MartinHafer "Immortal Sergeant" was apparently not one of Henry Fonda's favorite film roles. I am not sure why "The Big Street" wasn't his least favorite (it was god-awful, believe me) but he disliked it. And, I might add, my wife wasn't super-fond a this film as we watched it. However, I really thought it was pretty good...though I do wonder if the main character played by Fonda might have been schizophrenic--that's because throughout the film he keeps hearing the voice of his sergeant--even though the guy is dead!The film is a WWII propaganda film. Because of this, it's main thrust is NOT realism but to bolster folks' support of the war effort. I cut the film a bit of slack, as it was 1943 and keeping up morale was a major concern. What I didn't like was the casting of Fonda, as he was supposed to be a Brit--and seemed about as British as John Wayne or Hattie McDaniel! In this sense, I could see why he didn't like playing this role--but the plot is pretty good and more than makes up for this.The sergeant in the title is played by Thomas Mitchell--and he's very good in this role. This guy is a career soldier and seems indestructible to his men--and he is adored by them. However, although he seems to have all the answers, his corporal (Fonda) seems quite different--unsure of himself and not at all the soldier Mitchell is. But, when the sergeant is killed and Fonda is left in charge of a small group of men in the North African desert, he's given a chance to show his mettle.In many ways, this film is a lot like the film "Sahara"--though "Sahara" is a much more enjoyable (and less realistic) film. Both are set in the same locale and are about a small group of soldiers overcoming greater numbers of enemy soldiers. But the casting and script just weren't quite as good here--though the film STILL is enjoyable and did what the studio wanted it to do. I also appreciate how the men in this film were NOT indestructible--many died even though you KNEW how it all had to end. Not brilliant but quite entertaining.

Michael O'Keefe Average war drama based on a John Brophy novel. The immortal sergeant is British Sgt. Kelly(Thomas Mitchell)in charge of a 14-man patrol in the desert of WWII Libya. Kelly is tough, but compassionate and held in high regard by the men in his unit. The group becomes smaller as only six survive an air attack in the open desert. Kelly's corporal is Colin Spence(Henry Fonda), a shy and laid back Canadian with enough military smarts to impress the sergeant in picking him as his replacement. The fatigued patrol comes face to face with a Nazi tank and after a harsh confrontation Spence is forced to step up and take the place of their fallen leader.The photography for this war drama is very good for the mid-40's. Black & White film sets the mood and feel of the movie well. The action is broken up with Spence's flashback reminiscing of the girl he left behind, the beautiful Maureen O'Hara. Also in the cast: Reginald Gardner, Allyn Joslyn, Melville Cooper, Morton Lowry, John Banner and a small role for Peter Lawford.

Robert J. Maxwell This is one of those movies about a handful of soldiers lost in the desert who must find and fight their way home. But, if the plot is familiar, this is a pretty well executed example.Combat aside, it's the story of the maturation of Henry Fonda, the bashful, receding, passive, loner of a corporal who suddenly finds himself in charge when his sergeant is killed. Fonda's character has what psychologists call a primary trait. That is, he is excessively something or other. It's the part of him that everyone notices. Whenever we do a statistical analysis of personality characteristics, one of the first to show up is likely to be introversion/extraversion, and Fonda is high on introversion. This is one of the "Big Five" personality traits, if anyone wants to bother looking it up. There are numerous flashback too, involving Fonda's self-effacing quality interfering with his relationship with Maureen O'Hara. He can't bring himself to declare his love for her, and meanwhile the gregarious Reginald Gardner (just the opposite, high on extraversion) is taking his place. These kinds of back stories are usually annoying but in this case I can bring myself to forgive them because Maureen O'Hara at twenty-two is sublime. Not "pretty" in any ordinary way. If you asked an artist to sit down and draw a picture of a beautiful woman it wouldn't come out looking like O'Hara. Her nose is more like an eagle's than like a ski slope. And her chin is a little larger than would be required to accommodate her lips. And she's not even a phenomenally talented actress. Really, a performance by an actor is made up half of demands imposed by the script and half by the organismic variables the actor brings to the role. And O'Hara's gestures at enacting the role of the girl friend back home are so perfunctory that we readily sense the real person beneath -- and she's radiant. So, anyway, okay. She can stay in the film.I first saw this years ago on KVZK and remembered it only for O'Hara's presence and for a scene in which a disabled Italian aircraft crashes into a truck full of British soldiers. I just saw it again and those two are still its most outstanding features.The combat scenes are well done for the time too. It's exciting as well as thoughtful. I wouldn't blame anyone for disliking it because it's just another phony war movie with romantic flashbacks, but in my opinion, although it is that, it's something more as well. It might have been called, "How To Conquer Your Introversion" and been written by a media-savvy politician.

bkoganbing In his memoirs Henry Fonda hated this film above all others that he did in his career. That's taking in quite a bit of territory because Fonda did some dreadful stuff in the seventies like Tentaccoli with a giant octopus. A lot of this was done for the money and Fonda with five wives certainly had much expenses in alimony.But Immortal Sergeant held a place dear in his heart because of the head of 20th Century Fox, Darryl F. Zanuck. Back in 1940 in order to get the part of Tom Joad, Fonda made a faustian deal with Zanuck signing his only studio contract. The studio cast him in what he considered junk. The good films he made in that four year stretch were on loan out, to Paramount for The Lady Eve, to Warner Brothers for The Male Animal, to RKO for The Big Street. He was not fond of what Fox cast him in for the most part because he got what was left after Tyrone Power and Don Ameche rejected it.Anyway come 1943 Fonda had two objectives, to make The Oxbow Incident because he knew that would be a classic and to enlist in World War II as pal Jimmy Stewart did. He prevailed on Zanuck to do The Oxbow Incident and it was a cheaply made western, classic though it was because it was shot completely on the sound stage. Then Zanuck cajoled, begged, and pleaded with him to make this one more film which he said was a great propaganda piece one that would tear the hearts of the movie going public and rally the homefront and be an inspiration to the fighting troops.When Immortal Sergeant proved somewhat less than that, Fonda felt hoodwinked and gritted his teeth and finished the film. He tried in fact to enlist to get out of it and Zanuck had so much pull in Washington, DC, Fonda kept getting his enlistment postponed.It was one angry Henry Fonda who finished The Immortal Sergeant and then went to war. His experience with this film made him bound and determined to get out of his contract one way or another. Ultimately he left Hollywood in 1948 when he got a great Broadway role in Mister Roberts. Fonda didn't return to Hollywood until 1955 and then to make the screen version of Mister Roberts.But that's getting away from Immortal Sergeant. Without Henry Fonda's rather colored viewpoint of the situation let me say it's not the worst World War II flag waver the studios put out. As is usual Henry Fonda is a Canadian to explain his non-British speech who has enlisted in the British army and is serving in North Africa. He's a young man with a lot of angst and when his patrol's sergeant is killed, Fonda has to summon something from within to bring the men back to their lines.Thomas Mitchell is the sergeant and Maureen O'Hara is Fonda's girl back home and both do a creditable job. For the rest of his life Fonda would foam at the mention of Immortal Sergeant. Being the professional he was, he did a good job in the film.But Immortal Sergeant hardly belongs in the same company as The Oxbow Incident and Mister Roberts in the works of Henry Fonda.