Philip Ober

In the spring of 1945, as World War II is coming to a close, dignified strait-laced Englishman Roger Halyard lives on a South Sea atoll with his three daughters, Gloria, Hester and Violet, and the housekeeper, Thelma, who has raised the girls since childhood. Other than their father, the girls have never seen another man. When Halyard is informed that 1,500 U.S. Marines will soon arrive to establish an air base on the island, he's apprehensive over the prospect of his daughters, who have never met another man, being thrown together with 1,500 Marines who haven't seen a woman in months. —Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net>

In 1941 Hawaii, Private Robert E. Lee Prewitt (Montgomery Clift) is transferred from the Bugle Corps at Fort Shafter (giving up his corporal stripes) to a rifle outfit, Company "G," at Schofield Barracks on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. When Captain Dana "Dynamite" Holmes (Philip Ober) learns of his reputation as a talented boxer, he recommends that Prewitt join the regimental boxing club that he heads, and promises that Prewitt will be promoted to corporal or even sergeant, if he helps win the boxing trophy on December 15. For reasons unknown to the regiment Prewitt adamantly refuses. Holmes retaliates by making army life as miserable as possible for Prewitt hoping he will agree to box. Unable to break Prewitt, Holmes orders First Sergeant Milton Warden (Burt Lancaster) to prepare court martial papers. Warden, however, knowing of Holmes' unfair treatment and realizing Prewitt is a thirty-year soldier (career soldier), suggests that he try to entice Prewitt to change his mind by doubling up on company punishment. The other non-commissioned officers assist in the conspiracy with brutal hazing rituals. Prewitt is supported only by his friend, Private Angelo Maggio (Frank Sinatra). Meanwhile, behind his commander's back, Warden begins an affair with Holmes' neglected wife Karen (Deborah Kerr). Sergeant Maylon Stark (George Reeves) has told Warden of Karen's many affairs with other soldiers at Fort Bliss, including his own. As their relationship develops, Warden asks Karen about her numerous affairs to test her sincerity with him. Karen relates that Holmes had been unfaithful to her most of their marriage. She lost a baby when Holmes came back from one affair drunk, and unable to assist her to the hospital. She then affirms her genuine love for Warden. Prewitt and Maggio spend their liberty time at the New Congress Club, a gentleman's club in downtown Honululu where Prewitt meets, and falls for, Lorene (Donna Reed), a local dancer and call girl. Prewitt confides to Lorene the reason he refuses to box for the company is that he blinded a close friend while sparring. Maggio encounters Sergeant 'Fatso' Judson (Ernest Borgnine), a crass and racist sergeant at the club. When Maggio complains that Judson's piano playing is interfering with his dancing, the two nearly come to blows. Maggio is told that Judson is the Sergeant of the Guard at the stockade. Later, at a tavern called "Choy's," located near the base, Judson sees Maggio holding a photograph of his family. Judson makes an inappropriate comment to Prewitt about Maggio's sister causing Maggio to smash a bar stool on Judson's head. Judson pulls a switchblade on Maggio, but Warden, sitting in a corner, intervenes to save Maggio by telling Judson that killing Maggio would "create two weeks of paperwork" for him. When the brutal Judson advances on Warden with the knife, Warden breaks a beer bottle in two and uses the jagged edge as a weapon. Judson retreats, throws down his knife and goes to the bar for a drink. However, he warns Maggio that sooner or later Maggio would end up in the stockade and he would be there waiting for him. A few days later, Karen tells Warden that if he became an officer, she could divorce Holmes and they could return to the States and marry. Warden is not keen on the idea because of his dislike of officers, but agrees to consider the matter. Prewitt manages a weekend pass, courtesy of Warden, and goes to meet Lorene who is too busy at the club to talk. However, she meets him later at a bar for a drink. He tells Lorene he loves the Army, and shows Lorene his prized possession, a bugle mouthpiece. He tells her, "I played taps last Armistice Day at Arlington National Cemetery. The President was there." Maggio then walks in drunk and in uniform, explaining that he was assigned to for guard duty that night, but deserted his post. Lorene encourages Prewitt to take Maggio back to the base. While Prewitt is calling for a taxi, Military Police arrive and arrest Maggio, and he is sentenced to six months in the stockade for desertion. Matters come to a head for Prewitt when Sergeant Galovitch picks a fight with Prewitt while on yard detail, and the two come to blows. At first, Galovitch repeatedly pummels Prewitt, who initially refuses to fight back, and then resorts to using only body blows. But as Galovitch and others watching continue taunting him, he begins boxing, hitting Galovitch in the face and nearly managing to knock him out before Holmes finally steps in and stops the fight. When Galovitch falsely accuses Prewitt of insubordination, Holmes is about to punish Prewitt again until the man in charge of the detail says that it was Galovitch, not Prewitt, who was spoiling for the fight. Instead of punishing Galovitch, Holmes abruptly lets him off the hook and disperses the crowd. The entire incident is witnessed by the base commander, who orders an investigation by the Inspector General. When Holmes' true intentions are revealed, the general orders a court-martial. When Holmes begs for an alternative, the commanding officer's aide suggests that Holmes resign his commission "for the good of the service" and leaves the Army, which the general accepts with dispatch. Holmes' replacement, Captain Ross, orders that Sergeant Galovitch be demoted to private and put in charge of the latrine. One evening, a few weeks later, Maggio manages to escape from the stockade and find Prewitt. He tells of the abuse he endured by Judson, then dies in Prewitt's arms. The next morning, Prewitt plays taps as tears stream down his cheeks. Seeking revenge, Prewitt tracks down Judson in town and invites him into a back alley to talk, then attacks him. The two fight with switchblades, Prewitt using the very same switchblade Judson had pulled on Maggio earlier. Prewitt kills Judson, but not before sustaining a serious stomach wound. Prewitt goes into hiding at Lorene's apartment. Despite Prewitt's AWOL status, his platoon sergeant carries him "present" for three days at Warden's direction. Lorene, whose real name is Alma, tends to Prewitt's wounds. On December 7, 1941, the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor. Enemy planes also attack nearby Wheeler Air Base as well as the barracks. Warden leads several of his men in battle by climbing to the roofs of the barracks and returns fire against strafing Japanese fighter planes, shooting down at least one of them. That evening, Prewitt, still weak from his unhealed wound, finds out about the attack over the radio, and attempts to return to camp under cover of darkness, despite protests from Lorene to wait until daylight. During the walk back to the barracks, Prewitt is spotted by several jittery sentries on the lookout for saboteurs. Instead of stopping and identifying himself to the sentries, Prewitt attempts to run and gets shot dead while running across a golf course, his body landing in a nearby sand trap. Warden arrives on the scene a few minutes later with military investigators and identifies the body. Warden laments Prewitt's stubbornness and states the irony that because of the attack, the December 15, 1941 boxing tournament has been canceled. Holmes' resignation results in Karen having to return to the States with him. When she finds out that Warden failed to apply for officer status, she realizes they will never be together. In the final scene, Lorene and Karen meet for the first (and only) time on a ship leaving for the mainland. Karen then tosses two leis into the water. She tells Lorene, "If the leis go to shore, a person will return to Hawaii. If the leis float out to sea, a person will never return." Lorene says she will never return to Hawaii, telling Karen that her fiance was an Army Air Corps pilot who was killed in a B-17 plane during the December 7th attack. Lorene quotes: "he was awarded the Silver Star, they sent it to his mother. She wrote me. She wanted me to have it. They are very fine people, Southern people. He was named after a general. Robert E. Lee Prewitt." Karen recognizes Prewitt's name from conversations with Warden and is aware that Lorene is lying about Prewitt's death, but she says nothing. The final shot shows Lorene holding Prewitt's treasured bugle mouth piece.

An emotionally remote recovering alcoholic and his dowdy, unambitious wife face a personal crisis when they take in an attractive lodger. For two decades Doc and Lola Delaney avoided coming to terms with what Doc considered a "shot gun" marriage. Lola lost the baby and gives a lot of her affection to Sheba, a dog that disappeared a few months before the film opens. Doc blames Lola for having to drop out of medical school and not becoming a "real" doctor. Until joining AA a year ago, his escape was alcohol. Then college student Marie rents a room in their home. Doc feels passion for the first time in 20 years. But Marie has two suitors her age. Lola -- unaware of Doc's emotions --becomes as interested in Marie's future as if Marie were her daughter. —Dale O'Connor <daleoc@interaccess.com> Middle aged Doc and Lola Delaney have been married for twenty years. Their life together started out with so much promise, but their marriage has not become what that promise held. Doc, a chiropractor, was to become a full fledged medical doctor, but had to drop out of medical school when they got married. And Lola, once beautiful, has let her looks go. Now, she lies around the house not doing much of anything except listen to music on the radio. Because of the many stresses in their life, Doc became an alcoholic. Now attending AA meetings, he has just celebrated his one year AA birthday. Into their life comes university student Marie Buckholder to who they have rented out their sitting room. In so many different ways, Marie ends up being a reminder for Doc of what potential was lost in his and Lola's life, especially in that Marie is cavorting with a local jock named Turk Fisher who only has sex on his mind (which Marie deep down is aware), all the while while having a steady boyfriend named Bruce Cunningham back home who she plans to marry. These reminders of Doc's failed dreams, especially with Lola being the way she is, may be too much for him to handle. —Huggo A movie version of the play by William Inge, COME BACK, LITTLE SHEBA is the story of "Doc" and "Lola" Delaney -- a sadly aging couple whose attention seems drawn undistractably to lost dreams and failed ambitions. A grim and cold recovering alcoholic, Doc seems only able to numb the pain of his black-and-white existence with drink. Lola, on the other hand, desperate for warmth and affection, still longs for the little lost dog named "Sheba" missing for nearly a year which had provided her so much companionship and joy. Into this mix comes Marie, a carefree young co-ed happily dabbling at love and romance. When she rents a room from the Delaneys, their home is suddenly inhabited with the ghosts of their own failings -- Doc's professional failings, Lola's failings as a wife and mother, and the shared failings of their marriage. —Mark Fleetwood <mfleetwo@mail.coin.missouri.edu>