20 Feb Bright Victory
Bright Victory, WWII Movie starring Arthur Kennedy
(1951) An American soldier blinded by a sniper’s bullet struggles to put his life back together again. After his injury, Sergeant Nevins is flown back to a US hospital for rehabilitation much as my Uncle Joe was.
It was interesting to watch how he was taught to adapt, to travel, to perform what had been simple skills, now difficult. Many scenes were shot on the U.S. Army General Hospital in Pennsylvania with some of the blind veterans being hired as extras.
The story also deals with racism in that Nevins insults his best friend when he makes a racial slur, not realizing that his friend is black. The racism was what he had learned from his parents, growing up in the South.
The movie was based on a hard to find book by Baynard Kendrick titled Lights Out. Kendrick served with the Canadian Army during WWI and met a blinded soldier whose abilities impressed him so much that he began to write novels about a blind private investigator. During WWII, Kendrick was an instructor for blinded veterans and then in 1945 wrote Lights Out.
Arthur Kennedy had the leading role. I didn’t recognize the name at first. In fact, I began to look for George Kennedy. Arthur was nominated for an Academy award for Bright Victory, and the New York Film Critics named him as best actor.
Kennedy served in World War II by making aviation training films.
I remember him from the 1957 Peyton Place. He was the stepfather who molested Selena, played by Hope Lange. And in the movie Air Force, Kennedy was the bombardier.
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