Absolutely the worst movie.

A Brilliant Conflict

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

I saw this film for the first time today and it definitely beat my expectations. Gary Cooper played an unforgettable role as the brave, yet insubordinate Doc Canavan, a Lieutenant in the U.S. Army working at a medical clinic in a small, mostly Catholic Filipino town in Mindanao ( presumably on the island of Basilan ) which was under constant attack from the ( presumably ) Tausug Moro rebels from the Sulu Archipelago ( which actually did take place for over 300 years in the region ). As a speaker of Tagalog, it was fun to hear the dialog between the Filipino actors and actresses in the film, and I was entertained by the fact that they had so much of it.Although the film is entirely a work of fiction and does not assert that this is a depiction of historical events, some reviewers here seem to have tried to label this film as "propaganda" and as being an "Arm of the U.S. Government's War Machine" because it depicts the U.S. military as something other than a rowdy gang of puppy-tossing, blood hungry murderers and thugs. This is somewhat upsetting. After seeing this movie I was inspired by the message that the movie sent, and was reminded of how there really was a time in American history where Americans were somewhat cognizant of how things actually work in the world. A time when Americans actually supported the country which birthed them, pampered them, and allowed them to enjoy a freedom so comfortable that it created an atmosphere capable of cultivating ANTI-American ideals.

Back in 1999 I made a long planned journey to the Far East and the Phillipines was one of the stops. I learned two things there and they are key to understanding The Real Glory. The first is they are very proud of the fact they are the only Christian nation in the Far East. The second is that they gained their independence in 1898, but suffered American occupation until 1946.The southern Phillipines are where the Moslem Moros reside and if we hadn't been there, they would still have a lovely religious war with the Christian northern islands. But we were also occupiers and it is part of an occupying army that new American officers Gary Cooper, David Niven, and Broderick Crawford arrive at a post in one of those southern Moslem dominated islands.The events in this film take place in 1906, four years after the Filipino resistance was crushed. Our three American officers are assigned to a place where the local Osama is running roughshod over the populace and waging a nasty, brutal war on the Americans with tactics not unlike we see in Iraq and Afghanistan.I can't say too much more about the plot of this film, it gets down right silly at times. But someone should screen this for this president and the one who'll succeed him. If the key to installing fear in Moslem hearts is as simple as Gary Cooper discovers, we'll beat them without any further ado.Maybe one day someone will make a good film about the Phillipine resistance and our occupation. There's quite a story there, at different points in time, America is shown in a good or bad light. It's sad that this is the only film I can think of about the USA in the Phillipines.

The USA didn't have much of a foreign colonialist period. Like Germany, we came rather late to the game. Besides which Americans were busy colonizing their own interior.But in the mid- to late 1930s stories of colonial adventures abroad seemed to become suddenly popular in Hollywood, or at least simplified and romanticized versions of same. Gary Cooper was in a surprising number of them. Usually they're a lot of nonsensical fun. Discounting American Westerns, there were "Gunga Din," "Lives of a Bengal Lancer," "Beau Geste," "Morroco," "The Charge of the Light Brigade," others whose names escape me, and this one, "The Real Glory." It takes place in the land of the Moros (Filipino Moslems) who resent the Westernization of their cobbled-together country by first Spain, then, after the Spanish-American war, the Americans. That war is still being fought. But, not to worry, everything in the movie turns out alright in the end -- well, almost.Gary Cooper, David Niven, and Broderick Crawford are Army lieutenants stationed at an undermanned fort surrounded by jungle and enemies. If you think of this as a rather typical situation for this sort of action movie, you're probably on the right track. It usually leads to a heroic defense of the fort by our side. And it gives the writers a chance to have hordes of evildoers charging the fort to be mowed down in rows like wheat by a motorized reaper. There must be at least one heroic sacrifice too, of a secondary character. Sometimes there's just one (Gunga Din) and sometimes, as here, both Niven and Crawford are given a chance to make the supreme sacrifice. Of the two sacrifices, Crawford's is the more supreme. A harmless, doltish officer who is devoted to growing orchids, he is captured by the Moros, his head smeared with honey, and then he is buried up to his neck in an ant hill. Those Moros were pitiless cookies. If I'm not mistaken the Colt Model 1911 .45 caliber automatic, a veritable cannon at the time, was developed partly because smaller caliber pistols were thought unable to stop a charging Moro.The rafting scenes were done, it appears, in the lower reaches of the Kern River. This is a dangerous area to raft or inner-tube in. It's the only rushing water for ten thousand miles around Bakersfield, California, and is a popular bathing spot in the summer, even though a few rafters and tubers usually are lost. It's interesting too in that it is the only known home of the Kern Valley salamander (Batrachoseps simatus), and only for a stretch of a few miles along the bank -- and only the northern bank.I think I like Gunga Din better because there is more slapstick, more laughs all around, and because the characters are a little better developed. But "The Real Glory" is nothing to be ashamed of. An enjoyable romp by stars wearing colorful uniforms in an exotic location and involved in a conflict nobody ever heard of.

As interesting as the personal relationships were written - for the times, the action sequences were the most escapist - from the laws of probability.It was interesting to see the Moro leaders speak to each other in English then turn to their followers and speak to them in the native language. It was surprising to have Canavan view the Moro gang's ceremonial planning for the next act and not recognize the Moro chief, Datu, as one of the conspirators. It was astounding that when a speedy return to the fort was required, taking the time to build 10-15 rafts to float the squadron down the undammed river was the method of travel. It was magical to see that trees were cut and lashed together for the rafts without the appearance of tools or an area for construction.But it was just unbelievable to watch the men navigate the rushing river rapids standing on the rafts with push poles, then have only the native constabulary falling off the raft while Canavan stands statuesque as the raft plows into a giant rock in the middle of the river.These were all things that could have been accomplished correctly relatively easily.It was just funny to see the close-up scenes on the river that were clearly mixed images. But that's the best they could do then. It was also funny to see the cannon shots into the fort wall, unless the script was trying to say the attacking gang had somehow lifted the cannon over the wall and was firing from the outside. It makes David Niven's English accent while claiming an entire life in the US almost plausible.Escapist? Whew, I should say! But I guess it's the best they could do?