Richard Widmark, Karl Malden, Elaine Stewart, Russ Tamblyn, Carleton Carpenter, Jerome Courtland, Steve Forrest, Robert Arthur.
Summary:
A military discipline drama, "Take the High Ground" focuses on the mixed fortunes of a young, naive recruit, Merton Tolliver, whose inability to adapt to army life puts him in direct conflict with tough army sergeant, Thorne Ryan. Set during the Korean War, this film has a standard boot camp training narrative, in the same vein of "From Here to Eternity" (also 1953); there is even a love triangle with Ryan and fellow sergeant Laverne Holt. For an air of realism, the filmmakers used actual soldiers in the training drill sequences but the mawkish sentimentality of the script undermines any serious theatrical intentions in favour of a predictable "life lessons" melodrama.
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