Who Does Your Data Entry?
John J. Schauer | Chicago, IL USA | 08/22/2007
(4 out of 5 stars)
"This film showcases three major Hollywood names: Burt Lancaster, Chuck Connors and Virginia Mayo. Yet from the Borders listing you would never know it, unless you look carefully at the cover image. Instead, a list of four totally obscure names (has anyone heard of John Alderson, Rudolph Anders, Leon Askin or Paul Bryar?) is given as the supposed roster of actors. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated example. It might be of interest to some potential buyers that one of the biggest names in Hollywood history is the star.
It's not a great movie, certainly, and other than Burt Lancaster, the other two stars are perhaps not the most glittering from Hollywood's pantheon. But to see the macho, bare-chested Messrs. Lancaster and Connors cavorting on an isolated South Sea island is definitely entertaining, and I'm delighted that this film has finally found its way to DVD."
Escapist Entertainment in the Hollywood Tradition!
Doctor Nostradamus | Anytown, USA | 01/14/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"What can I say. This is a thoroughly splendid piece of World War 2 Hollywood blarney. It is pure escapist entertainment released for the family audience of post World War Two America. "What did you do in the war Daddy?" was a question often asked in those days following the war and a lot of kids whose fathers were Marines in WW 2 must have wondered if thats what it was like too.
As history or serious fiction it is bilge. The trial is all about protecting of a friend. Burt is like "The Crimson Pirate!" in a Marine Sergent's Uniform trying to save the brash and dopey Chuck Connors from a fate worse than death i.e. Virginia Mayo, the Bar Singer he met with the heart of gold. Add a supporting cast of Warner Brother castaway character actors and there you have it, an Irish stew of a movie!
The ending is action packed and injects some meaningful pathos befitting the time and setting. The improvised, nearly suicidal mission against the Japanese in a boat full of colorful characters is an act of personal redemption, patriotism, heroism, and sacrifice all wrapped into one, and all men, Veterans or not, had to love looking at Virginia Mayo and laughing at the stupid love story. It's all fantasy of course but it does not insult or hurt anyone.
You should see this once anyhow. It is certainly great escapist entertainment in the Hollywood tradition. It was no miss TV when I was a kid."