MEN MUST FIGHT (1933)

A very odd film, especially considered as a mainstream studio production, a bit like the later THINGS TO COME, but with less emphasis on the sci-fi trappings. We first see Diana Wynard as a nurse, sending her pilot lover off into the dangerous skies of WWI France. He is promptly shot down and killed, leaving her alone with child. Lewis Stone, an older friend, offers to marry her for convienence. The story then jumps ahead to the future (1940); Stone is now the American Secretary of State as another world war threatens to break out, as WWI did, over an assassination. Stone has to stand by his government's decision to go to war with Eurasia, but Wynard and her grown-up son (Phillips Holmes) are pacifists. Much of the movie consists of philosophical debates about war, peace, and patriotism, and at a peace rally, Wynard proposes a solution, seemingly inspired by Aristophanes' "Lysistrata": women should refuse to bear any more children until their men stop waging war. This is dropped, however, when the rally ends in violence. Ultimately, although the pacifist side is held up as respectable, it is shown to be impractical, hence the title of the film. The enemy bombs New York City, destroying skyscrapers and injuring Wynard; she changes her mind and backs her son's enlistment in the armed forces. Robert Young is Wynard's WWI lover; May Robson is Stone's mother; Hedda Hopper and Robert Grieg also appear. The only real futuristic touches are some picture phones and the occasional streamlined set design. Even though its climax has become unexpectedly relevant after the World Trade Center attacks, the film is too talky with too many tedious stretches. The same things harm the flow of THINGS TO COME, but the sets, costumes, and effects are more interesting in that film. [TCM]