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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Serviceable time filler.,
By Spike Owen "John Rouse Merriott Chard" (Birmingham, England.) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)
This review is from: Hell and High Water [DVD] (DVD)
Richard Widmark {Capt. Adam Jones} stars in this Cold War thriller as the leader of a submarine expedition to the frozen depths of Alaska. His mission is to thwart the communist Chinese who are intent on kick starting World War 3.Hell and High Water is one of the multitude of pictures that serve only as studio efforts made for made's sake. Take your leading actor, surround them with jobbing actors, and mold a picture together as best as you can. Sometimes a film can break free of its B and C movie roots to truly surprise, but others flounder to only serve as time fillers on terrestrial television. This film falls some where in between the two, not particularly bad exactly, but outside of a couple of tight sequences, not necessarily good either. It was actually in premise, building up to be a promising film. Then we see a shapely pair of legs coming down the submarine stairs and we just know that this film will lose its edge, and sadly, where it's all going to end up. The insistence of many writers and film makers to shoe horn in a love interest in the grittiest of places rarely works, and here it most assuredly doesn't either. Not that Bella Darvi {owner of those shapely legs} is poor or is at fault for the film being average, it just takes the film in a direction that it didn't need to go. Tension is built up, with one face off submarine sequence being particularly hold your breath inducing, but the preposterous romantic angle on a submarine death mission is badly misplaced. Tidy but unmemorable, and cribbing from Crash Dive released eleven years earlier, it's probably one for Widmark purists only. 5/10
6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Even great directors have off-days,
By
This review is from: Hell and High Water [DVD] (DVD)
Homer nods here, as the great B-movie master of visceral camerawork and action editing manages to serve up a cheesy, talky no-brainer in which the naval action is about as realistic as a plastic duck in the bath. The plot concerns those dastardly Reds (here the communist Chinese) who have developed a secret super-nuclear bomb (an atom bomb INSIDE a hydrogen bomb!) which they plan to drop on Korea - get this - IN AN AMERICAN B29, so the world will think the Yanks done it. All that stands between the world and this nuclear disaster is Richard Widmark (cynical mercenary submarine captain), Victor Francen (wise and ethical French scientist) Bella Darvi (gorgeous pouting ditto),and some leftover stock footage from another Universal submarine flic, "Crash Dive". Fuller is clearly waylaid by the studio bigwigs (script by Jesse Laski Jnr; Bella Darvi, who was Darryl Zanuck's current squeeze, shows her intelligence by speaking four European languages plus Tagalog and Mandarin Chinese, waves a Geiger counter prettily and seems to be striking a blow for feminism ("I'm not a woman, I'm a scientist!") before sucvcumbing to girlie jitters and becoming just another piece of meat. She is slightly cross-eyed and has a slurring speech impediment, though undeniably sexy, and her life is certainly much more interesting than her acting.
Apart from the wearisome Red-baiting, Fuller seems to be hampered by the ponderous cameras required for the new wide-screen CinemaScope process; the set-ups are unusually static for Fuller, and, worse, he doesn't seem to know how to fill the screen. When the action comes, it has none of Fuller's in-yer-face qualities which make his films so involving. Only some of the detail of submarine routine is interesting, and also the spectacle of stripped and sweaty sailors, for admirers of "Physique Pictorial". Even Widmark's gritty authority can't really save this one. Interestingly the film does end in what is meant to be a full-blown nuclear explosion, only not over Korea but just underwater, so that's alright then. The sub and its crew are meant to survive this by dint of diving a few hundred feet. Were they really that ignorant and naive? For admirers of Widmark who want to see him working in a truly great Fuller film with a curiously similar motif, get "Pick-Up On South Street" instead Pickup On South Street [DVD] [1953].
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.2 out of 5 stars (11 customer reviews) 10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
SAMUEL FULLER, OPUS 7,
By Daniel S. "Daniel" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Hell & High Water [DVD] [1954] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC] (DVD)
**** 1954. Written and directed by Samuel Fuller. One nomination for the Academy awards (Best Special Effects). Capt. Adam Jones, accompanied by two scientists, must find an island in the North Pacific ocean where Chinese are believed to build an atomic bomb. I love the extravaganza of the cinema of Samuel Fuller, Who else could have imagined a love scene between Richard Widmark and Bella Darvi in a submarine resting on the bottom of the ocean ? In a red light in order to conserve electricity and unable to speak because of the lack of oxygen ? This is cinema at its best. Highly recommended.
21 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A fine early cold war submarine movie.,
By Romeo Dog - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Hell & High Water [DVD] [1954] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC] (DVD)
Despite the expected cold war anti-commie propaganda, this is one fine submarine movie. After the end of WWII an American ex-navy submarine commander takes on the task of transporting scientists by submarine up near arctic waters to spy on what the Chinese communists are up to (no good). Of course, the sub is an old surplus Japanese I-Boat (a "sewer pipe" according to the captain) and the crew is a bunch of old hands and misfits. There is a fair amount of action, as the commies don't like the sub's presence, and the movie has an interesting ending. Overall, very enjoyable, but don't expect Run Silent, Run Deep.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A cold war submarine tale from the end of the Korean War,
By Craig Matteson - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Hell & High Water [DVD] [1954] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC] (DVD)
This is a Cold War era about what would happen if the Koreans (this is set during the Korean War, which ended during the year of its release) got a hold of an A-bomb and dropped it in a way to frame the United States. Richard Widmark plays Capt. Adam Jones who is hired for a mysterious mission to trail a freighter in an old Japanese submarine. He hires some of his old Navy crew and takes the famed atomic scientist Prof. Montel (Victor Francen) and his assistant Prof. Denice Gerard (Bella Darvi) on board as the directors of their mission.
They run afoul of Korean defenses including a very good sub battle, an island raid, and the final conflict I will leave to you to experience. Widmark carries most of the dramatic load, the crew provides a bit of pathos and some enjoyable comic relief. Victor Francen is believable as the bearded scientist and Bella Darvi looks pretty enough on screen (but not a real actress). The special effects were very good for their time, but the Cinemascope cannot be appreciated on your TV no matter how high the quality or its dimensions. However, it is an enjoyable tale and can be enjoyed by the family. Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI |
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