Purple Heart Diary (1951) Poster

User Reviews

Review this title
2 Reviews
Sort by:
Filter by Rating:
5/10
Strictly for Frances Langford fans!
JohnHowardReid20 September 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Director: RICHARD QUINE. Written for the screen by William Sackheim, based upon the Frances Langford column syndicated in the Hearst newspapers. Assistant director: Jack Corrick. Director of photography: William Whitley. Art director: Paul Palmentola. Film editor: Henry Batista. Set decorator: Sydney Clifford. Special effects: Jack Erickson. Music director: Ross Di Maggio. Unit manager: Herbert Leonard. Songs, "Where Are You From", "Hold Me in Your Arms", "Hi — Fellow Tourists", by Johnny Bradford, Barbara Hayden, Tony Romano; "Bread and Butter Woman" by Allan Roberts and Lester Lee; "Anywhere" by Sammy Cahn, Jule Styne. Sound engineer: Josh Westmoreland. Produced by Sam Katzman. A Columbia Picture.

Copyright 31 December 1951 by Columbia Pictures Corp. No New York opening. U.S. release: December 1951. U.K. release: floating from July 1952. Australian release: 23 March 1952. 6,584 feet. 72 minutes. Original release prints processed in Sepia.

U.K. release title: NO TIME FOR TEARS.

SYNOPSIS: Frances Langford arrives in New Guinea, at the head of a USO troupe that includes guitarist Tony Romano and comedian Ben Lessy. She wows the G.I.'s, but Lieutenant Mike McCormick (Judd Holdren), the officer assigned to accompany the troupe through the South Pacific, believes she is merely a publicity seeker. Frances and her troupe ultimately land at a remote outpost under Japanese attack. McCormick is chiefly responsible for repulsing the enemy. Frances' bravery under fire makes McCormick realize he has been wrong about her.

COMMENT: Face it, boys, Frances Langford can put over a song with the best, and there's no doubt that her wartime efforts to entertain the troops were much appreciated as morale boosters.

Unfortunately, this cheap-jack, minor-budget movie with its ultra- clichéd plot, rates as neither a tribute nor a diversion. The only thing I really liked about it whilst watching it in a movie theater, was that it was attractively presented in Sepia.

On TV, however, even the songs themselves seemed second-rate and not really worthy all the attention that Frances Langford was giving them.

OTHER VIEWS: Minor fluff at best, but the musical numbers are enjoyable. — Motion Picture Guide.
0 out of 1 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
5/10
Big Hearted Big Band Singers.
mark.waltz9 November 2019
Warning: Spoilers
The always entertaining Frances Langford leads this war drama with music about a foursome group of singers who travel the South Pacific to entertain wounded soldiers during World War II. it's a type of story that overloaded the movie theaters during wartime so its presence in the early 1950's seems a little bit too late even though America was heading into a crisis with Korea. here, the enemy is the Japanese who makes surprise attacks during Langford's singing, and she gets into the action by hanging out with the officers and enlisted men to learn what they do and witness first hand the daily struggles of military life during the war.

As she was married at the time that this took place and at the time the movie was made to Universal action star Jon Hall, there is no romance for her although she does kiss a few soldiers and even pretends to know one wounded soldier who had been bragging that they knew each other. Langford comes to be known as "one of the boys" with her courageous demeanor and genuine caring. I had the pleasure of seeing her live later in her life at a memorial of the 50th anniversary of Pearl Harbor along with Bob Hope with whom she had also toured with.

This was based on her radio recollections, made into a screenplay and produced by Columbia's Sam Katzman, head of the studio's very busy "B" unit. While this could have been a simply typical war musical, it focuses more on the activities going on then it does for the entertainment aspect of the story even though there are half-a-dozen rather unremarkable songs sung throughout the film. Judd Holdren gets the bulk of the dramatic story as the cynical lieutenant she befriends and brings down to earth.

Had this focused more on the entertainment aspect of the plot, it would have simply been a rip-off of "Four Jill's in a Jeep" where four real life entertainers (Kay Francis, Martha Raye, Carole Landis, Mitzi Mayfair) shared their real experiences. both are good films, but this is slightly better because it deals with real goings-on behind the scenes and not just a "we toured here and sang this song and so-and-so made an appearance, and now we're going there." This film has a lot more to it than just that.
0 out of 0 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

See also

Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews


Recently Viewed