The Real Glory (1939)

Director:

Henry Hathaway

Writers:

Charles L. Clifford (novel)
Jo Swerling (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

29 September 1939 (USA)

Genre:

Action | History | War

Tagline:

Mighty Thrills With The Screen's Most Romantic Adventurer!

Plot:

A small American contingent tries to train rural tribesmen to defend themselves against fanatical Muskim radicals in 1906 Philippines.

Plot Keywords:

Philippines | Doctor | Military Training | Fanatic | Pigskin

Cast

Gary Cooper	...	Dr. Bill Canavan
David Niven	...	Lt. Terence McCool
Andrea Leeds	...	Linda Hartley
Reginald Owen	...	Capt. Steve Hartley
Broderick Crawford	...	Lt. Larson
Kay Johnson	...	Mrs. Mabel Manning
Russell Hicks	...	Capt. George Manning
Vladimir Sokoloff	...	The Datu
Benny Inocencio	...	Miguel
Charles Waldron	...	Padre Rafael
Rudy Robles	...	Lt. Yabo (as Ruby Robles)
Tetsu Komai	...	Alipang
Roy Gordon	...	Col. Hatch
Henry Kolker	...	The General

Runtime:

96 min (copyright length)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Latin

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #5441) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | USA:TV-G (TV rating) | Finland:K-16 | Spain:13

Filming Locations:

Hunt-Salto Canyon, California, USA

Company:

Samuel Goldwyn Company, The

Trivia:

Hollywood Reporter production charts included Maurice Moscovitch, Thurston Hall and William Stack in the cast, but they did not appear in the film.

Quotes:

Padre Rafael: As soon as the American troops are gone, the Moros will come down from the hills. They will kill all the men and carry away all the women and children into slavery. For you it will be a report written in ink, but for my people, it will be a report written in blood.

a lesson for modern times

I had never even heard of this movie until I viewed it today. Thank God for the library's VHS collection. The plot, five US Army officers are tasked to be military advisors in the establishment of the Phillipine constabulary in 1906. Despite the colonel's plea, the war Department has decided US troops will no longer be responsible for protecting the local people because they will never learn to do it themselves if the US Army does it all. Sound familiar to anyone? The enemy are the Moro insurgents, who just happen to be Muslim. They are bent on establishing a Muslim state and are not too particular about how they do it. The movie points out that not all Moros are bad, not all agree with the radicals and some are quite helpful to the advisors. The plot cautions us however not to take everyone at face value. There are traitors in their midst.

I find the lead (Cooper's) character solutions to winning hearts and minds to be fantastic. The guy could have been a role model for counter insurgency. Perhaps he was the first Green Beret. I won't go into his methods, watch them yourself and then think IRAQ. Of course with 24/7 news cycles and instant communication blended with micro-management it is hard to see this happening today. If we had those things back then, well, the course of history in the Phillipines would have been very different.

All in all, an excellent movie with a great cast highlighting an interesting period of US History that is all but forgotten today. It is interesting to think that people who actually participated in the Phillipine Insurrection were still around when it debuted in 1939.