utgard14 A nurse named Laura (Diana Wynyard) in World War I has sex with a pilot (Robert Young), who dies soon after. She discovers she's pregnant so she agrees to marry another man (Lewis Stone) so the child will have a father. Years later her son Bob (Phillips Holmes) is grown and the world is on the brink of another world war. But Laura is vehemently anti-war and has raised her son the same. This leads to conflict as Laura's husband is now the US Secretary of State and expects Bob to fight for his country.Fascinating movie with a lot of thought-provoking ideas and prescient look at a second world war and technological advances like television and videophones. Love the art deco sets. The acting is good with melodramatic Wynyard leading the way. Stone is fine in his usual rigid way. Holmes is terrific and one of the most natural actors in the cast. Robert Young makes the most of his limited screen time. Lovely Ruth Selwyn (wife of director Edgar Selwyn, thirty years her senior) is very likable as Holmes' love interest. May Robson is fine in a supporting role that's dripping with bitterness. It's a wonderful Pre-Code film. The opening scene has Young and Wynyard dressing after their lovemaking. Just a year later you wouldn't see a suggestive scene like that. Heck you wouldn't have seen this movie period since the plot involves premarital sex. The climactic scene where the enemy forces attack New York City is gripping stuff. A sad bit of irony is that, in the end of this film, Phillips Holmes' character enlists as a pilot and flies off to war. Holmes himself would enlist in World War II as a pilot and be killed in a mid-air collision in Canada.

LeonLouisRicci Well Acted Prognostication and Warning About the Next "Great War". An Even Handed Dual Purpose Picture that Tries and Mostly Succeeds to Have it Both Ways.The Movie Starts in the Middle of WWI and Sets Up the Illegitimate Relationship of a Nurse and a Flyer Before it Leaps to 1940 and then Sets the Stage for the Beginning of WWII (remember, the Film was made in 1933) and the Clash Between Pacifists and Patriots.Noble and Notable as a Glimpse Into a Possible Future that Really Did Happen. The Film Also Manages to Foreshadow a Few Technological Advancements. Poison Gas was the Contemporary Horror and the Scariest Watch Weapon of the Period and it is Included Here Quite Forcefully. The Battle Scenes that Take Place Above the Air and In New York City are Chilling.Some May Consider the Ending a Lean Toward Pro-War, but there is Enough Anti-War Sentiment Throughout to Make This a "Fair and Balanced" Contrast of Philosophies. A Little Known Film that is a Gem of its Kind and is an Undiscovered, Utterly Thought Provoking Exercise of its Time and Any Time for that Matter.

sicolemanjr1 When this movie was on TCM I almost turned it off as it was described as Science Fiction. Not being a fan of SciFi but having read the description of the movie, I decided to give it a try. I felt it really confronted some very important details that are often overlooked in the patriotic bravado associated with decisions of going to war. Eerily prophetic in my opinion. I think the many topics including unwed birth, that were presented in this movie make it a very timeless and "real" story. The very startling irony for me is that Philip Holmes who played the son died in 1942 at the start of WWII in a mid-air collision after having joined the Royal Canadian Air Force!!

bkoganbing Men Must Fight is an interesting if somewhat dated look at the future of the world as seen from 1933. At that time the thought of another total war like World War I turned out to be was abhorrent in the eyes of civilization. In fact World War I was simply called the Great War when referred to, that we'd have another was unthinkable.Diana Wynyard plays a nurse on the front lines in the Great War who's in love with flier Robert Young. When Young's killed, he's left something permanent for Wynyard to remember him by. But good and stout friend Lewis Stone will marry her and raise the kid as their own.Flash forward 20 years and the future in 1940 has folks using television and cellphones where one can talk and text. Lewis Stone is the US Secretary of State and curiously enough his character name is William Seward like another of our greatest Secretarys of State. Diana Wynyard is a pacifist activist and the two seem to work in tandem.The film is purposely vague, not telling us exactly who the US rivals are out there. It's an amorphous amalgamation of countries called, Eurasia. Our ambassador to there is assassinated and this means war because national honor requires it. Interestingly enough a few of our ambassadors in the past centuries were assassinated and the USA did not go to war for national honor in real life.This causes a conflict in Wynyard's grown son played by Phillips Holmes. Stone falls in line with the war declaration, Wynyard still works for peace, Holmes doesn't know what to do though he leans in Wynyard's direction. Holmes also is in conflict with his fiancé Ruth Selwyn who says America must fight.At that time the ultimate weapon was poison gas and the fear was that the chemists on both sides would make even more lethal varieties. And air raids. New York in fact is bombed by air.Men Must Fight is old fashioned and melodramatic. At the same time it's a sincere plea for international understanding and peace. My guess is that Louis B. Mayer buried this one deep in MGM's vaults when World War II came around. We're fortunate to have TCM show it, especially since leading lady Diana Wynyard made so very few films.