Carbine Williams (1952)

Simply A Masterpiece

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Producer: Armand Deutsch. Copyright 14 April 1952 by Loew's Inc. A Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer picture. New York opening at the Capitol: 7 May 1952. U.S. release: May 1952. Australian release: 30 July 1952. 92 minutes. Cut to 8,073 feet in the U.K.SYNOPSIS: A true story about David Marshall Williams who developed the carbine rifle while serving a thirty-year prison term in North Carolina. — Copyright summary.COMMENT: Although it was none too successful on first release, "Carbine Williams" was formerly a frequent player on TV. It was one of the first of the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer black-and-white library to be "colorized". But now, of course, following the public outcry against colorization, it is not broadcast at all.For all this fuss, "Carbine Williams" offers no more than medium- range entertainment — except of course for dyed-in-the-wool Jimmy Stewart fans. The script offers little in the way of action but plenty of emotive moments for good old Jim. Indeed, patrons expecting the usual high-charged thrills of the typical prison picture, are going to feel rather short-changed.Despite her star billing, Jean "Singin' in the Rain" Hagen has a paltry role. And whilst it's true we see a lot of Wendell Corey, it's a rather thankless part that offers the glum actor few opportunities to shine.Thorpe's direction is competent enough, production credits are okay. The budget rates as just passable "A".OTHER VIEWS: Stewart's most negligible film of the fifties — the only serious career mistake he made amid a stream of remarkably fine pictures — Carbine Williams doesn't fit Stewart's image or personality at all. — Allen Eyles in "James Stewart".P.S. Your dead right, Allen, but would you believe Jimmy Stewart positively sought this role? Finally, he told Louis B. Mayer that he'd do it for half his usual fee. How could Mayer resist such an offer? If I was in Mayer's shoes, I would have done the same!

Some how I just seemed to have missed this great film of James Stewart and his great acting and a very entertaining film. James Stewart,(David Marshall,'Marsh',Williams),"Bell Book & Candle",'58, winds up in a prison camp with nice stripe uniforms and a very bad attitude towards writing home to his wife, and his prison warden, Wendell Corey,(Capt. H.T. Peoples),"The Big Knife",'55. Capt. Peoples tries to break Marsh down to his way of thinking and as a result, he starts making automatic weapons. Jean Hagen,(Maggie Williams),"The Big Knife",'55, gave an outstanding supporting role as the wife of Marsh. If you want to see a young Stewart and a very entertaining story, watch this great CLASSIC!

As other reviewers mention, this is a very good portrayal of one of the most interesting and talented men to ever serve time for murder. Unlike "Birdman of Alcatraz," which portrayed one of the most revolting murderers in history as some sort of a saintly scientist, this film accurately describes Carbine Williams' transformation from a rebellious moonshiner (who may or may not have killed a Fed in self-defense) into an admirable and very valuable citizen.Williams' brilliant innovations in weapons design made a significant contribution to the Allied victory in WW2. I carried an M-1 carbine (essentially his design) in the Army and still own several of them -- perhaps the best all-purpose firearm in history.This movie isn't shown often and most people are unaware of it, but it deserves a wider audience.

As an actor, James Stewart seems to have hit his stride in the fifteen years or so after the Second World War. Known up to this point as a gee-whiz, gulp-and-golly, boy-next-door Everyman type, Stewart took on roles of increasing complexity, most notably in the psychological "adult" westerns of Anthony Mann. Even his famous and much loved role as George Bailey in "It's a Wonderful Life" contains a dark brooding undercurrent which belies its sunny reputation as a feel-good family Holiday film. All of which goes to show that Stewart could bring something unexpected to even the "corniest" movies.In "Carbine Williams", Stewart plays the title role, a moonshiner who is convicted of murdering a Federal agent, and who then gets sent to a chain gang after being implicated in a prison murder. His rebellious nature brings him into conflict with the warden at the prison farm, Captain Peoples (Dracut MA's own Wendell Corey), until he discovers a means of channelling his anger and bitterness.The real-life David Marshall Williams did indeed invent the improvements in firearms which led directly to the development to the M-1 carbine, the weapon which helped to win World War II. And he did it while serving a long prison sentence for murder. The story is interesting enough on its own, but Stewart brings an intensity and heart to the role which makes it even more fascinating than a mere telling of the facts would be.One of many excellent films James Stewart made during the 1950's, this one is somewhat obscure, not particularly well-remembered today. But it deserves to be.