Reptileenbu Did you people see the same film I saw?

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Catangro After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Haven Kaycee It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

wes-connors Bound for South America, buxom blonde Anita Ekberg (as Rena) ends her tenure as apparent sex play-mate for a Las Vegas bigwig; not to worry, he has two beautiful women standing sexily by, ready to assume her positions. Also headed down south are retiring professor Cameron Prud'Homme and his exacting wife Beulah Bondi (as Henry and Martha Spangler), gangster affiliated Jesse White (as Pete Boswick) and his quickly orphaned nephew Jon Provost (as Tommy Malone), plus slightly smarmy businessman Gene Barry (as Jud Ellis) and his pretty fiancée Phyllis Kirk (as Louise Melhorn). The co-pilots on our flight are possibly alcoholic Robert Ryan (as Bill Lonagan) and handsome hero-type Keith Andes (as Joe Brooks); the stewardess is Adele Mara (as Maria Alvarez)...Before the long flight, they pick up German-accented Rod Steiger (as Vasquez), on his way to execution, and armed guard Fred Clark (as Crimp). It should be no surprise the plane encounters turbulence, then the passengers are informed only four people, plus young Provost (who has "Lassie" in his future), will be able to make the trip out of an Amazon jungle, which is possibly inhabited with cannibals looking for human heads to shrink. Nasty business. Writer Richard Carroll and adapters do well in foreshadowing the shrunken head threat, as Provost is presented with one early; and later, Mr. Steiger describes the grisly process. This film is director John Farrow's re-make of his own "Five Came Back" (1939); the original film seems to be the most favored, but this one works, too.******* Back from Eternity (9/7/56) John Farrow ~ Robert Ryan, Rod Steiger, Anita Ekberg, Keith Andes

whpratt1 This film completely surprised me the way it started out with various people all planning to take a trip on a plane, there is an old couple, a prisoner, Vasquel, (Rod Steiger) and a fallen lady Rena, (Anita Ekberg). There is even a little boy who is being cared for by a mobster who decides the last minute to catch this same plane. The pilot of this plane is Bill Lonagan, (Robert Ryan) who is a veteran pilot but is also a heavy drinker. This plane crashes into a very thick jungle where head hunters occupy this territory which most of the people have not been told about this fact. All of a sudden, the little boy asks everyone to say the "Lord's Prayer" and after this, Vasquel turns religious and many people seem to change their thinking and the way they treat each other. Of course, there is evil vs. good among some of these people and this story goes into a completely different direction.

Robert J. Maxwell Not a bad B movie, but why did they remake it? I suppose because it's cheaper to recycle stories that the studio already owns than to buy new ones. Even the title seems designed by a bricoleur. ("From Here to Eternity" (1953) to "Back From Eternity" (1956).)The director is the same and so is the story but, alas, the pace is slower and heavier. In the original, no time was wasted on padding. The actors spoke their lines quickly, as if rushing through them to save a few frames of expensive film stock. This one carries with it a kind of languid lack of energy, as if everyone involved in the production had caught yellow fever. More time is spent on romance and less on practical matters.Further, we get more emphasis on a few of the characters who must explain their current state of disillusion or develop their growing love for one another. It's less of an ensemble movie than the 1939 version. Just two examples. Robert Ryan gets far more screen time than Chester Morris did in the same role. And Gene Barry's role as the spoiled, cowardly, rich drunk is reduced to a few nasty lines.And the evolution of the group's self consciousness is weakened by the absence of a montage in the original, in which we see everyone working happily away at their tasks, laughing and getting to know each other. There is no such animation here, only fatigue.Robert Ryan's part, the pilot, is given greater emphasis but his specialty is doing an impression of a boiler whose valves are closed and which is just about to explode at the seams. And here he more or less walks through the part, unusual for him because of his inherent dynamism. Rod Steiger is more important than Joseph Callaeia in the original too. The old professor is no longer the expert on Jivaro headhunting. Steiger is now the authority. That's fine for Steiger, but it leaves the elderly professor twisting in the wind. Just exactly what the hell does he TEACH anyway? Nobody seems to care.In some ways this film makes more of an impression than the earlier one. The airplane is bigger, for instance, as are Anita Ekberg's bosoms. And it has one or two unforgettable scenes. The beautiful, wooden Phyllis Kirk helping the guys heave the airplane off the ground, tottering in the middle of the Amazon jungle in her chic outfit and high heels. Kirk and Ekberg having a heck of a good time fighting in a studio-bound pool of jungle water, unable to stop from laughing as they wrestle and bat at each other. Come to think of it, any normal man wouldn't mind joining the fight. How about some mud and bikinis in the NEXT remake?

jotix100 It's hard to imagine what attracted John Farrow into remaking his own "Five Came Back", which was good. By updating the story to 1956, nothing really was improved, although the film is good to watch because of the performances Mr. Farrow was able to get from this cast.The first part of the film brings together all the characters into a small airport where they are preparing to embark for another point in South America. The flight is commandeered by Bill Lonagan, who is a strange man that seems to be going through a rough patch in his life. The co-pilot is Joe Brooks, a young man who doesn't trust the older captain.The passengers are an assortment of characters that have been put together by fate, or so it seems. There is the beautiful Rena, who is going to work in a casino. The Spanglers, a professor and his wife who are on a studying trip. Then there is Jud Ellis and Louise, who are going to Brazil, but have missed their flight and are forced to go on the PAL flight. We also find Pete who is taking a young boy, Tommy, the son of a mobster, to his mother and a prisoner, Vasquel, being taken by his guard.When the flight develops problems, the captain makes the decision to land the plane in a valley in the middle of a jungle. While on the ground, they realize the plane has been greatly damaged and all try to put it back in service. Unfortunately, they are surrounded by an Indian tribe that is not kind to their invasion.The film is interesting to watch because of Robert Ryan and Rod Steiger, who as Lonegan and Vasquel do excellent work for Mr. Farrow. There is an ensemble kind of playing in general by the supporting players making the film better than what it could have been and it holds the viewer's attention.A film to be seen as a curiosity.