The Eve of St. Mark (1944)

Billed as "MEET G. I. JOE AND THE GIRL HE LOVES!" this American wartime romance-and-honor movie demonstrates how the typical Golden Age Hollywood cast could simply a carry a film to a memorable end. As with the cast, the writing and pacing is decent enough, straightforward and symbiotic with its pairing of romantic leads played here by the always appealing gem Anne Baxter as loyal love interest Janet Feller and William Eythe as drafted farmboy 'G.I. Joe ' Pvt. Quizz West who ends up on duty gunning off with an amicable small squadron of fellow G.I.s and friends the Japanese on a remote Philippine island.

The themes and portrayals of loyalty, honor, moral choice, love and family are non-complex and similarly straightforward as the plot and characters, which it is a good element here, albeit if the very end comes off slightly hokey. But for today's mess of a world that often sits contrary via politic or characters to the aforementioned themes, for me it was welcome comfort movie fare.

I watched this for a mini-Anne Baxter marathon (and in repeat as I often do for certain dream-girl actresses), but was also surprised by the stellar cast that additionally includes beyond the leads:

- Vincent Price, fantastically reciting his trademark poetry and flowery immortal language in character as fellow draftee and Southern gent Pvt. Francis Marion, an unexpected highlight. But also it has been cited that allegedly according to Price's daughter Victoria that The Eve of St. Mark stands as one of his favorites performances. I can see why, I enjoyed it and it obviously was a formative role towards his trademark style.
- Harry Morgan, better known as Col. Sherman T. Potter on the 1970s hit TV show M.A.S.H. His performance and character is also notable, appealing but also contextually interesting given this early role nearly 30 years before he as cast in higher rank on M.A.S.H. By coincidence, I just watched another one of his prominent roles in the excellent western and even better film Yellow Sky (1948) alongside Gregory Peck, Anne Baxter, Richard Widmark and others.
- Other supporting characters include performances by Michael O'Shea, Stanley Prager, John Archer as fellow Privates. George Mathews as Sgt. Ruby and others..
- Ruth Nelson and good old character actor Ray Collins play Pvt. Quizz West's parents.

The soapy ending and a psychic maneuver leave a clean but the slightly redolent, polymer smell of a contrived wartime morale-booster flick but nevertheless its ideas are sound, true and embody the nobler side of the American ideal minus and severely less any sort of manner to that of the modern putrid silent wartime tactics of communist or anti-family, anti-America, amoral Hollywood propaganda-machine scripts and actors of TODAY.

For any Anne Baxter, even Price-fan or someone looking for a worthy but more obscure 40s Hollywood lead (Eythe) in a benign movie with a little romance; a quick film for its hour and thirty six minutes with an initial sprinkle of suspense.