Turner Classic Movies is broadcasting Battle Circus (1955) on October 7. It’s not a great movie, but Baby Boomers will recognize many similarities to 1970’s MASH. Battle Circus stars Humphrey Bogart as a doctor in a US Army mobile hospital unit in the Korean War. As in MASH, there’s plenty of casualty-laden helicopters, smart ass humor, partying and nurse-chasing.
Of course, Battle Circus‘ story came directly out of the then-contemporary Korean War. MASH was adapted from the 1968 novel by Richard Hooker, who had served in such a unit 15 years before. And, of course, Robert Altman framed MASH so that, although it was set in the Korean War, it was really about the Vietnam War.
(By the way, the novel and the 1970 movie were titled MASH, and the epic TV series was titled M*A*S*H*. )