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Simply A Masterpiece

Excellent but underrated film

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

I was hoping for a more compelling film; but there was far too much dialogue, and not enough action. Especially, after the basic training section of the film, which is actually the better part of the movie. There were just too many bromides and cliches that were continually interfering with the natural evolution of the film. The actors did a competent job, as did the director, but the production values, to say the least, were slipshod. Maybe it was because it was an armored division. Armored division films of WW all seem to suffer from similar shortcomings; with the exception of Patton. Films like The Battle of the Bulge, The Battle of Alamein, Desert Fox, Rommel, and even the modern Fury with Brad Pitt, all had character development problems, action sequence problems, and pacing problems. Doing dialogue for these types of films is very difficult to accomplish; that is why very few of them are highly praised compared to infantry, naval, and air force films. The natural confining aspect of a tank does not lend itself to good development of dialogue. However, to be fair, the film is watchable and entertaining, and will satisfy most WW 2 genre fans.

This is a strange little movie, as mentioned before, it has the feel of a wartime propaganda picture, especially with its very strong pro-American, brothers-in-arms message. 'They were not divided' was in fact released in 1950, well after this kind of film was out of fashion, but having said that, the portrayal of the 3 main characters (an American, a Brit and an Irishman, serving with the Guards regiment)is warm and affectionate, and although underplayed, succeeds by involving the viewer to care about their friendship and feeling their pain and joy depending on the situation. They find themselves in every major European battle post D-Day, and in-between their love lives. The ending of the film was very sad indeed, and although we have become attached to the lead characters, we are not exposed to any over-sentimental tripe, the camaraderie feels genuine, almost real. It ain't The Dirty Dozen or The Longest Day, but it has a long forgotten quality which is sadly lacking in war movies of this day and age.

THEY WERE NOT DIVIDED is a near-forgotten British WW2 movie, directed by none other than Terence Young, the man who would later helm DR NO and FROM Russia WITH LOVE amongst other well-remembered movies. By comparison, this is the kind of film that few people bother watching and even fewer remember these days. It doesn't help that the script is quite dry, the narrative fairly stodgy, and there's a distinct lack of big-name actors to give audiences a reason to watch. Instead, THEY WERE NOT DIVIDED goes for a low key, almost documentary-style approach as it follows new recruits as they join a Welsh Guards battalion, train, and eventually journey to France to see action in their tanks.This kind of template is familiar from the modern-day likes of BAND OF BROTHERS but the execution is only so-so here. There's a lot of talk and back-and-forth dialogue, but when it comes to the action, the big set-pieces that everybody remembers are hurried through. Stock footage is also used quite liberally. I didn't mind the unknown lead actors, although the heavy-handed messages smack of propaganda (basically, America and Britain should work together as one) which is bizarre given that the war had been over for four years when this was shot.Most of the fun comes from spotting future actors in support. Michael Brennan (LUST FOR A VAMPIRE) is particularly good fun as the enthusiastic Welsh soldier, and there's a cameo from real-life RSM Brittain, who adds some humour. Christopher Lee only has a couple of lines but is in the background in almost every scene in the film, while future Q Desmond Llewellyn plays a tank driver.

Two men join the Welsh Guards early in the war, one a married Englishman (Underdown), the other an American (Clanton). The Guards are a varied lot -- Irish, Welsh, and other "colonials" as well as the British. It leads to a quietly amusing scene. The drill instructor demands that all the English in the ranks take two steps forward and all the colonials take two steps backward. The American is left standing alone between the two. When he explains, the drill sergeant says the Army is divided into two parts, English and non-English, so Clanton steps back and joins the Canadians and the rest. That's about as funny as it gets.The first half of the film belongs to the "training camp" genre. "Button up that top button!" "SAH!" Underdown gets to spend time with his wife and both of them become close friends of Clanton, who falls in love with a British beauty he finds swimming in "the Witch's Pool." There's nothing much we haven't seen before.The second half has the two men in tanks, landing at Normandy and rushing through what appears to be every battle of any significance in the European theater. There are a few combat scenes. One is unique. A British tank is hit (whether by mine or German shell we never know), skids off the road, and rolls onto its side.But the combat is hurried and conveyed by montage -- tanks wheels spin, airplanes roar overhead, parachutists drop from the sky, explosions take place, men stop for tea and make easy jokes about one another. It seems to have been put together for people who have already been there or who remember the meaning of place names like Arnhem, Caen, the Ardennes, and Nijmegen. If you don't know, it's going to seem as if the Welsh Guards land their tanks and race through Europe, losing an occasional vehicle.If you keep your eyes and ears open, you may learn why Montgomery was so slow taking Caen, while Patton zoomed South and around into mid-France. At the end, Clanton lies wounded, tended by Underdown, and both friends are destroyed by a German 88. The Irishman who buries them plants an American flag one on grave and an English flag on the other, but he can't remember which grave is which, so he leaves them at random. The wind whips the two tiny flags until they dip towards one another and finally touch. It's an excessively pathetic ending but I found it moving nevertheless.There's nothing particularly innovative about the movie. It's mostly stuff we've seen before. And it seems more dated than most British war movies of the period, which tended to be quite good. The message is in boldface: "We Must All Pull Together," English and Americans, Irish, Welsh, and so forth. But by 1950 the war had been over for several years, so what was the point? An apologia for the American servicemen who were "overpaid, oversexed, and over here"? But they were mostly gone when this movie was made. That's what I mean by the word "dated." I found the courtship of the American and his British swimming mate kind of interesting. During the war, American men are supposed to have thought that British girls were "fast"; ie., easy. At the same time, British girls considered American men "fast"; ie., too eager to become engaged and married. Margaret Mead, the anthropologist who was there at the time, concluded that the misunderstanding was due to differences in courtship patterns. For Americans, kissing came early in the process. For Brits, it was a much later step, signaling serious commitment, just prior to marriage. Thus, culture clash according to the Venerable Mead.As I say, I found the last scene to be poignant, though I knew I was being recklessly manipulated. Well, after all, we've just spent 92 minutes with two polite fellows who have never harbored a harsh thought towards each other or anyone else.