SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

BroadcastChic Excellent, a Must See

Marva It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Cassandra Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

ksf-2 Mitchum is the U.S. forces colonel, trying to train the Korean army in warfare, while Ann Blyth is the interpreter "Linda". Of course, they disagree on everything, but naturally they fall in love, in spite of themselves. Even back then, they make the comment that "Nato will just pass some more strongly worded resolutions." This is extra interesting, since the war was still going on when this film was released. Viewers will also spot William Talman, in an early role here, who would go on to be the DA on Perry Mason. He died young at 53. Great flick, overall. They toss in joking one-liners, although they sometimes feel out of place, since there's so much death and dying all around them. Directed by Tay Garnett. He had a great track record, making some of the great films of Hollywood. Showing on Turner Classics.

dougdoepke Rather dreary Korean War drama where everybody appears to be performing "by the numbers". There's none of the intensity expected of those life-and-death situations that distinguish the era's better war films (Bridges of Toko-Ri; Pork Chop Hill; Retreat, Hell!). The action never really gels, which I suppose is the fault of director Garnett who appears disengaged from what's on screen. It doesn't help that the screenplay also appears stitched together from a host of war movie clichés, few of which stick around long enough to establish themselves—the wives, the ethnic grunts, the lonely orphan. It's like a runner in baseball thinking he has to touch all 100 bases before he can score.Of course, the film does contain one dramatic highlight that caused considerable controversy at the time, but has since proved revealing—the intentional shelling of civilian refugees by American forces. The screenplay tries to soften the impact with North Korean infiltrators holding refugees at gunpoint, but the destruction occurs anyway. Now, that was really a pretty gutsy move on somebody's part since the war was still going on when the movie was released in 1952.Though not publicized at the time, we now know from proved incidents such as No Gun-Ri (There was more than one eye-witness, and the only dispute is over the number killed) that such atrocities did occur on our side as well as the enemy's. And though not included in highschool history texts, there was considerable sympathy for the North from the peasantry of the South because of the landlord-dominated government of the South, many of which had collaborated with hated Japanese occupiers during WWII. As a result, considerable guerilla activity occurred in the South both before and during the war itself. Details such as these cast light on the basic accuracy of the movie's depiction. Ironically, the problem for GI's was the same here as in Vietnam—how to distinguish friendly civilians from the enemy, while too often the solution was to kill them all. But when your own life is on the line, what do you do? That's why Mitchum's Col. Janowski is so torn.Apparently studio honcho Howard Hughes had high hopes for the production since his name appears above the title. And even though the seams from stock footage are pretty obvious, the film is well produced with locations at Fort Carson, Colorado, where the terrain was said to resemble that of Korea. But background and special effects can hardly compensate for the general listlessness of the results or the ill-conceived Ann Blyth role. Nonetheless, the movie does remain memorable for its one revealing episode.

blanche-2 If you like battle scenes, "One Minute to Zero" is for you. Produced by Howard Hughes, it stars Robert Mitchum, Ann Blyth, Richard Egan, Charles McGraw and William Talman. Mitchum and the other men are fighting the Korean War and Ann Blyth, a war widow, is working for the United Nations. They fall in love, but she turns against him when she sees him give the order to kill refugees who are, he believes, probably guerrillas smuggling in weapons.Someone mentioned the score. Frankly, I thought if I heard the strains of "When I Fall in Love" one more time, I was going to throw something at the television.Mitchum does a fine job; Talman and McGraw are in unusual roles for them, and they handle them well. Talman would go on to be Hamilton Burger on "Perry Mason." Blyth is good, very pretty, and a far cry from that bratty Veda in Mildred Pierce.All in all, a pretty detached experience. It's filled with testosterone - the guys will love it.

semperfijack The one good thing about this so-so Korean war film is the music score by Victor Young. It features the great romantic song "When I Fall in Love" Although not sung in the film (therefore not Academy Award nominated) it was recorded by Nat "King" Cole and others. Cole's is the best and is featured on many of his albums.