''Up Front'' is a 1951 American
comedy film
A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...
directed by
Alexander Hall
Alexander Hall (January 11, 1894 – July 30, 1968) was an American film director, film editor and theatre actor.
Biography
Hall acted in the theatre from the age of four through 1914, when he began to work in silent movies. Following his milit ...
and starring
Tom Ewell
Tom Ewell (born Samuel Yewell Tompkins, April 29, 1909 – September 12, 1994) was an American film, stage and television actor, and producer. His most successful and most identifiable role was that of Richard Sherman in ''The Seven Year Itch'' ...
and
David Wayne
David Wayne (born Wayne James McMeekan, January 30, 1914 – February 9, 1995) was an American stage and screen actor with a career spanning over 50 years.
Early life and career
Wayne was born in Traverse City, Michigan, the son of Helen M ...
very loosely based on
Bill Mauldin
William Henry Mauldin (; October 29, 1921 – January 22, 2003) was an American editorial cartoonist who won two Pulitzer Prizes for his work. He was most famous for his World War II cartoons depicting American soldiers, as represented by the ...
's World War II characters ''
Willie and Joe
Willie and Joe are stock characters representing United States infantry soldiers during World War II. They were created and drawn by American cartoonist Bill Mauldin from 1940 to 1948, with additional drawings later. They were published in a ga ...
''. Mauldin repudiated it and refused his advising fee; he claimed never to have seen it.
It takes place during the
Italian Campaign of World War II.
Plot
Cast
*
David Wayne
David Wayne (born Wayne James McMeekan, January 30, 1914 – February 9, 1995) was an American stage and screen actor with a career spanning over 50 years.
Early life and career
Wayne was born in Traverse City, Michigan, the son of Helen M ...
as Joe
*
Tom Ewell
Tom Ewell (born Samuel Yewell Tompkins, April 29, 1909 – September 12, 1994) was an American film, stage and television actor, and producer. His most successful and most identifiable role was that of Richard Sherman in ''The Seven Year Itch'' ...
as Willie
*
Marina Berti
Elena Maureen Bertolino (29 September 1924 – 29 October 2002), known professionally as Marina Berti, was an Italian film actress. She was born in London from an Italian father and an English mother.
Biography
Her first screen appearance was ...
as Emi Rosso
*
Jeffrey Lynn
Jeffrey Lynn (born Ragnar Godfrey Lind; – November 24, 1995) was an American stage-screen actor and film producer who worked primarily through the Golden Age of Hollywood establishing himself as one of the premier talents of his time. Thr ...
as Capt. Ralph Johnson
*
Richard Egan as Capa
* Maurice Cavell as Vuaglio
*
Vaughn Taylor
Vaughn Joseph Taylor (born March 9, 1976) is an American professional golfer who has played on the PGA Tour and Web.com Tour.
Born in Roanoke, Virginia, Taylor was raised in Augusta, Georgia, from infancy. After attending Hephzibah High School ...
as MP Maj. Lester
* Silvio Minciotti as Poppa Rosso
*
Paul Harvey
Paul Harvey Aurandt (September 4, 1918 – February 28, 2009) was an American radio broadcaster for ABC News Radio. He broadcast ''News and Comment'' on mornings and mid-days on weekdays and at noon on Saturdays and also his famous ''The Rest o ...
as Col. Akeley
* Roger De Koven as Sabatelli
* Grazia Narciso as Signora Carvadossi
*
Tito Vuolo
Tito Vuolo (22 March 1893 – 14 September 1962) was an Italian-born American actor, best known for his supporting work playing often stereotypical Italian characters. Prior to his film career, he toured the United States as a stage actor. His wi ...
as Tarantino
*
Mickey Knox
Abraham Knox (December 24, 1921 − November 15, 2013) was an American actor with nearly 80 films to his credit. Knox was also a screenwriter, film producer, and novelist. Knox was blacklisted during the McCarthy era, and he subsequently moved to ...
as Driver
*
Hal Baylor
Hal Harvey Fieberling (born Hal David Britton); December 10, 1918 – January 15, 1998 known professionally as Hal Baylor, was an American actor, probably best known for his role as Pvt. 'Sky' Choynski in the film '' Sands of Iwo Jima''.
In ...
as Smitty
*
John Doucette
John Arthur Doucette (January 21, 1921 – August 16, 1994) was an American character actor who performed in more than 280 film and television productions between 1941 and 1987. A man of stocky build who possessed a deep, rich voice, he ...
as Walsh
*
William Frambes
The Bowery Boys are fictional New York City characters, portrayed by a company of New York actors, who were the subject of 48 feature films released by Monogram Pictures and its successor Allied Artists Pictures Corporation from 1946 through 1 ...
as Rogers
*
Henry Rowland as Krausmeyer
*
Kenneth Tobey
Kenneth Jesse Tobey (March 23, 1917 – December 22, 2002) was an extremely prolific American actor who performed in hundreds of productions during a career that spanned more than half a century, including his role as the star of the 1957-1 ...
as Cooper
*
Arthur Space
Charles Arthur Space (October 12, 1908 – January 13, 1983) was an American film, television and stage actor. He was best known as Doc Weaver, the veterinarian, in thirty-nine episodes of the CBS television series ''Lassie''.
Early years
Born ...
as Col. Hayes
*
James Seay
James Seay (September 9, 1914 – October 10, 1992) was an American character actor who often played minor supporting roles as government officials.
Early years
Seay demonstrated an interest in acting at an early age, as he and his mothe ...
as Lt. Ferguson
*
Harlan Warde
Harlan Warde (born Harlan Ward Lufkin; November 6, 1917 – March 13, 1980) was a character actor active in television and movies.
Career
Warde showed up in supporting roles as detectives, doctors, and ministers. Warde made five guest appearan ...
as Lt. Myers
*
Selmer Jackson
Selmer Adolf Jackson (May 7, 1888 – March 30, 1971) was an American stage film and television actor. He appeared in nearly 400 films between 1921 and 1963. His name was sometimes spelled Selmar Jackson.
Jackson was born in Lake Mills, Iowa an ...
as General
*
Eugene Borden
Eugene Borden (born Élysée Eugène Prieur-Bardin, March 21, 1897 – July 2, 1971) was an American character actor in silent and sound films. Born in France, he immigrated to the United States as a teenager, and entered the film industry a sh ...
as French Captain
*
Vito Scotti
Vito Giusto Scozzari (January 26, 1918 – June 5, 1996), also known as Vito Scotti, was an American character actor who played both dramatic and comedy roles on Broadway, in films, and later on television, primarily from the late 1930s to the ...
as Sergeant Clerk
*
John McGuire as Military Police Lieutenant
*
James Flavin
James William Flavin Jr. (May 14, 1906 – April 23, 1976) was an American character actor whose career lasted for nearly half a century.
Early life
The son of a hotel waiter of Canadian-English descent,Flavin's obituary, distributed by United ...
as Military Policeman
*
Peter Graves
Peter Graves (born Peter Duesler Aurness; March 18, 1926 – March 14, 2010) was an American actor. He was best known for his role as Jim Phelps in the CBS television series '' Mission: Impossible'' from 1967 to 1973 (original) and from 1988 to ...
as Military Policeman
*
Ann Tyrrell
Ann Tyrrell (February 6, 1909 – July 20, 1983) was an American stage, film and television actress. Tyrrell is best known for her roles in both of the Ann Sothern CBS sitcoms ''Private Secretary'' (1953–1957) and ''The Ann Sothern S ...
as Nurse
*
Midge Ware
Midge Ware Colton (born Muriel Florence Bendelson; October 20, 1927 – June 3, 2020) was an American model and stage, screen and television actress. She had a over 30 years career in show business.
Early life
Born in The Bronx, New York, ...
as Nurse
*
Gino Corrado
Gino Corrado (born Gino Liserani; 9 February 1893 – 23 December 1982) was an Italian-born film actor."Obituaries." ''Variety'' (Archive: 1905-2000); Los Angeles. Vol. 309, Iss. 10, (Jan 5, 1983): 78-79. Via Proquest. He appeared in more ...
as Waiter
*
Lucille Barkley
Lucille Barkley (born Lucille Oshinski, November 3, 1924 – March 19, 1979) was an American film actress.
Early years
The daughter of Florian and Verna Oshinski, Barkley was born in Pennsylvania but considered Rochester, New York, her hometow ...
as Nurse Receptionist
*
Pat Carroll
Patricia Ann Carroll (May 5, 1927 – July 30, 2022) was an American actress and comedian. She was known for voicing Ursula in ''The Little Mermaid'' and for appearances in CBS's ''The Danny Thomas Show'', ABC's ''Laverne & Shirley'', and NBC' ...
as Italian Girl
References
External links
*
*
*
1951 films
1951 comedy films
American black-and-white films
American comedy films
Films based on American comics
Films directed by Alexander Hall
Italian Campaign of World War II films
Military humor in film
Universal Pictures films
1950s English-language films
1950s American films
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