The Eve of St. Mark (1944)

Legend has it that on the Eve of St. Mark's day, a maiden stepping into a church will see the people who will die the following year. It comes in handy when a group of soldiers marooned on a Philippine island fighting the Japanese, find themselves lost and probably dead in a short time.The story begins on a positive note as Quizz West, an eager young farm boy joins the army for a year stint. Coming home on a leave, Quizz brings along Janet, the girl he has fallen in love with, and who he will have to leave behind as he goes back. His parents, the Wests, are delighted with the choice; Quizz could not have elected a better person.As fate would have it, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, resulting in prolonging Quizz's stint, but wanting to serve his country in the hour of need, he goes to the Pacific theater of operations with his company. The men bonded since training camp and keep fighting together. During that time most men contracted malaria. With short supplies, they have to deal with a debilitating disease and the Japanese air power in the Philippines.A seldom seen film based on a theater piece by Maxwell Anderson, and adapted for the screen by George Seaton. The film was entirely shot inside the 20th Century Fox studios in California. John Stahl, the director, shows great ways in which he opened the film, including the war sequences that are convincing if one realizes the constrains of the production. The valor of the men in battle, as well as the camaraderie in basic training.The achievement of Mr. Stahl in the film was the level of acting he got from the cast that was gathered for the picture. Anne Baxter shows up as the sweet Janet, the girlfriend from home. William Eythe, as Pvt. West showed promise. Best of all is Michael O'Shea, a wonderful actor doing an excellent take as Thomas Mulveroy, the devoted fan of his Brooklyn Dodgers. Seen in minor roles, Frank Morgan, Ruth Nelson, Ray Collins, Dickie Moore, and the excellent Vincent Price as Pvt. Marion.

"War in perpetuity is neo-liberalism gasping for survival. It is a gasping that necessitates paying for such folly forever." - Jozef Hand-Boniakowski"The Eve of St Mark" is a 1944 war film directed by John M. Stahl. Stahl removes the bleakness of Maxwell Anderson's Broadway play, upon which the film was based, and instead ops for some low key flag waving. When he's not drooling over various trinkets of Americana – squeaky clean, fresh faced American boys, farm folk who support war with a heavy heart, mothers nobly offering their sons to the state, big breasted lovers at home waiting for their hunks to return, cosy farm houses and bible belt corn fields, sexy foreign chicks who are thankful to brave American GI's – the film treats us to long speeches which covertly nail home the virtues and necessities of war, whilst bemoaning how unfair it is for a poor and victimised Uncle Sam to have been attacked at Pearl Harbour by evil slant eyed Japanese."Why are we fighting foreigners here in 1944 when we have no food on our tables at home for ourselves and our families?" one character asks. "So American boys in 1954 will have food on their tables," another replies. And that's what the film endorses; the manufacturing of war in the search for surplus value, bloodshed as a necessary component of fiscal growth.The film is notable for staring Vincent Price in a rare "good guy" role. It's quite odd seeing such an iconic face, one oft associated with scifi and horror, in a war movie. Today "The Eve of St Mark's" brain-dead jingoism and gore glorification can be found in such films as "Black Hawk Down", "We Were Soldiers", "Saving Private Ryan", "300", "Zulu" etc. The tech's changed, but the story's the same.6/10 – For war buffs only.

This much underrated and little shown movie is up there with the best of the WW2 morale boosters and truly deserves to be better known. Unlike many mawkish and sentimental American movies about the sacrifices made by America in WW2, this film is genuinely uplifting and soul stirring and manages to do so by some superbly poetic speeches made by several cast members, who delivered poetic stanzas as though Olivier and Barrymore were watching. Vincent Price- who as a Southern "aristocrat" has never been better IMHO, quotes readily from Shakespeare and does so without making the viewer feel embarrassed or uncomfortable. His role is that of charm personified and he carries it off perfectly. At other times the dialogue is snappy and amusing and the movies use of many outside locations gives it an added dimension that, along with the dialogue, demands the viewer's constant attention. This is a movie to keep and enjoy. I will !

Run of the mill war time drama centering around the training and combat experiences of a small town farm boy.The cast of characters are a block of defaults from every war movie ever created. Only the over dramatized, over the top performance of the hugely over written script really lower this into a cinema play of the worst kind.The scenes in the nightclub when Vincent Price quotes Shakespeare are just dreadful.First victim of war is Vincent Price's accent. But the time they are going to war he's lost his Southern drawl! Amazingly, the C.O. in Mash turns up when he's in his 20's and HE SOUNDS THE SAME! It's amazing.Is it worth watching, well... if there's nothing better on. Otherwise, give it a miss.