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SUBSTANCE INTO SHADOW 203
giving their behaviour a deeper pathos. Rivera's sardonic pronouncements, when seen in the context of his fear and insecurity, acquire a fresh dimension which the novel does not give. The often repeated catch-lines are used in the novel merely as one of the means of characterization. In the film Rivera and Friedman often conduct their repetitive dialogues with faces averted from each other : knowing each other's responses before they are heard, they nevertheless go on making the same conversation throughout the film. The expected replies provide an element of stability which the men need and clutch at.
Milestone's sympathies are, however, revealed only in part through his actors. The ballad which is heard on the sound-track sets the action of the unit in a wider context and expresses Milestone's philosophical acceptance of the necessity of combat. Similarly, Windy's soliloquies provide a further expression of the director's attitude. The mental break-down of the company's sergeant, reported in the book factually and without comment, is illuminated in the film by Windy's comforting words as he watches over the stunned, stupefied body of his friend. 'We understand/ he says. 'You've just had one battle too many.' He becomes the spokesman of the director's attitude a regretful acceptance of the necessity of fighting, mellowed by a profound respect for its individual victims.
It may be argued whether the attitude to war behind A Walk in the Sun is laudable or even acceptable, but it is consistently maintained. The film's affinities with All Quiet on the Western Front in spite of a considerable change of emphasis are obvious. From the fresh conception, using Harry Brown's novel for its basic material, emerges unmistakably a Milestone film.