6.9 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
During the Korean War, a U.S. Marine battalion must fight its way out of a frozen mountain pass despite diminishing supplies, freezing temperatures and constant attacks by overwhelming numbers of Chinese soldiers.
Starring: Frank Lovejoy, Richard Carlson, Anita Louise, Russ Tamblyn, Nedrick YoungWar | 100% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.37:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono
None
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
The Korean War is often called “America’s forgotten war”, and so it may come as something of a surprise to realize that Hollywood was not ignoring the conflict even as it raged. Retreat, Hell! was released in 1952, when Korea was turning out to be something of a quagmire, a term more associated with the Vietnam conflict of the next decade. What’s perhaps even more surprising about Retreat, Hell! is that it doesn’t romanticize the fighting, as might be expected of a quasi-propaganda effort designed to drum up support for an increasingly unpopular campaign. In fact, Retreat, Hell! is rather ruthless, if strangely cold and calculating, in depicting the ultimately tragic efforts of the United States Marines’ First Battalion in their attempts to hold of a North Korean (and of course by default Communist Chinese) attack, The film is really rather fascinating in that it maintains a staunchly apolitical viewpoint, concentrating instead on what might be thought of as the more generic “heroism” of our fighting men. That might seem to divorce the proceedings from any context, and in fact that’s probably the case, but the rather unexpected result is that it really doesn’t matter all that much. Audiences at the time were no doubt better schooled in the ins and outs of the then long festering Korean conflict, but even modern day audiences, who might only casually be aware of Inchon and MacArthur, will be able to relate to the individual stories which are quite admirably on display throughout this ostensibly “small” film.
Retreat, Hell! is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.37:1. This film was made with the cooperation of the U.S. Marines (something that's at least a little surprising, considering the lack of typical wartime chest beating in the film), which also provided the filmmakers with a lot of stock footage of basic training and various battle scenes. That means the film elements tend to ping pong back and forth between pretty decent looking "contemporary" sequences and often much more ragged looking archival footage, some of which is in quite bad condition (several of the screenshots are of this archival footage, which is pretty easily identifiable). If that "stitched together" approach can be overlooked, things here are much in line with the bulk of Olive catalog releases we've seen from this era. (Contemporary) elements are in overall good condition, with only the expected flecks and specks creeping in from time to time. Contrast is generally quite good, and the image is consistent and stable. There is some pretty bad telecine wobble during the opening credits and final placard.
Retreat, Hell! features a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio Mono mix that is very nicely full bodied, aside from just a few moments of wobbliness. Once again, the opening credits provide the biggest problem to overcome here, with just a bit of wavering in the opening version of the Marine's Hymn (some may recognize the film's composer, William Lava, who scored a lot of the Looney Tunes shorts and also wrote some great television themes in the sixties, including F Troop). After that, things improve markedly, with dialogue and the often quite boisterous battle sound effects ringing out with authority and clarity.
No supplements are offered on this Blu-ray disc.
Retreat, Hell! proves that Korea wasn't quite as forgotten as some may think. It's especially notable that this film came out so quickly after the battles being portrayed, something that on one hand can be attributed to the not so hard to believe proclivity of Hollywood bean counters to cash in on "ripped from the headlines" films, but which is also a perhaps more noble, laudatory attempt to highlight then quite recent American heroism. The performances here are top notch, including the sometimes quite wooden Richard Carlson, who nicely segues from cautious family man to a bit more of a gung ho, battle ready veteran. The film includes a lot of archival footage which may be of interest to history buffs, even if its quality isn't top notch. The film hedges its realistic bets in the final few moments, but otherwise this is a compelling recreation of a frankly pretty disastrous campaign. Recommended.
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