|
 |
Hell to Eternity
|
by Fox Home Entertainment
Sales Rank: 18133
Price: $14.98
|
|
|
<i>Hell to Eternity</i> (1962) sets out to tell the true story of Guy Gabaldon, a white Angeleno raised from boyhood by a family of Japanese-Americans. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, his parents are interned, his brothers enlist to fight in Europe, and Guy (Jeffrey Hunter)--after clearing it with mama-san--offers the Marines his services in the Pacific as an interpreter. During the battle for Saipan (reenacted by director Phil Karlson on the island of Okinawa) he undergoes several transformations, from reluctant warrior to implacable avenger to, ultimately, a truce-seeker trying to save lives on both sides. That's a fine-sounding dramatic trajectory, but the two-hours-plus Allied Artists production is patchy, with some amateurish acting in the Los Angeles portion (including an early appearance by George Takei) and an excruciating, wishfully raunchy night of shore leave in Hawaii before shipping out to the war zone. Sessue Hayakawa of <i>Bridge on the River Kwai</i> fame dominates the final sequences as the Japanese commandant. <i>--Richard T. Jameson</i>
Viewer Reviews
This movie has not withstood the test of time, but still offers an insight into one American's experience growing up with Japanese Americans and then using his LA Japanese to face Imperial Japanese forces on Saipan. This DVD could be made much more effectively if it had film of the real Guy Gabaldon, who died recently. Of course, that would ruin the fantasy-story Hollywood created around him. A simple man, who fought an enemy, tried to talk them into surrendering, but shot them dead if they did not. Not much romance in that, but, it was war.
Back To Top
|
Hell to Eternity
Available from Amazon
|
|
NOTICE: All product prices, availability, and specifications
are subject to verification by their respective retailers.
Copyright © 2009, Dominant Systems Corporation
info@HowlingVideo.com
Privacy Policy
Last Modified : 1-6-2009
|
