Johnny Got His Gun — The Radio Drama That Forced America to Hear the Cost of War
What can radio do that film cannot?
In this episode of Chesterton Radio Storycraft, we explore one of the most powerful and unsettling radio dramas ever broadcast — Johnny Got His Gun, adapted by Arch Oboler and performed by James Cagney.
Originally written by Dalton Trumbo, the story follows a young soldier who survives the battlefield but awakens to a terrible realization: he has lost nearly everything that connects him to the outside world. What remains is his mind — and the desperate need to be heard.
It is a story about war, but even more about silence, consciousness, and the human…
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