Wednesday, February 7, 2024

Journey's End (1930)

IMDb plot summary: In France, 1917, an alcoholic captain is afraid that his new replacement, his sweetheart's brother, will betray his downfall.
Directed by James Whale. Starring Colin Clive, Ian Maclaren, and David Manners.

Journey's End is a 1930 film about a young World War I soldier who gets sent to serve under his sister's fiance. The officer, however, is deeply ashamed of how the war has pushed him into bitter alcoholism and is terrified the young soldier will report the change in him back to his sister. This story feels *very* much like a play, set almost entirely in a single location and featuring long philosophical talks between characters, and while often that's right up my alley, this time it just felt tedious, like I was sitting waiting impatiently for something to happen. When all the character and plot action does suddenly happen in the final 10 minutes of the movie, it felt like too little too late, as I was born long before that. There are other, better war films from this year and other, better melodramas. 

How it entered my Flickchart:
Journey's End < Captain Phillips
Journey's End < Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Journey's End > Mission to Mars
Journey's End > The World Is Not Enough
Journey's End < The Number 23
Journey's End > The Expendables
Journey's End < Speak
Journey's End < Spirits of the Dead
Journey's End < The Jazz Singer (1927)
Journey's End < Batman Begins
Journey's End > The Italian Job (2003)
Final spot: #3079 out of 3867, or 20%.

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