Objective Burma
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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.
Movie Review: "It's raining parachutes!"
Summary: 3 Stars
I purchased this film because of the rave notices it received here and because I've never seen it before. Unfortunately, I was more than a little disappointed that, from my point of view, it turned out to be just adequate. I've seen far better war movies that I've obviously kept due to their value as films I can watch multiple times without tiring of them. The only thing I found of interest in this film was the terrific job by several actors that later went on to play iconic TV characters (most notably, George Tobias/Abner Kravitz on Bewitched & Hugh Beaumont as the Beaver's dad), plus the always dependable Henry Hull. And of course, that harrowing nighttime battle towards the end (of an 142 minute movie!) was worth the viewing. Other than that, most of the film involves a long hike through muck and mire (a joke used in the film by George Tobias). It was interesting to note that the film was initially banned in the United Kingdom due to grandstanding by the Americans, who apparently had little to do with this particular campaign but were more than willing to take all the credit for it (at least on film). Considering this movie was made during a time of war and was obviously used as a means of recruiting, that charge might be excused.
I am not sorry I got the chance to see it at least once, but I don't ever want to watch it again.
Movie Review: Over rated
Summary: 3 Stars
Errol Flynn is one of my favourite actors and I was keen to see this film after last seeing it on TV 30 years ago. My huge disappointment with the film is the lack of realism. If you want to see realism see films like "Apocalypse now" or "Dear hunter". The scene in "Objective Burma" where they destroy the radar instalation and kill all the Japanese soldiers was so fake and unrealistic - the way the soldiers fell. There was no emotion by the troops after the slaughter. It was as if they went on a rabbit hunt. To me this was just a cheap war movie showing how America 's duty was to rid the world of the Japanese menace - see the closing credits. I may be a bit harsh in my appraisal of the movie because i am comparing it to the realism of modern films which really show the the pain and suffering in such graphic detail. The film reminded me of the war TV series "Combat"