Fighting 69th The (1940)
Fighting 69th The (1940)
Directed by William Keighley with an original screenplay by Norman Reilly Raine (The Life of Emile Zola (1937)) Fred Niblo Jr. (The Criminal Code (1931)) and Dean Franklin this average World War I features an all star cast led by James Cagney in a somewhat against type role as a street tough loner who turns "yellow" in combat. Pat O’Brien plays Father Francis Duffy (naturally) who refuses to give up on Jerry Plunkett (Cagney); George Brent (also somewhat against type) plays the platoon’s hard driving Major "Wild Bill" Donovan. Evidently the real Duffy was memorialized with a statue posthumously. Jeffrey Lynn plays the company’s famous poet and Sergeant Joyce Kilmer. In a group loaded with Irish Americans from New York primarily Alan Hale plays Sergeant "Big Mike" Wynn who has several scraps with the tough young Private Plunkett in his regiment. Frank McHugh provides comic relief (as usual); Dennis Morgan appears briefly as a Lieutenant as does "the Singing Cowboy" Dick Foran. William Lundigan Guinn "Big Boy" Williams Sammy Cohen William Hopper and Tom Dugan also appear as recently enlisted men in the famous unit. Foran Hale and Lundigan plays three members of the same family (brothers) descending in rank within the group. Once the inductees are ready for battle and shipped "over there" Henry O’Neill and John Litel appear as the Colonel and the Captain respectively. John Ridgely whom I recall seeing and George Reeves whom I don’t also appear uncredited (among MANY others) as soldiers in this film.
The story is a bit sappy perhaps released well before our involvement in the conflict brewing in the East but it’s watch-able nonetheless. Despite the plethora of Warner Bros. stars in the cast it’s only Cagney O’Brien Brent and Hale who are charged with carrying the load. The focus of the plot is on Cagney’s character perhaps one of the least likeable he ever played – a coward the first ever in the famed unit. Brent and Hale are ready to through him out which takes ever increasing forms as the film progresses to the front lines of battle while O’Brien tries (quite literally) to "save" him. The battle scenes are nothing spectacular but realistic enough to give one at least a feel for the chaos that might cause one (like Cagney’s Plunkett) to flinch when faced with the reality of such terror. It probably comes as no surprise to anyone (lest this be a spoiler) that there’s a change in our protagonist at just the right time before the film’s conclusion.
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