In Love and War *** (1958, Robert Wagner, Jeffrey Hunter, Bradford Dillman, Hope Lange, Sheree North, France Nuyen, Dana Wynter) – Classic Movie Review 3,394

The 1958 movie In Love and War is the third pairing of Fifties heartthrobs Jeffrey Hunter and Robert Wagner, telling the story of the World War Two lives and loves of three US Marines.

Director Philip Dunne’s 1958 movie In Love and War is the third and last pairing of Fifties heartthrobs Jeffrey Hunter and Robert Wagner, following A Kiss Before Dying (1956) and The True Story of Jesse James (1957).

Based on Anton Myrer’s 1957 novel The Big War, the screenplay by Edward Anhalt tells the story of the World War Two lives and loves of three US Marines, the third played by Bradford Dillman.

Wagner married Natalie Wood on 28 December 1957.

The story follows the course of tough sergeant Nico Kantaylis (Hunter)’s love for Andrea Lenaine (Hope Lange), cowardly, drunken recruit Frankie O’Neill (Wagner)’s for Lorraine (Sheree North), and intellectual Allan Newcombe (Dillman)’s first for decadent Sue Trumbell (Dana Wynter), and then for Hawaiian nurse Kalai Ducanne (France Nuyen). It starts with the three Marines taking shore leave in San Francisco and ends in battle when a heroic act costs one of the Marines his life.

It is dated and soapy, but with some good dramatic, romantic and comic moments, and the sprightly playing of the very decent cast helps, with Dillman giving the standout performance. And it is attractively filmed by cinematographer Leo Tover in CinemaScope and De Luxe colour.

Also in the cast are Mort Sahl, Steven Gant, Harvey Stephens, Paul Conti, Joe Di Reda, Buck Class, James Bell, Edith Barrett, Murvyn Vye, Lili Valenty, Edward Tap Canutt, Nelson Leigh, Veronica Cartwright (in her debut, aged 19, as Allie O’Neill), Brian Corcoran, Mary Patton, and Frank Murphy.

Sebastian Cabot’s scenes as Professor D Everett Styles were deleted.

Filming started in June 1958 with ‘half a script’ according to director Philip Dunne, who said he had to write the rest on location in the Pacific. Mort Sahl alleged that he wrote 16 pages of dialogue for his character of Danny Krieger and the other Marines but most of it was cut.

The film premiered in San Diego on 28 October 1958, and was later released in 600 cinemas in the US.

Anton Myrer was a former Marine wounded in the Second Battle of Guam in 1944.

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The cast are Robert Wagner as Pvt Frankie O’Neill, Dana Wynter as Sue Trumbell, Jeffrey Hunter as Plt Sgt. Nico Kantaylis, Hope Lange as Andrea Lenaine, Bradford Dillman as PFC Alan Newcombe, Sheree North as Lorraine, France Nuyen as Kalai Ducanne, Mort Sahl as Danny Krieger, Steven Gant as Babe Ricardo, Harvey Stephens as Amory Newcombe, Paul Comi as Father Wallensack, Joe Di Reda as Capistron, Buck Class as Derek, Murvyn Vye as Charlie Scanlon, Mary Patton as Grace Scanlon, Veronica Cartwright as Allie O’Neill, Brian Corcoran as Bobby O’Neill, Nelson Leigh as Lt. Col. Herron, Ray Montgomery as Lieutenant, and James Philbrook as Sue’s boyfriend.

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