MovieChat Forums > Battleground (1950) Discussion > 'Nineteen hundred and seventy-four'

'Nineteen hundred and seventy-four'

posted 16 years ago by hobnob53
10 replies | jump to latest

I always loved that cadence-count song the troops sang, featuring the odd line:

Sgt.:"You won't get out till the end of the war."
Men: "In nineteen hundred and seventy-four!"

Were there ever such lyrics in a cadence song? There were a lot of lyrics (clean and otherwise) in cadence tunes used in marching, and I wonder if this one was based on an actual marching tune.

In any case, a little strange to hear men (in action set in 1944) reciting lyrics noting a date 30 years in the future (and 25 years ahead from when the film was made)...a date now 34 years in the past, and (still) counting. Time, if nothing else, marches on.

[–] stanleybix-1 16 years ago

In the WWII movie "A Walk In The Sun" (1947), Private Archimbeau (Norman Lloyd) says "this war will never end, and that in 1959 we will be fighting the battle of Tibet". Just caught "Battleground" (again)this afternoon on the TCM tribute to Ricardo Montalban.

[–] hobnob53 16 years ago

That's right. In The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), when General Wynn-Candy and his Home Guard troops are captured by a troop of soldiers hours ahead of the start of war games, and the general complains about how he did things differently in the army when he joined 40 years ago, the young soldier in command arrogantly mocks those 40 years and says, "But in 1983, someone will say that I was a fellow of enterprise."

Always weird to hear decades-off dates mentioned off-handedly in such films...as in Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941), where the hero (Robert Montgomery), prematurely snatched by an angel for Heaven, learns he wasn't due to die until the morning of May 11, 1991 -- at which he exclaims "Fifty years! I got another fifty years!"

RIP, Ricardo Montalban: 1920-2009.

[–] Babys-man 16 years ago

I'm getting waayy off-topic here, but I really liked an item in "Laugh-in". During one of the "News of Future" episodes set in 1988, they refer to "President Reagan" asking Germany to tear down the Berlin Wall!

[–] hobnob53 16 years ago

Really? Wow!

Well, in 1923 Gen. Billy Mitchell had written that the Japanese could attack and sink our fleet at Pearl Harbor "one fine Sunday morning", so strange things do happen. But Laugh-In?!!

[–] SquirrelBot3000 15 years ago

Wow, both of those things are pretty prophetic and screwy at the same time.

Now I wonder if any of Conan's "in the Year 3000" bits might hit their mark. Too bad we won't be around to find out. :P

[–] hobnob53 15 years ago

Well, we could give it a shot, follow Ted Williams's example....

[–] Ironman54 15 years ago

Re: "Laugh-in" above...not sure what the authors point was but I'm pretty certain it was a joke - thats for sure, thats for dang sure.

[–] hobnob53 15 years ago

Jody was right!

[–] PR-7 13 years ago

And Reagan is NEVER mentioned in that "news" report. See for yourself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLlWbDu30PI

Note that Rowan says that, twenty years from now, it will be 1989. Also note that, in July of 1989, it STILL would have seemed impossible for the Berlin Wall to have gone down in that year.

A MUCH different "news of the future" report does mention it's 1988 and Reagan is President, but there is NO connection with the Berlin Wall. Note that Rowan says that 1988 is twenty years from now.

If you do the math, you can see your memory is as good as Reagan's when, on 1986 November 13, he swore to the American people, "We did not, repeat, DID NOT trade weapons, or anything else, for hostages."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHXq8TRejow

It's also obvious these are different skits when you simply look at whether Rowan has a moustache or not.

.
Screwtape: "Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick."

[–] 13 years ago

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