Force of Arms

Force of Arms (reissued as A Girl for Joe) is a 1951 romantic war drama film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring William Holden, Nancy Olson and Frank Lovejoy. It is the third of four films in 1950 and 1951 to include both Holden and Olson in prominent roles; the others are Sunset Boulevard, Union Station and Submarine Command.

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Force of Arms

Directed by	Michael Curtiz
Written by	Orin Jannings Richard Tregaskis (story)
Produced by	Anthony Veiller
Starring	William Holden Nancy Olson
Cinematography	Ted D. McCord
Edited by	Owen Marks
Music by	Max Steiner
Production company	Warner Bros.
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date	August 13, 1951 (1951-08-13)
Running time	98-105 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$1.2 million (US rentals)^[1]

The film is set in the Italian campaign of World War II and its plot involves an American infantryman and Women's Army Corps officer who fall in love.

The American 36th Infantry Division is fighting bitterly for every hill in the Allied advance on Rome during the Italian campaign of World War II. After hard combat in the Battle of San Pietro in mid-December 1943, the infantrymen are awarded five days of needed rest. Spurning reverie in town, battle-fatigued sergeant Joe "Pete" Peterson wanders in the night in a cemetery filled with fresh crosses. He runs into attractive WAC lieutenant Eleanor "Ellie" MacKay but is treated coolly. Pete's friend and commanding officer Major Blackford informs him that Pete has been granted a battlefield commission and promoted to second lieutenant.

When Sergeant McFee becomes upset because he has not received a letter from his wife in weeks, Pete takes him to the post office to investigate and finds Ellie working there. Ellie offers to buy Pete a drink to celebrate his promotion, but she again rejects his advances, revealing that she almost married a soldier who was killed and does not want to risk falling in love again. However, when the division's leave is cut short, her resistance fails and they plan to marry during his next leave.

Blackford assigns Pete and his platoon to destroy a German roadblock. After the mission, Pete spots two deadly German 88 antitank guns commanding the road on which American Sherman tanks are advancing. When one of his men urges him to attack the guns, he becomes overly cautious, thinking of Ellie. He orders an artillery strike before realizing that Blackford is directing the tank column from its lead. He helplessly watches the 88s destroy Blackford's tank before he is wounded by an artillery barrage, knocking him unconscious.

Pete awakens and blames himself for Blackford's death, feeling guilty about thinking only of his own survival, Pete sinks into a depression, unwilling to see anyone, but a visit from Ellie changes his mood. With a three-day leave before being returned to a replacement depot, safely out of combat, Pete takes Ellie to the countryside and get married. However, Pete's guilt compels him to rejoin his unit. Ellie knows that she cannot stop him, but she will be there when he returns. Months pass and she discovers that she is pregnant, which means a discharge from the army and repatriation at home, but she resists.

Pete is trapped in tough house-to-house combat, unaware that his unit has been ordered to retreat. He is listed as missing and presumed dead. Unwilling to accept that uncertainty, Ellie searches everywhere for him without success. When the Allies occupy Rome, she finally finds him there. He had been taken as a prisoner but was freed when the Germans abandoned the city intact.

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