''Journey's End'' is a 1930

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about navy, naval, air force, air, or army, land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle s ...

directed by

James Whale James Whale (22 July 1889 – 29 May 1957) was an English film director, theatre director and actor, who spent the greater part of his career in Cinema of the United States, Hollywood. He is best remembered for several horror films: ''Fra ...

. Based on the play of the same name by R. C. Sherriff, the film tells the story of several British army officers involved in

trench warfare Trench warfare is a type of land warfare using occupied lines largely comprising Trench#Military engineering, military trenches, in which combatants are well-protected from the enemy's small arms fire and are substantially sheltered from a ...

during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. The film, like the play before it, was an enormous critical and commercial success and launched the film careers of Whale and several of its stars. The following year there was a German film version '' The Other Side'' directed by

Heinz Paul Heinz Paul (13 August 1893 – 14 March 1983) was a German screenwriter, film producer and director. His speciality was military film; he also filmed various pseudo-documentaries. He was married to the actress Hella Moja. Selected filmography D ...

starring

Conrad Veidt Hans Walter Conrad Veidt ( , ; 22 January 1893 – 3 April 1943) was a German and British actor. He attracted early attention for his roles in the films ''Different from the Others'' (1919), ''The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari'' (1920), and ''The Man ...

as Stanhope and

Wolfgang Liebeneiner Wolfgang Georg Louis Liebeneiner (6 October 1905 – 28 November 1987) was a German actor, film director and theatre director. Beginnings He was born in Lubawka, Liebau in Prussian Silesia. In 1928, he was taught by Otto Falckenberg, the directo ...

as Raleigh. The film was banned just weeks after the Nazis took power in 1933. In 1976, the play was adapted again as ''

Aces High Aces High may refer to: *Aces High (comics), ''Aces High'' (comics), a comic book series by EC Comics *Aces High (video game), ''Aces High'' (video game), a combat flight simulator/massively multiplayer online game *Aces High (film), ''Aces High'' ...

'' with the scenario shifted to the British

Royal Flying Corps The Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was the air arm of the British Army before and during the First World War until it merged with the Royal Naval Air Service on 1 April 1918 to form the Royal Air Force. During the early part of the war, the RFC sup ...

. The play was adapted for film again with its original title and scenario in 2017.

Plot

On the eve of a battle in 1918, a new officer, Second Lieutenant Raleigh, joins Captain Stanhope's company in the British trench lines in France. The two men knew each other at school: the younger Raleigh hero-worshipping Stanhope, while Stanhope has come to love Raleigh's sister. But the Stanhope whom Raleigh encounters now is a changed man who, after three years at the front, has turned to drink and seems close to a breakdown. Stanhope is terrified that Raleigh will betray his decline to his sister, whom he hopes to marry after the war. An older officer, the avuncular Lieutenant Osborne, desperately tries to keep Stanhope from cracking. Osborne and Raleigh are selected to lead a raiding party on the German trenches where a number of the raiders are killed, including Osborne. Later, when Raleigh, too, is mortally wounded, Stanhope faces a desperate time as, grief-stricken and without close friends, he prepares to face another furious enemy attack.

Cast

Colin Clive Colin Glenn Clive (born Clive-Greig; 20 January 1900 – 25 June 1937) was a British theatre and film actor. Known for portraying individualistic, tumultuous characters which often mirrored his personal life, he is most famous for his role as ...

as Captain Dennis Stanhope *

Ian Maclaren John Watson (3 November 1850 – 6 May 1907), was a minister of the Free Church of Scotland. He is remembered as an author of fiction, known by his pen name Ian Maclaren. Life The son of John Watson, a civil servant, he was born in Manningtre ...

as Lieutenant Osborne * David Manners as Second Lieutenant Raleigh *

Billy Bevan Billy Bevan (born William Bevan Harris; 29 September 1887 – 26 November 1957) was an Australian-born vaudevillian who became an American film actor. He appeared in more than 250 American films from 1916 to 1952. He died just before new audie ...

as Second Lieutenant Trotter *

Anthony Bushell Anthony Arnatt Bushell (19 May 1904 – 2 April 1997) was an English film actor and director who appeared in more than 50 films between 1929 and 1961. He played Colonel Breen in the BBC serial ''Quatermass and the Pit'' (1958–59), and also ap ...

as Second Lieutenant Hibbert * Robert Adair as Captain Hardy * Charles K. Gerrard as Private Mason * Tom Whiteley as Sergeant Major * Jack Pitcairn as Colonel *

Werner Klingler Karl Adolf Kurt Werner Klingler (23 October 1903 – 23 June 1972) was a German film director and actor. He directed 29 films between 1936 and 1968. He was born in Stuttgart and died in West Berlin, West Germany. Early life Klingler acquire ...

as German prisoner *

Gil Perkins Gilbert Vincent Perkins (24 August 1907 – 28 March 1999) was an Australian film and television actor. Early life As a teenager, Perkins was a trackman and an athlete. He ran away from home at a young age and joined the crew of a Norw ...

as Sergeant Cox * Leslie Sketchley as Corporal Ross

Production

When

Howard Hughes Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American Aerospace engineering, aerospace engineer, business magnate, film producer, and investor. He was The World's Billionaires, one of the richest and most influential peo ...

made the decision to turn '' Hell's Angels'' into a talkie, he hired a then-unknown James Whale, who had just arrived in Hollywood following a successful turn directing the play ''

Journey's End ''Journey's End'' is a 1928 dramatic play by English playwright R. C. Sherriff, set in the trenches near Saint-Quentin, Aisne, towards the end of the First World War. The story plays out in the officers' dugout of a British Army infantry com ...

'' in London and on Broadway, to direct the talking sequences; it was Whale's film debut, and arguably prepared him for the later success he would have with the feature version of ''Journey's End'', ''

Waterloo Bridge Waterloo Bridge () is a road and foot traffic bridge crossing the River Thames in London, between Blackfriars Bridge and Hungerford Bridge and Golden Jubilee Bridges. Its name commemorates the victory of the British, Dutch and Prussians at the ...

'', and, most famously, the 1931 version of ''

Frankenstein ''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' is an 1818 Gothic novel written by English author Mary Shelley. ''Frankenstein'' tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a Sapience, sapient Frankenstein's monster, crea ...

''. Unhappy with the script, Whale brought in

Joseph Moncure March Joseph Moncure March (July 27, 1899 – February 14, 1977) was an American poet, screenwriter, and essayist, best known for his long narrative poems '' The Wild Party'' and '' The Set-Up''. Life March was born in New York City in July 1899, wh ...

to re-write it. Hughes later gave March the Luger pistol used in the film.Curtis 1998, p. 86. With production delayed while Hughes tinkered with the flying scenes in ''Hell's Angels'', Whale managed to shoot his film adaptation of ''Journey's End'' and have it come out a month before ''Hell's Angels'' was released. The gap between completion of the dialogue scenes and completion of the aerial combat stunts allowed Whale to be paid, sail back to England, and begin work on the subsequent project, making Whale's actual (albeit uncredited) cinema debut, his "second" film to be released.

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * Curtis, James. ''James Whale: A New World of Gods and Monsters''. Boston: Faber and Faber,1998. . * Dolan, Edward F. Jr. ''Hollywood Goes to War''. London: Bison Books, 1985. . * Hardwick, Jack and Ed Schnepf. "A Viewer's Guide to Aviation Movies". ''The Making of the Great Aviation Films'', General Aviation Series, Volume 2, 1989. * Orriss, Bruce. ''When Hollywood Ruled the Skies: The Aviation Film Classics of World War II''. Hawthorne, California: Aero Associates Inc., 1984. . * Osborne, Robert. ''65 Years of the Oscar: The Official History of the Academy Awards'' London: Abbeville Press, 1994. . * "Production of 'Hell's Angels' Cost the Lives of Three Aviators." ''Syracuse Herald'', 28 December 1930, p. 59. * Robertson, Patrick
''Film Facts''.
New York: Billboard Books, 2001. .

External links

* {{James Whale 1930 films 1930s war drama films British war drama films American war drama films 1930s English-language films Films directed by James Whale Films set in 1918 Western Front (World War I) films World War I films based on actual events American films based on plays 1930 directorial debut films Gainsborough Pictures films Tiffany Pictures films American black-and-white films 1930 drama films 1930s American films 1930s British films English-language war drama films