Hell To Eternity (1960) On DVD

Actor:           Jeffrey Hunter, David Janssen, Vic Damone, Patricia Owens, Richard Eyer                                                                                                                      
Director:      Phil Karlson
Genre:          Drama
Year:            1960
Studio:          Warner Brothers
Length:         132
Released:    June 5, 2007
Rating:          Not Rated (MPAA Rating)
Format:         DVD
Misc:              NTSC, Black & White
Language:    English
Subtitles  :    English, French

DESCRIPTION:

Hell to Eternity (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 ofBridge on the River Kwai fame dominates the final sequences as the Japanese commandant.

Special Features:

• 1960s war movies trailer gallery