Picking Cold War Enemies Early On

Stewart Fights A New Kind Of WWII in The Mountain Road (1960)

Remember the long section in Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo when Van Johnson and fellow downed pilots are taken in by Chinese villagers and nursed back to health? That was, by 1960, long ago and decidedly far away. Over fifteen years was passed and China had become our cold enemy along with Russia and others under a Red flag. Many now questioned if we should have had these for allies in the first place. Popular books proposed that China was working against us even as we fought and died to liberate them. Movies had not advanced that proposition outside of a few addressing the Korean conflict --- World War Two had after all been fought and won --- but look-backs did revise assumptions many kept since victory was achieved hand-in-hand with China and against the Axis. Never So Few in 1959 was for most part Boy's Own heroics in Burma, but with stinger that said Chinese plotted against us there, just as they surely would after surrenders were signed. Distrust hardened to drill bit that was The Mountain Road, a China-set WWII enact where the enemy wasn't Japan, but people ... no mobs ... that were killing off our troops without least recognition of all we had done for them. It was up to Major James Stewart to wipe off scourge however way he had to, and to blazes with partnership the US thought it had with a now Evil Empire.

Hadn't bothered with The Mountain Road until TCM's recent broadcast in HD/wide, this a first proper view as its still not been released on DVD, nor streaming that I could find. Precious nuggets sometimes surface like this, and while The Mountain Road is no tall-sitter on Stewart's résumé, it does deal the unexpected and is far less a reprise of WWII incidents than same incidents sifted through politics that informed years leading up to 1960 and persisting to a present day. Noteworthy is Road being a war movie, and fact Stewart did virtually none of those. Strategic Air Command had been about defense in peacetime, and as to others --- well, there simply weren't any after WWII. Stewart had done too much real combat to want to pretend at it once his fight was over. You could say that ones who hadn't served, John Wayne, Van Johnson, others, got the most mileage out of acting in uniform. I'd like knowing what decided Stewart to make exception of The Mountain Road, to step off policy he had maintained since coming home from flight duty. Maybe, or better put, undoubtedly, he felt strong about an ongoing Red China situation, and here was chance to address it. He had batted at Communists the year before in The FBI Story, not so hard a hitter as The Mountain Road, but the one we've been exposed to lots more often. The Mountain Road takes time to become memorable, jolts coming in a second half after a first where we wonder if this team will spend whole of run-time wrecking bridges and blocking passages. Tension is built along lines not dissimilar to Objective, Burma, with a pay-off almost as strong.

Saturation Opening in L.A.

I'll give up this much short of outright spoilers: The Chinese ambush and kill American troops, falling not short of atrocities we had long attributed to Japanese aggressors only. This was hard tack for 1960 viewers to bite on, and I must say it kind of surprised me. Glad to have stuck with The Mountain Road for the haul, for it was a teaching moment in ways Hollywood, at least its conservative element, fought a Cold War. There are arguments for restraint, but where Stewart arms up for revenge in a bracing third act, all of foregoing is mere noise and nuisance. Even Jim confessing for a finish that he might have gone overboard is no wash-away of viewer sentiment entirely with harsh acts he performs. The Mountain Road continued tweak of Stewart persona that Vertigo and Anatomy Of A Murder preceded with. He wasn't yet ready for surrender to fuddy Dad comedies that would nibble off status achieved in the 50's. Problem was The Mountain Road coming to grief with boxoffice Variety reported variously as slow, mild, so-so, or plain sad, this after saturation open on 5/25/60 at 150 locations to run at least through Decoration Day, Stewart canvassing twelve cities on a bally tour, and Columbia throwing $500K at nationwide promotion. Despite this, The Mountain Road failed to crack Variety's annual list of million dollar, or more, renters. Neither would there be network television play, The Mountain Road announced for syndication in May 1964 as part of a 60-title Columbia package.