Glucedee It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Rexanne It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Caryl It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

edwagreen A year after they joined Gloria Swanson with Oscar nominations for the memorable "Sunset Boulevard," Bill Holden and Nancy Olson were passionate in "A Girl for Joe," which was also known as "A Force of Arms." No matter what the title, the film was certainly a major disappointment.The writing is weak here. Holden is the Lieutenant in the Army who meets fellow Lieutenant Olson, on a cemetery hill in Italy, where she is grieving for a lost love. Within moments, love blossoms between the both.The film alternates between battle scenes and days off for enjoyment for the GI's. We soon find ourselves with a wedding and Olson in a family way, only to have Holden, who is distraught with the deaths of his friend and a superior, go missing. We then find Olson frantically looking for him. Remember Little Boy Lost? Substitute a grown man for the child.

Hunt2546 Just caught it on Turner. The reviews calling it "routine" show how dull-normal some people are. In fact, the old pro Michael Curtiz (look him up) brings an extraordinary sensibility to the film. Gone are his romantic stylings of Casablanca and Robin Hood, his lush, overdone Warner's agreeable foolishness. Instead, he portrays war as bitter and without glory, full of random death and meaningless violence. The three combat sequences are superb, and Holden, as he would later demonstrate in "Bridge on the River K" is brilliant as a reluctant soldier who has no sense of glory and no wish to be a hero, but is nevertheless the everyman Infantryman, who knows he must do his duty. Curtiz doesn't turn this evocation of battle into boy's fantasy; it's hard, bitter, terrifying and brutally unfair to children and especially young American men who never thought they'd be dying in the slopes of Mt. Casino. The romance is nicely done, even if the ending is trite (but, in the way that cheap melody can be, amazingly satisfying). Olsen and Holden have great chem (as they proved in three other films as well) and all in all, the whole piece is kept in a register of near-realism that's very affecting. A neglected minor gem from the great Curtiz.

moonspinner55 A ludicrous war picture from Warner Bros., an uncredited rewrite of Ernest Hemingway's "A Farewell to Arms" set in Italy during WWII. Stationed near Napoli, American army sergeant William Holden takes a midnight walk through the cemetery and bumps into female lieutenant Nancy Olson; he tries picking her up but she, a wholesome farmer's daughter and former teacher, sternly rebuffs him. The next day, after the sergeant has been promoted to lieutenant himself, the two go out for drinks and she talks seriously how war has made 'love' into a dirty word, but Holden is too busy smelling her hair and noticing how her eyes light up to give a response (due to the gummy cinematography, Olson never lights up). She's been hurt by true love before--hence her appearance in the cemetery--so we wait while Holden thaws her out...slowly. Tersely-written screenplay by Orin Jannings leaves no foxhole cliché unturned! This was the third teaming of Holden with Olson--they should have quit while they were ahead. *1/2 from ****

dinky-4 Some have called this an updated version of "A Farewell to Arms," but if the time has been moved forward from World War I Italy to World War II Italy, the quality has also been moved down from "memorable" to "routine." There's really nothing much wrong with this production but there's little to distinguish it, either, and one sometimes gets the uncomfortable feeling that the death and destruction of the greatest war in human history is simply being used as the background for yet another boy-meets-girl story.William Holden has a shower scene which shows he was still, at this point in his career, in his "hairy-chested" mode. Just a few years later, beginning with "Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing," he entered his "shaved chest" period.Dick Wesson supplies some "comic relief" which is just as grating as his work in "Destination Moon."