The Naked and the Dead (1958)

Directed by Raoul Walsh. Starring Cliff Robertson, Aldo Ray, Raymond Massey, Barbara Nichols, Lili St. Cyr, Richard Jaeckel, William Campbell, Joey Bishop, Jerry Paris, L. Q. Jones, James Best, Henry Amargo.

Pallid attempt to bring another adult-oriented WWII novel to the big-screen (in the wake of Best Picture winner From Here to Eternity, based on the James Jones tome) with only a fraction of the success. Director Walsh had made his fair share of “tough” pictures before this one, but too much here feels like a routine war drama centered around the clashing personalities of its leaders of men. It’s no surprise that this rugged boys’ club configures Robertson’s humanism with indecisive cream-puffery, or that the scene-stealing work (even in a negative fashion) comes from Ray’s vicious bully of a sergeant, or that the supporting roster would be filled with shamefaced archetypes. Plagued by far too many flashbacks that provide scant support to the main narrative and interrupt the established pace. The author of the source novel, Norman Mailer, was reportedly incensed with this adaptation, though it’s not really the fault of the filmmakers that so much needed to be adjusted or censored because of the Hays Code.

46/100