Review of Hell in the Pacific (1968) by Alison O — 12 Jul 2005

Best in Show: Can't split the two leads.

One for the future: n/a.

Stand-out scene: Entente cordiale.

Brainer or no-brainer: Brainer.

Stands up to one viewing or repeated?: Repeated.

DVD commentary any good?: n/a.

TV.

During WW2 an American pilot parachutes from his stricken plane onto a remote island in the Pacific where a marooned Japanese Navy Captain is shipwrecked. They can't speak one another's language and initially the prospect of them co-operating with one another to ensure their mutual survival is zero. Enemy Mine went on to, well, ...mine similar territory in 1985; the loneliness of life on the island means that the two have to combine their skills in order to survive and stay sane. Thanks to the IMDB I know that the ending of the movie was drastically different than the one John Boorman filmed originally and if the studio had stuck with his vision then the movie would have benefited. The version I saw seems too abrupt and smacked of tampering when I saw it. The studio had taken the bravest step; allowing a movie to be made in which half of the dialogue (as little as there was) was unintelligible so why they couldn't stick to the screenplay I don't know. In Castaway Tom Hanks had Wilson the basketball to converse with, here Lee Marvin and Toshiro Mifune (off of Shogun, who made 181 movies in his lifetime) bark at one another in their respective languages, their frustration at not being able to communicate directly spilling over time and time again. The actors must have gone through a fair amount of hardship filming this on a remote Pacific island and it shows in their performances. I mentioned Castaway earlier and this is the better film; the schmaltz that overrode a lot of that movie is non-existent here, director Boorman exhuding confidence and great use of natural lighting despite his few years behind the camera. Having previously made the excellent Point Blank with Marvin his communication with the actor is faultless - this has to be the best two-hander (both actors are now sadly departed) I've ever seen. Terrific.