Journey's End

I wouldn’t have thought it was possible to make a movie that takes place mostly in a World War I trench and dugout could hold my attention as well as Journey’s End did. Except perhaps for the excesses of Captain Stanhope’s temper and demeanor, the ensemble cast does well with the realistic dialogue. There is an element of an ominous Greek tragedy taking place, and a couple of developments I saw coming a mile off, but that didn’t detract from my appreciation of the story and how it was told. The knowledge of the attack that was due reminded me of Hitchcock’s comment that suspense wasn’t having a bomb explode in a movie; suspense was not knowing if it would explode. The attack when it came was almost an anticlimax. It makes me interested in how this was handled as a play with the limitations of scenes on a stage. I see there are versions online, so I may check one of them out.