Objective Burma
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DVD Cover Information Actor: Errol Flynn, George Tobias, Henry Hull, James Brown (II), William Prince Brand: BROWN,JAMES DVD: Region Code 1 Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled Picture Format: 1.33:1 Running Time: 142 minutes DVD Release Date: 2003-05-13 Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Model: 65250 Studio: Warner Home Video Product features:
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Movie Reviews of Objective Burma
Movie Review: Flynn before the fall
Summary: 3 Stars
Objective Burma is an interesting film from many perspectives. It is one of a few dozen films made during the war about events actually happening at the time (e.g., "Wake Island", "Back to Bataan"), but even more interesting is the fact that when it was released in England, the uproar by the English was so vocal that Warner Brothers had to stop showing it. It seems the Brits considered Burma their success and were outraged that Objective Burma made it appear to them that the U.S. won that conflict. In addition, it starred Errol Flynn, who was Australian, not American, and who was busy making films instead of fighting in the war, which was a strange turn of events for the man who was most identified as a swashbuckler.
It turns out that Flynn had tried to enlist but was turned down due to TB spots on his lungs and recurring bouts of Malaria. Nonetheless, the film stayed out of Britain until 1952. In any event, the film was much too harshly criticized and while the bulk of the fighting was done by British and Indian troops, Americans were certainly part of the campaign. Moreover, the film only depicts a single incident in the long war, so the British sensitivity seems clearly overwrought.
In 1945 Flynn has seen his best days. He was near the apex and a steep decline was ahead of him. He would make one undistinguished film after another until 1957 when he made "The Sun Also Rises" and "Too Much Too Soon". In 1958 he made my favorite later day Flynn film "The Roots of Heaven" and he died shortly after that.
So "Objective Burma" is your chance to see Flynn at the end of his long run as a leading man. He'd given us so many great performances (as Captain Blood, Robin Hood, George Custer, etc), but these had been as a swashbuckler. In this film he purposefully tones it down, and it succeeds admirable. Flynn later remarked that this was one of his favorite films.
The film co-stars James Brown, George Tobias, Henry Hull, and Warner Anderson.
Handsome boyish Jim Brown is best remembered as Lt. Masters from the "Rin Tin Tin" TV series (1954-9), but he had an active film career appearing in more than 40 films including "Wake Island" (1942), "Air Force" (1943), and "Sands of Iwo Jima" (1949).
Acerbic Henry Hull gave us many memorable performances - as the lead in "Werewolf in London" (1935), the editor in "The Return of Frank James" (1940), Doc Banton in "High Sierra" (1941), and the wealthy industrialist in "Lifeboat" (1944). In the 50s he turned to TV where he had a long and productive career, often appearing in westerns.
Tall and chubby George Tobias appeared in more than 50 films including "The Strawberry Blonde" (1941), "Yankee Doodle Dandy" (1942), and "Passage to Marsailles" (1944). Like many other film actors, he transitioned to TV in the 50s and is best remembered for his comedy as the witch Samantha's neighbor Abner on "Bewitched" (1964-71).
Warner Anderson is best known for his appearance in the TV series "Peyton Place" as Matthew Swain, but he performed in dozens of films, usually war films ("Command Decision") and comedies ("Abbott and Costello in Hollywood"). His most memorable role was as a coward in Gregory Peck's "Only the Valiant" (1951).
The film is directed by Raoul Walsh. Walsh and Flynn did 6 films together, following Flynn's break-up with Michael Curtiz with whom he made his classic swashbuckler films. Walsh had been an actor appearing as John Wilkes Booth in Griffith's "Birth of a Nation" (1915). He turned to directing in 1930, directing John Wayne in his first film ("The Big Trail"). Walsh directed such notable films as "The Roaring Twenties" (1939), "Dark Command" (1940), "They Drive By Night" (1940), "High Sierra" (1941) , and "White Heat" (1949). He started working with Flynn in 1941 ("They Died with their Boots On") and they continued working together through 1945 ("San Antonio). Walsh declined notably in the 50s after he left Warner Brothers, but his 50+ year career made him one of Hollywood's most memorable directors.
This is not one of Walsh's best films. At 2+ hours it has long periods of inaction. Walsh tries to maintain the tension, but he fails. There is only so much banter between GIs that any one film can use.
The film is photographed by the legendary James Wong Howe, one of Hollywood's best cameramen. Howe was nominated for an Oscar 10 times with 2 wins ("Hud" and "The Rose Tatoo"), making him one of the most acknowledged cinematographers in film history. Unfortunately Howe's skills are not on display this time. The camerawork is pretty pedestrian.
Franz Waxman provides the score. Waxman was nominated for an Oscar 10 times and won twice ("A Place in the Sun" and "Sunset Blvd"). He was a favorite of Hitchcock who used him in 4 films and earned 2 of his Oscar nominations ("Rebecca" and "Suspicion"). Al;hough Waxman was nominated for his work in this film, I thought the music was intrusive.
At the end of the day, this film is worth viewing for Flynn's performance. But absent Flynn, there are much better WW2 films to watch.