of this war he was so proud to be part of. The two male actors who are always cited as the rebel heroes of post World War II America are Marlon Brando and Montgomery Clift. Too bad in their one film together they didn't exchange any dialog. Still I can't praise a film like The Young Lions too highly.

• Young men thrown into a terrible conflict

  juanmlleras2006-09-06

  An interesting vision of young men in war. The idealist, the shy and the playboy get to war. All will be changed by the horror of the conflict, not only with enemy troops, but within their ranks. Lt. Christian Diestl's (Marlon Brando) sense of honor and gentle behavior clashes with the cruel, senseless attitude of his superior, Capt. Hardenberg, realistically played by Maximilian Schell. Private Ackerman (Montgomery Clift) a shy unassuming Jewish boy becomes a courageous soldier, opposing both enemy soldiers and the bigotry of their comrades. Private Withacre, a playboy who tries to avoid duty (Dean Martin), finally ends up resigning a safe post to join the fighting in Normandy, and becoming a soldier. The usual Black and White shooting enhances the cruelty of WWII. If you find it, don't miss this performance by great actors.

• Although a good film, it did not use the right kind of ingredients to the fullest of their potential.

  shilinw2002-09-06

  This 1958 film "The Young Lions" is an adaptation of Erwin Shaw's great novel "The Young Lions", which examines World War II and conveys a strong anti-war sentiment through the stories of three characters - a terrific book to make into a film. There is also a terrific cast - Marlon Brando plays Christian Diestl, an idealistic Austrian ski instructor who joins the German army to serve the Fuher; Montgomery Clift plays Noah Ackerman, a Jewish kid from Brooklyn, who carries out his patriotic duty and answers the nation's calling to fight against tyranny and yet has to fight against tyranny of a different kind in his own barracks; Dean Martin plays Michael Whiteacre(and Oh what a wonderful role that could have been) , a playboy who finds himself somehow having a great desire to go to the front lines. The film also saw fit to cast Maximilian Schell with a supporting role in playing Captain Hardenberg, who is unhappy with his "police" duty in Paris and ends up sacrificing his men in North Africa. And there you also have Hope Lange who plays Hope Plowman who falls in love with Ackerman knowing her father dislikes anybody Jewish; and Dora Doll who plays the French girl Simone who hates Christian Diestl as the conqueror but loves him when he is helpless. All the right kind of ingredients are there for this to turn into an epic film, and yet it fell short of excellence. Good yes, but excellent, I am afraid NO. The film did succeed in capturing the essence of the book in many scenes. Brando's portrayal of Diestl was brilliant right up to the end. His ideals, his heroism in France, his dissatisfaction of his duty, his affair with his Captain's wife, his disillusionment, his pitiful retreat, and his sense of humanity that is heavily clouded by his blind ideals were all vividly brought to the screen by Brando's skillful rendering. Scenes where Ackerman was mistreated and was forced to fight the three biggest guys in the barracks, where he met Hope's father, brought out the serious question of what people were in the war for, as did the book. And you merely have to look at Maximilian Schell to know that he was Captain Hardenberg. Yet the film's biggest flop was its departure from the book. It sought to soften the much harsher reality presented by Erwin Shaw's writing, perhaps for fear that the audience would not like it. It gave the US military a much sweeter image in its upper brass than the book did. It over simplified Whiteacre's character and the audience were not given the in-depth examination, as is evident in the book, of this relatively well-to-do playwright's life, his desires and what eventually brought him into the war. The film, perhaps trying to cut its length, reduced Whiteacre into a savvy singer type, which was a terrible under-appreciation of Dean Martin's potential. (Incidentally, if you catch Dean Martin in "Airport"[1970], you'll find that he is capable of much more complex personalities.) The biggest disappointment, and its most unforgiving departure from the original novel, comes at the end when Christian Diestl smashes his machine pistol and gets shot by Whiteacre all too easily and Noah Ackerman returns home alive to reunite with Hope. Smashing the gun, although well done choreographically by Brando, only amounts to a poor attempt at a direct showing of anti-war sentiment. The book does it much more artfully with a detailed story that has Diestl fight to the last bullet killing Ackerman, and then has Whiteacre staring down and pulling the trigger at a wounded and smiling Christian Diestl. The film's having Ackerman stay alive in the end was just a bit too typical a happy-ending that was all too prevalent in those days of the 50's. Personally, I like the ending better if the hero dies, but that may just be me. Overall, I would say this film did not use the right kind of ingredients to the fullest of their potential. It is a good film and yet it could have been much much better.

• A Fine Cinema Experience

  merrywood2000-04-01

  A long time ago, some time before the powers that be decided that movies should be made only to extricate money from children by catering to their base instincts and in so doing destroy our civility, the American Cinema was devoted to the art and craft of story telling. In these stories, life was often celebrated through the study of the character of the human heart. In THE YOUNG LIONS, we experience masterful story writing in the screenplay by a man named Edward Anhalt who adapted it from a novel by Irwin Shaw. In this fine example of the final years of the Golden Age of Hollywood we see a study of character, ideas and humanity seen amidst the greatest conflict this Earth has ever known, WWII. Here, we experience both the Americans and Europeans, including Germans. They are played as they really were, not as depicted by latter day directors such as Steven Spielberg and others who have drawn WWII Germans as silhouette, cartoon characters, all vile and evil. Here, they are shown as singular human beings with personalities, hopes and dreams really exactly like our own. The opposing forces are caught up in a madness that somehow swept across the face of this planet at a specific time, when really probed, for reasons quite unfathomable. This was also one of the peak film renderings of Marlon Brando, whom some feel is one of the finest actors ever to have graced the silver screen. If you yearn for a fulfilling example of American Cinema at a time when it was a serious, respected industry, this is one for you to see.

• An eloquent statement with a masterly musical score ever composed for a war film...

  Nazi_Fighter_David2004-03-27

  More than a passing resemblance exists between Clift's Noah and the Robert E. Lee Prewitt of 'From Here to Eternity.' They are both "hard heads,' determined to live by their own special code of honor… The chief difference is that Noah is not alone… Throughout the film, he is accompanied by a friend, who has a number of reasons to be against the war… Also Noah gets the girl of his dreams… He even marries her… 'The Young Lions' retains its impact as one of the better films made about war... The combat scenes are limited in scale but brilliantly staged and photographed, with good direction of a complex script and a masterly musical score by Hugo Friedhofer… Director Dmytryk never misses an opportunity to underline how war comes into collision with the destinies of people… When Brando encounters May Britt - as the wife of his superior officer, Maximilian Schell - she is the perfect image of Nazi vices: Corrupt, hedonistic, and, of course, condemned along with the rest of the decadent Germans… Her hazardous beauty is used as counterpoint to Brando's enthusiasm and beliefs: She represents all that is bad and immoral while he is everything noble and pure… Dmytryk is less awkward depicting the relationship between Clift and Lange: Their Love is a natural condition… They belong together… Like Robert E. Lee Prewitt, Clift's Noah is ill-at-ease socially… When he meets Lange, his reaction is clear, spontaneous, purposeful, direct… He begins to babble a lot to make an impression on her, because, as he tells her later, "I was afraid that if I was myself you wouldn't look at me twice." But Hope was gracious enough to attend the guy… The young nice girl has at last found her favorite kind of hero… Clift, who finds himself standing up for his rights and for principles he did not even know he had, pared his lines to the minimum needed to convey the essence of Noah Ackerman… The prison sequence is a clear and simple proof of it… The emotional urgency of the young couple is communicated through looks, small gestures, and soft and tender words of love and caring… Nominated for Best Cinematography, Best music and Best Sound, Dmytryk's motion picture is a moving and eloquent statement of how war collides with the destinies of people and hurls them into a maelstrom…