The Bugle Sounds (1942)

Director:

S. Sylvan Simon
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Writers:

Lawrence Kimble (story) and
Cyril Hume (story) ...
(more)

Release Date:

5 June 1944 (Portugal)

Genre:

Drama | War

Plot Keywords:

Romantic Rivalry | Restaurant | Colonel | Bridge | Military Maneuver

Cast

Wallace Beery	...	Sgt. Patrick Aloysius 'Hap' Doan
Marjorie Main	...	Susie 'Suz'
Lewis Stone	...	Col. Jack Lawton
George Bancroft	...	Russell 'Russ'
Henry O'Neill	...	Lt. Col. Harry Seton
Donna Reed	...	Sally Hanson
Chill Wills	...	Sgt. Larry Dillon
William Lundigan	...	Joe 'Joey' Hanson
Tom Dugan	...	Sgt. Strong
Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams	...	Sgt. Krims (as Guinn Williams)
Ernest Whitman	...	Cartaret
Roman Bohnen	...	Mr. Leech
Jerome Cowan	...	Mr. Nichols
Arthur Space	...	Hank
Jonathan Hale	...	Brigadier-General
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Stanley Andrews	...	Veterinarian (uncredited)
Stephen Bennett	...	Recruit (uncredited)
Lane Chandler	...	Cavalry Trooper (uncredited)
Cliff Danielson	...	Recruit (uncredited)
John Dawson	...	Recruit (uncredited)
Donald Douglas	...	Mr. Clyde - FBI Agent (uncredited)
William Edwards	...	Recruit (uncredited)
Dorothy Granger	...	Woman with Cake (uncredited)
John Gubbins	...	Recruit (uncredited)
Reed Hadley	...	Court-Martial Judge (uncredited)
Hal Le Sueur	...	Recruit (uncredited)
Alexander Lockwood	...	Sergeant (uncredited)
Jack Luden	...	Lawton's First Adjutant (uncredited)
Frank Melton	...	Trooper (uncredited)
James Millican	...	Recruit Tank Driver (uncredited)
Allan Nixon	...	Recruit (uncredited)
Bradley Page	...	Second Adjutant (uncredited)
Eddie Parker	...	Sergeant (uncredited)
Lee Phelps	...	Sergeant at Guard House (uncredited)
Kane Richmond	...	Captain (uncredited)
Walter Sande	...	Headquarters Sergeant (uncredited)
Jimmy Spencer	...	Recruit (uncredited)
Harry Strang	...	Sergeant (uncredited)
Ray Teal	...	Sergeant (uncredited)
Ralph Urmy	...	Captain (uncredited)
Max Wagner	...	Cavalry Trooper (uncredited)
Dick Wessel	...	Jerry - Saboteur (uncredited)
Frank Whitbeck	...	Prologue Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
Dick Winslow	...	Recruit (uncredited)

Directed by
S. Sylvan Simon
Richard Thorpe		(uncredited)

Writing credits
Lawrence Kimble		(story) and
Cyril Hume		(story)
Cyril Hume		(screenplay)

Produced by
J. Walter Ruben	....	producer

Original Music by
Lennie Hayton
Daniele Amfitheatrof		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
Clyde De Vinna		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Ben Lewis

Art Direction by
Cedric Gibbons

Set Decoration by
Edwin B. Willis

Costume Design by
Robert Kalloch		(gowns) (as Kalloch)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Gilbert Kurland	....	assistant director (uncredited)
Joseph M. Newman	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Leonid Vasian	....	associate art director

Sound Department
Douglas Shearer	....	recording director

Special Effects by
A. Arnold Gillespie	....	special effects (as Arnold Gillespie)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Gile Steele	....	wardrobe: men

Music Department
Wally Heglin	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Paul Marquardt	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Joseph Nussbaum	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Leonid Raab	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Other crew
Arthur W. Field	....	technical advisor (as Captain Arthur W. Field U.S.A.)
Richard Thorpe	....	fill-in director (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (controlled by Loew's Incorporated)

Distributors

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1942) (USA) (theatrical) (controlled by Loew's Incorporated)

Other Companies

• U.S. Army  grateful acknowledgement for the cooperation of (as the United States Army)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #7881) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review)

Filming Locations:

Fort Knox, Kentucky, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

The song Wallace Beery sings as he marches on horseback with his group is not the more famous song "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" appearing in the movie of the same name in 1949. It dates back to the Civil War, and there are many variations of it. The first known copyright of a version (listed in the soundtrack section) was in 1917, by George A. Norton.

Quotes:

Russell 'Russ':I get up and fight my weight in wildcats before breakfast.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in We Must Have Music (1942)

Soundtrack:

Old Black Joe

Sound Retreat

In real life Wallace Beery was far from the lovable oaf he was normally cast as. In fact he could be one downright nasty person. But such was his public image and MGM made a lot of money off that image. In the case of The Bugle Sounds however, the image was strained beyond belief in a film that could never be made other than for propaganda purposes during World War II.

Beery like George S. Patton in real life is an old horse cavalry soldier who is not crazy about the fact that cavalry is a thing of the past. Of course if he was any kind of observant during World War I where it is said he served as well as in the Pancho Villa campaign, he would have seen just how useless horses are in the trench warfare that was World War I in France. Patton sure adapted to mechanized warfare, but Beery just can't get it.

Nevertheless when Colonel Lewis Stone orders him to whip some of those new draftees into shape for the new mechanized army he does what he's told. But when one of the tanks goes awry and kills his favorite old campaign horse, Beery goes bonkers.

There's also some nasty sabotage afoot here led by cashiered soldier George Bancroft and Jerome Cowan in a laughable Teutonic accent. It all gets pretty silly before the film is over.

Marjorie Main was opposite Beery as she was in many films, but even their on screen chemistry couldn't do much here. And believe me the chemistry was strictly on screen. I don't know how much good The Bugle Sounds did for young Donna Reed as the earnest young wife of William Lundigan, one of Beery's recruits. Beery works for Main at her greasy spoon restaurant.

Even the presence of such scene stealing players as Eddie Acuff, Guinn Williams, and Chill Wills all playing sergeants and Beery's peers in terms of military service don't elevate this film.

The Bugle Sounds is a textbook case of the military propaganda film rendered laughable by time. And a great example of what MGM gave Wallace Beery to sell before the American movie-going public.