Home of the Brave (1949 film)

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Home of the Brave is a 1949 film based on a play by Arthur Laurents. It was directed by Mark Robson and stars Douglas Dick, Jeff Corey, Lloyd Bridges, Frank Lovejoy, James Edwards, and Steve Brodie.

The National Board of Review named the film the eighth best of 1949.

[edit] Plot

A paralyzed African-American war veteran Private Peter Moss (Edwards) begins to walk again only when he confronts his fear of forever being an "outsider." The soldier's comrades include his lifelong white friend Finch (Bridges), whose death leaves him racked with guilt; redneck-bigot corporal (Brodie); and troubled Sergeant Mingo (Lovejoy). In the film's crucial scene, the doctor (Corey) forces Moss to overcome his paralysis by yelling a racial slur; from this point on, Moss will never again kowtow to prejudice.

In the original play the main character was Jewish, but for the film he was changed to African-American.

[edit] Legacy

The film managed to combine three of the top film genres of 1949. The war film, psychological drama, and the problems of African-Americans. Robson's strong direction of an excellent cast and Dimitri Tiomkin's score make the film seem bigger than it is. The film was the first Hollywood movie to be allowed to use the word "nigger" after The Emperor Jones (1933 film). Director Robson who had began his directing career with several Val Lewton RKO horror films brings a frighting feeling to the claustrophobic jungle set with Dimitri Tiomkin providing an eerie choral rendition of Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child as the patrol escapes their Japanese pursuers.