source: Imitation General

Moviecut—Imitation General

Imitation General

Officially a comedy, but B&W, during actual war so people die left and right, not terrible equipment accuracy (ours and theirs) for a late-50s war movie (not perfect by far though), and most of all... a solid dramatic message under it. Sacrifice, of not just life but reputation. Doing the right thing, and seriously risking death, where going in - the whole point - is to not get any recognition or reward for it. Only slightly spoiled by "It's A Comedy!" titles and funny intro music, and very low budget. Not enough soldiers, by far not enough enemy, etc. I think this would work well as a remake to cover those issues and present it again for a new generation since t's been forgotten, so someone get on it.

When the general is knocked off, master sergeant murphy (ford) puts on the general's helmet and takes command. But there are many obstacles... that's an arrestable offense, and one of his old enemies could recognize him at any time. And of course, his old nemesis is trying to steal a girl from him. To top it all off, there are german soldiers all around them. With german tanks coming towards their position. It's fun, in spite of the serious subject; ten years had gone by since the end of ww two, and we're caught up in the light story line as much as the military action going on. Red buttons is here as the sidekick. It's okay, if you overlook a few things. Directed by george marshall, who did some great comedies. Which probably explains why he was chosen to direct this, as it is more of a light comedy than a serious war drama. Even the director and writer have military-ish names: marshall and chamberlain. Entertaining.

Released at the tail end of the Korean war and based on a novel by William Chamberlain, "The Imitation General" is an early war comedy starring Glenn Ford as Sgt Murphy Savage, a US grunt torn straight out of the pages of early, pulpy war comics. Savage, a maverick with a machine gun, is forced to take drastic action when Brigadier General Charles Lane (Kent Smith) is killed in action. To assure the success of the General's mission, and to sustain morale within the ranks, Sgt. Savage poses as the deceased Lane. Much hilarity ensues. The film is brisk, funny and well directed, but is mostly interesting for the way it (unintentionally) captures how apt personality cults are at whipping up euphoria and funnelling violence. 7.9/10 – Worth one viewing.

What a terrible excuse for a movie. No plot or dramatic tension No reason why it had to be a general. For the few extras they bothered to use he could have been a captain. Cute looking Frenchwoman played by a Finnish actress and she fusses around screaming more than speaking.

Frightfully dull, colorless comedy-drama about an Army sergeant in WWII France who hopes to preserve combat morale by impersonating the recently-killed General Officer. One-idea script is shot just like a play, with unimaginative camera set-ups and a stodgy, static direction. In the leading role, Glenn Ford is amiable as always--though, once again, hardly spectacular; supporting work from Dean Jones, Red Buttons and Taina Elg is underwhelming. A thankfully forgotten relic of 1950s cinema, and what exactly possessed these talented actors to take part in such banal material is a question which may never get answered. * from ****

Though I'm not a big fan of war movies I have seen this movie over and over again when I was younger, and was one I searched high and low on Blockbuster and such to see again. Ford and Buttons are marvelous and the movie walks the line between humor and the reality of the horror of war with real class... Would SO love to see it again!! Ford's character was a n'er do well scammer who had made rank and been busted back more times than he could keep track of when he met an honorable man, a General, who went to the front lines though it was dangerous in hopes of rallying the troops... but was killed before reaching his goal. Inspired Ford decides to take over the mission and poses as the General. One of the best scenes I remember was the German tank heading towards the village and Ford putting up a sign on the bridge saying that the bridge was mined so that the Germans would take the tanks thru the creek bed and expose their underbelly. But NOT going to tell you what happened.

This is a great 1958 film that is very hard to find! It stars Glenn Ford who plays a Master Sergeant in the army who impersonates his fallen General to boost morale for his troops in France 1944. There is one soldier ,brilliantly played by Tige Andrews, who was once Master Sergeant Hutchmire but now Private Hutchmire "Hutch", who is out to get Murph (Ford), and knows nothing about Murphs charade to be the General. There is great humor and a lot of action. It may be even more enjoyable if you know French because they speak French some of the time when speaking to a beautiful French woman (Taina Elg - who reminds me of a French Helen Hunt) who's house they confiscate as their headquarters. A lot of fun. A true piece of Hollywood masterpiece. There is a plot to kill the Nazi's and a sub plot to not let Fords identity be found out by the only soldier who knows his true identity