At the same time, he played an important role in the best movie I know about the complexities of strategic thinking, 1948's Command Decision, from the Broadway play of a couple of years before by a writer who had spent the war in 8th Air Force Intelligence, and got what it was all about better than a lot of thirty-year officers do. It's a war movie without a single combat scene, and Van Johnson is just one of a first-rate cast that included Clark Gable, Walter Pidgeon, Brian Donlevy, Edward Arnold, Charles Bickford, and others, but it's more or less the entire National War College year in two hours, and one of my favorites about World War II.
On Fri, Dec 12, 2008 at 4:54 PM, Mike Robinson <[email protected]>wrote: > Van Johnson starred in one of the best war movies ever made... > "Battleground"... about the battle of the bulge... told from the point of > view of the infantrymen who had to fight it... in the mud... rather than > that of the brass... back in the rear with the beer and the gear... MR > > --- On *Fri, 12/12/08, Anthony Calabrese <[email protected]>* wrote: > > From: Anthony Calabrese <[email protected]> > Subject: [ChurchillChat] Van Johnson Died > To: "List Churchill" <[email protected]> > Date: Friday, December 12, 2008, 11:59 AM > > Van Johnson, a star from the golden age of Hollywood, died today. When > reading his obituary, I noticed that he painted as a hobby. In an interview > 20 or so years ago, he said how he started: > > "I was on the Onassis yacht with Winston Churchill. He got his canvas out > and so did I. He was working away, and he growled at me, `Don't just sit > there and stare! Get some paint and splash it on!'" > > ANyway, thought I would pass that along. > > > My Blog <http://thecatholiclibertarian.blogspot.com/> > "Towards the government I feel no scruples and would dodge paying the tax > if I could. Yet I would give my life for England readily enough, if I > thought it necessary. No one is patriotic about taxes." -- George Orwell, > Wartime Diary, September 8, 1940. > > > > > > ------------------------------ > Send e-mail anywhere. No map, no compass. Get your Hotmail(R) account > now.<http://windowslive.com/Explore/hotmail?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_hotmail_acq_anywhere_122008> > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ChurchillChat" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/ChurchillChat?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
