good back-story, and good acting

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

Another one I always avoided. Again, I grew up with this one on commercial television with an interruption ever 15 minutes. It just will not work that way. The only thing that didn't work here was when June and Humphrey tried to be funny by falling down in the puddles as the rain destroyed their tent. And June playing cock teaser again when she is way too old, isn't believable. But this movie got some things right by not just making another WW2 patriotic movie. There are some real war horrors here. The tents and helicopter presage MASH. The scene with the grenade is tense. I found the developing love affair to be touching and honest which is something I never expected. The combination of Allyson and Bogart is great because it is hard to imagine two actors cast more against type; this is perhaps what made the romance credible. Then you get actors like Keenan Wynn and Robert Keith giving solid support. And don't ignore the fine actresses playing the nurses and exploring the challenges of doing such work with tremendous challenges. Way more adult than most war movies. Probably was not a success in 1953, but it is a really compelling work.

The Korean war had already found its way on to American movie screens when BATTLE CIRCUS came along. And some of those other films, like FIXED BAYONETS! and THE STEEL HELMET, are infinitely better. But this slick MGM production has its merits and should be watched, if anything for the script and direction by Richard Brooks.Less convincing, though, is the casting of June Allyson and Humphrey Bogart in the lead roles. Does anyone really think they have much chemistry? I will concede there is a slightly romantic scene where they run through the rain and fall in the mud. But eventually, that gets gooey (in more ways than one). And how does this make us relate to these characters and the deeply personal bond they have managed to forge given the circumstances of their immediate situation? What helps us temporarily forget the more inane aspects of their relationship are the key action sequences depicted in the story. And those moments convey a great deal of tension and are very well staged. The movie also gets points for knowing that the 'M' in M*A*S*H stands for mobile. We see the main characters uproot and move around to administer to the injured and dying like they would be required to do in such a dangerous environment.

Humprey Bogart is a doctor with the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, MASH Unit #8666, in a non comedy preview of the more notable TV Series of the early 1970's. The early going in the film really left me disoriented when the unit's encampment undergoes strafing fire, while more than once and clearly visible, a warplane bearing USAF markings is shown flying by. Seems to me like someone should have caught that.Besides some interesting scenes portraying the daily life and death struggles of a Korean War medical team, the story follows Major Jed Webbe's (Bogey) romancing of a newly assigned nurse, Lt. Ruth McGara (June Allyson). However there's nothing subtle about Webbe's approach, and it's surprising that McGara allows this affair to blossom considering how much of a chauvinist the Major turns out to be. In fact, he's a genuine creep when you get right down to it.Keenan Wynn is fairly effective as Sgt. Orvil Statt, competently running the basic mechanics of the unit, with impressive views of breaking down and setting up camp. Robert Keith is the no nonsense Lt. Col. Walters, who takes Webbe down a peg for getting drunk on his own time, and later offers him a drink after a particularly hairy operation. War is hell.You'll have to really pay attention to the only attempt at comic relief here, since it's a visual - the sign underneath the camp cook's serving table states "This Mess Recommended by Romanoff".Humphrey Bogart made a number of war films, but much like the Westerns in which he appeared, this just doesn't appear to be his element. He was much better suited for the gangster and noir dramas that made him famous, and "Casablanca" didn't hurt either. Here, with his age showing through, he seemed entirely mismatched with the younger June Allyson, whose clout as a leading lady here is much subdued.With only one tense scene involving a Korean prisoner (Philip Ahn) threatening to blow up a grenade in an operating room, the film offers no defining moments and very little battle action. In fact, the movie doesn't really even have an ending. As the MASH Unit detours it's way around an active battle zone, all you have left is Bogey and Allyson walking off into the sunset as it were, perhaps wondering what might have happened if the grenade went off.

As another viewer already stated, Bogey's character would have been brought up on sexual harassment charges for this kind of behavior today.Plus, his character was just a plain bore-he made a couple of passes at a subordinate and she politely declined. Instead of taking the hint he used his rank and position to wear her down. Both Allyson and Bogart were better actors than to have accepted their cheesy roles in this film. I can't believe either of them needed the money that badly.The only saving grace in the film was that it gave the viewers an idea of the MASH concept. The difficulties in providing state-of-the-art medical treatment to front line troops on a fluid, fluctuating battlefield in WW II resulted in the inception of the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) in Korea. Instead of having to wait days for treatment of major combat wounds, patients in the Korean War, and subsequent conflicts, were often undergoing lifesaving hospital surgery in a MASH within hours.It's a film worth watching if it's showing on cable but not worth buying or renting.