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
