I saw this picture in 2005 (in an edition from, I think, Grapevine Video) and was immediately taken with its performances, pacing and story. No, it isn't going to be studied in college courses on silent cinema, but it is a first-rate drama with lots of action and a lot of heart in the performances. William Boyd, Robert Armstrong, and Alan Hale, Sr. Make a memorable trio of Marines -- Boyd and Armstrong start out in the Corps and persuade good-natured German soldier Hale that his future lay in the United States and as a member of the Marine Corps, and the three of them move into a happy existence of service and adventure in the decade following the end of the First World War. Then an ill-fated romance gets in the way, and jeopardizes the career of one of them and maybe the lives of all three. Director Howard Higgin moves Elliott Clawson's story -- basically an adventure tale shoehorned into a court martial setting -- along quickly, and the performances of all of the characters are convincing, emotionally and theatrically.
Review of The Leatherneck
