Battleground (1 Viewer)

[lancer]

Battleground always seems to make the list of favorite war films on the forum, so I thought there might be some interest in the film's director, William Wellman. Wellman had a hand in over 80 films during his career as a director, actor, and producer. He was the director of the film 'Wings', the first film to win the Academy Award as best picture. Other well known films he directed include James Cagney's 'Public Enemy', John Wayne's 'The High and the Mighty', 'Island in the Sky', and 'Blood Alley', and many others such as 'The Ox-Bow Incident', 'The Story of GI Joe', 'Beau Geste', 'Darby's Rangers', and his last film 'Lafayette Escadrille'. He did, as you see, many action films and aviation films. Wellman was a member of the Lafayette Flying Corps during WW1. He flew in Escadrille N.87, flying Nieuport fighters, marked with the Escadrilles 'Cat' insignia. Wellman came to N.87 via the French Foreign Legion, which he joined on June 13, 1917, and then became a member of the LFC. Wellman came to N.87 on December 3, 1917, and was assigned a Niueport 27 to fly. He named his various aircraft 'Celia' with numerals such as II, III, or V, as appropriate. Wellman was a good fighter pilot and managed to score 3 official kills and also claimed a further 4 unconfirmed kills. On March 21, 1918, Wellman was shot down by ack-ack and wounded. His career with the French was over but he later joined the US Air service as an instructor. Mr. Wellman well knew air combat and he transferred this knowledge to flying films with a well known penchant for accuracy and realism. He was a man who walked the walk. -- Al

 

[jrsteel]

Very interesting. You can tell Battleground and The Story Of GI Joe were made by someone who was the real deal. Very gritty and more realistic than other war movies of that time.

 

[Go for Broke]

I really like Battleground, but always thought it was short on action. The Story of GI Joe was just on about 2-weeks ago, but I fell asleep watching (tired, not bored) and missed it.