THEY WERE NOT DIVIDED

UK, 1951, 102 minutes, Black and white.
Edward Underdown, Ralph Clanton, Helen Cherry, Stella Andrews, Michael Brennan, Michael Trubshaw.
Directed by Terence Young.

They Were Not Divided was a popular war film of 1950, taking the vantage point of the new decade to look back on the experience of the '40s, Britain in war, the presence of the Americans, the African and European theatres of war and its effect on the soldiers as well as on Britain. The film takes a positive look at relationships between the British and the Americans rather than the conflict and rivalries.

The film starred Edward Underdown and Ralph Clanton, not particularly well-known actors. However, with Terence Young's direction (he was later to make a number of the James Bond films), the film has a kind of documentary look as the recruits go about their training, and then moves on to what became conventional war material in the presentation of so many of the battles and so many of the heroes in the British films of the '50s. This film had a pioneering impact and led to a decade of Britain reliving the war in film.

1. A war film of 1950? The perspective of 1950 on the '40s? The experience of war, its effect?

2. The black and white photography, the training camps, training exercises? The European and African locations? The experience of the war? The staging of the war sequences? The musical score?

3. The title, the focus on the British and the Americans? United in loyalty, in friendship, in battle, in death?

4. The flashback framework, the changing of the guards? The memories of the wives? The focus on Philip Hamilton, his background, going to war in the Welsh Guards? The encounter with David Morgan, his American background and joining up? O' Connor, the Irishman? The three comrades?

5. The experience of the three in their training, at camp, the discipline? The reaction of the officers, their being told off? Harsh discipline, not volunteering? Being in England during the war, background to the troops, support, physical exercises? The military training? The collage of military exercises? The characters, their friendships? Their backgrounds? The friendship developing?

6. The experience of the war, the passing of the years, the glimpses of the various battles? El Alamein, the war in the desert? The war in Italy? The background of the Japanese, Pearl Harbor, the war in the Pacific? The liberation of France and their involvement? The final year of the war and the battle in the Ardennes?

7. Philip and his relationship with his wife, sharing the experience of war? Loneliness and separation? David, the chance encounter with Jane swimming, the friendship, the discussions, the proposal? The marriage? Jane expecting?

8. O' Connor, his role in the war, the Irish Catholic? The comic touches? The reunion of the three?

9. The war in France, the Battle of the Bulge? Winter, the fighting, the shooting - David's injury, Philip going to help him, their deaths? O' Connor and his grief at the grave? The two flags and their uniting?

10. The picture of British officers, officials? Training, discipline, strategies? The loyalty of the men? The British spirit during the war?

11. This film in retrospect, in comparison with documentaries and feature films about the war? The truth of the war dramatised in this story? From the perspective of the immediate aftermath?