The Real Glory

Released Sep 15, 1939

1h 35m

War

List

80%

5 Reviews

Tomatometer

36%

100+ Ratings

Audience Score

In 1906, Col. Hatch (Roy Gordon) is stationed in the Philippines and ordered to withdraw his forces from the island of Mindanao. Worried that an insurgent army headed by the ruthless Alipang (Tetsu Komai) will slaughter Filipinos and seize power, Hatch recruits a group of tested military officers -- including Bill Canavan (Gary Cooper), a military doctor, and McCool (David Niven) and Larson (Broderick Crawford), two rambunctious Lieutenants -- to train the locals.

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Steve D

The story is fine but Leeds is wasted.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/11/24

Full Review

paul d

Gary Cooper is very, very good playing a kind, intellectual adventure hero, a variation of the character he incarnated in his greatest roles. He's got a little bit of Frank Capra's social conscientiousness and a little bit of the bravura of Indiana Jones. The movie depicts a distant Philippine outpost of the US Army in 1906 whose job it is to prepare the local militia, in this majority Catholic country, from attacks by the minority Muslim Moros. Religious zealotry, traditions and superstitions play important roles in the plot. There is lots of derring-do and other movie clichés befitting a traditional colonial adventure and military film of the 1930s, and those are a bit hard to take in 2021, but at least it has good and believable production values befitting such films. Broderick Crawford and David Niven bring life to the screen. One curiosity for movie historians: why does this American film about the US Army have so many British actors ?

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Military period piece, which pretty much follows a 'western' narrative in its Philippine setting.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/06/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Not in the same league as 'Beau Geste' or 'Gunga Din' (films which this somewhat resembles) but it's got great atmosphere and Gary Cooper is mesmerising.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/23/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Exciting and powerful adventure film from Samuel Goldwyn. Gary Cooper is perfectly cast, with David Niven in a good supporting role. The film raises many interesting questions about occupying a foreign territory and dealing with consequences of terrorism as a result. But overall, it's not too heavy a film, and is memorable for it's action sequences such as the rafting scene. Hathaway delivers another exciting adventure yarn in the tradition of his 1935 "Lives of a Bengal Lancer".

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/27/23

Full Review

Audience Member

There are few war films set in the Asian sphere of combat. This is a good one.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/23/23

Full Review

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Henry Hathaway

Director

Gary Cooper

Dr. Bill Canavan

Andrea Leeds

Linda Hartley

David Niven

Lt. Terence McCool

Reginald Owen

Capt. Steve Hartley

Broderick Crawford

Lt. Larson

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Variety Staff

Variety

As a vehicle for Cooper, Real Glory offers him a chance to perform some unusual feats of gallantry, over a wide terrain.

Jul 23, 2008

Full Review

Frank S. Nugent

New York Times

If it's an adventure film you want, uncomplicated by small talk and unconditionally guaranteed to build up your blood pressure, the [The Real Glory is] the place to find it.

May 6, 2008

Full Review

Pare Lorentz

McCall's

Pleasant people, in a simple, well-made, tight melodrama, but it failed to stir me simply because I could not divorce this story of a minor island war of ours from the recollection of the newsreel I had seen just before The Real Glory began.

Dec 27, 2023

Full Review

Graham Greene

The Spectator

Cooper as the military doctor, who arrives with a present of orchids and a colonel's gallstone for his friends, has never acted better.

May 15, 2018

Full Review

Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

Gary Cooper is always at his best playing American heroes.

Rated: B-

Sep 3, 2006

Full Review

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Synopsis

In 1906, Col. Hatch (Roy Gordon) is stationed in the Philippines and ordered to withdraw his forces from the island of Mindanao. Worried that an insurgent army headed by the ruthless Alipang (Tetsu Komai) will slaughter Filipinos and seize power, Hatch recruits a group of tested military officers -- including Bill Canavan (Gary Cooper), a military doctor, and McCool (David Niven) and Larson (Broderick Crawford), two rambunctious Lieutenants -- to train the locals.

Director: Henry Hathaway
Screenwriter: Charles L. Clifford, Robert Presnell Sr., Jo Swerling
Distributor: United Artists
Production Co: United Artists, Samuel Goldwyn Company
Genre: War
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Sep 15, 1939, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 27, 2020
Runtime: 1h 35m

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