THE GIRL HE LEFT BEHIND (1956)

Tone-deaf and unpleasant, this misconceived service comedy might well be titled THE GIRL THE FILM LEFT BEHIND as co-star Natalie Wood largely drops out of the picture after the first act.  That’s when boyfriend Tab Hunter flunks out of college, loses military deferment and reluctantly kisses Natalie goodbye to join this man’s Army.  Spoiled by wealthy, politically connected Mom (Jessie Royce Landis), Tab’s a closet Mama's boy, rich, lazy, self-centered & arrogant, a prick for all seasons with an overblown sense of entitlement about class, classes, his girl, and now army life.  Naturally, he’ll fuck up (on purpose, mind you), trying to get out till wising up to himself and coming thru at the finish.*  Did the writers know just how unlikeable they made this guy?  He even let’s a couple of kids (and their dogs!) wander onto a live-ammo training exercise area.  A bit of fun to be had debating who’s cuter: Natalie with her hair bobbed and no makeup or Tab with those chiseled . . . well everything.  (Even his hair chiseled.)  Plus, what a load of up-and-comers in the cast: James Garner, David Janssen, Murray Hamilton, Alan King (!), alongside Jim Backus and Henry Jones.  Vet director David Butler, who made light vehicles and Fox musicals, unable to make Hunter worth the trouble.  Leave this one in the brig.

WATCH THIS, NOT THAT:  Silent star William Haines, like Hunter, more or less out as gay within the industry, based his entire career, and rose to the top in the late-silent/early Talkie transition period, on this same jerk of a character.  His careless, carefree cruelty almost shocking to watch today.  But it can work on screen.  See him under director George W. Hill in TELL IT TO THE MARINES/’26.  OR: Haines at his very best the one time he stepped away from that character for John M. Stahl in MEMORY LANE/’26.  Long unavailable except in an out-of-order tinting-lab print, it’s finally been restored and is getting a MoMA premiere on August 5th.  The film, a minor masterpiece, hopefully getting a video release in the near future.

ATTENTION MUST BE PAID:  With the army racially integrated on paper for nearly a decade, and effectively so on the field starting in Korea, this 1956 film tries to keep up with changing times by having a few Black soldiers appear in every group shot.  That is, every group shot but one: there’s no Black presence when Hunter beats everyone playing craps.  In 1956, keeping Blacks out of this game would have been considered socially progressive.