Nur für Offiziere (1964)

Nur für Offiziere: Directed by Arthur Hiller. With James Garner, Julie Andrews, Melvyn Douglas, James Coburn. An American Naval Officer’s talent for living the good life in wartime is challenged when he falls in love and is sent on a dangerous mission.

“Masterfully scripted by Paddy Chayefsky, this 1964 anti-war film is not quite a classic but nonetheless an unexpected treat and one that deserves resurrection by a new generation of viewers. Set in WWII London, the dark hearted plot focuses on Navy Lieutenant Commander Charles Madison, an especially notorious personal assistant to the mentally unstable Admiral William Jessup. Madisonu0026#39;s job is to make sure Jessup gets anything he wants, and he has a warehouse full of contraband to back him up. Smug in his self-awareness about his cowardice, he meets Emily Barham, an English war widow who has lost her father and brother as well as her husband to the war. She is repulsed by Madisonu0026#39;s manipulative agenda and cavalier materialism, and he finds her priggish and self-righteous. Needless to say, they fall in love. Complicating matters is Jessupu0026#39;s hare-brained scheme to ensure the first casualty of the D-Day invasion on Omaha Beach be a naval man. Without a glimmer of irony recognized, the admiral assigns Madison and his colleague u0026quot;Buzzu0026quot; Cummings to find the appropriate sailor and film his heroic death.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe sheer audacity of this task is a hallmark of Chayefskyu0026#39;s vitriolic style, and the film is full of his brittle, observant dialogue and sharply articulate soliloquies. You need an actor of consummate charm and cunning to play Madison effectively, and Garner responds by turning in one of the best performances of his long career. He shows not only his deft comedic touch but also a piercing insight into the integrity that can come from an acknowledged lack of courage. Squeezed in between her twin juggernauts of sugar, u0026quot;Mary Poppinsu0026quot; and u0026quot;The Sound of Musicu0026quot;, Julie Andrews gives an intelligent, passionate performance as Emily that actually eclipses her acting in either mega-hit. The movieu0026#39;s title comes from her characteru0026#39;s resistance to what she sees as cheapening her values by becoming more American. Together, they not only spark romantically but also trade speeches of barbed cynicism making Chayefskyu0026#39;s words fly off the page with supple dexterity.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eScreen stalwart Melvyn Douglas is a terrifically befuddled blowhard as Jessup, while an especially energetic James Coburn aggressively turns u0026quot;Buzzu0026quot; into a monomaniacal yes-man. Joyce Grenfell is superb in her few scenes as Emilyu0026#39;s no-nonsense mother. For interested baby boomers, you can even see future u0026quot;Laugh-Inu0026quot; regulars Alan Sues and Judy Carne in bit parts, as well as the late Sharon Tate. If there is a weakness to the film, it comes from Arthur Hilleru0026#39;s pedestrian direction making the film more episodic than it should. The 2005 DVD package has a sharp print of the film and includes Hilleru0026#39;s informative commentary on an alternate track. He is understandably proud of the film since his subsequent work (u0026quot;Love Storyu0026quot;, u0026quot;Making Loveu0026quot;) has not even come close to the quality of this production. There is also a short, u0026quot;Action on the Beachu0026quot;, which shows how the realistic filming of the D-Day scene was executed. It would be interesting to see this film in a double bill with Steven Spielbergu0026#39;s u0026quot;Saving Private Ryanu0026quot; to get alternative perspectives on the same event.”