Runtime: 103 minutes
Directed by: John Boorman
Starring: Lee Marvin, Toshiro Mifune... and that's it
From: Cinerama Releasing Corporation
I am happy the version I saw had the “alternate ending.” I've heard conflicting stories as to which theatrical versions contained which conclusion, but the copy viewed on YouTube (most copies on the platform fit this category) is the original ending as filmed by John Boorman. What was demanded by one of the studios resulted in a denouement that many just did not like... that was seen by me and yeah, it's not as satisfying. You can argue that Boorman's vision wasn't great but the other definitely wasn't great.
All that said off the bat for a film most of you haven't experienced before, this is a very good motion picture where all the foreknowledge the viewer needed beforehand was Lee Marvin & Toshiro Mifune on a tropical island (one of the islands in the Oceanic country of Palau), Boorman directing with flair, and a sometimes classical/sometimes jazzy/always great Lalo Schifrin score. To be a little more specific, during World War II, Marvin and Mifune discover each other on an otherwise uninhabited island and neither knows the other's native tongue.
What a shame then that at least in the United States, YouTube is the only way to stream the picture. Kino Lorber did release Hell in the Pacific on Blu way back in 2017 but that appears to long be out of print. That (and the particular video I saw) had the option of giving subtitles to both actors; I didn't do that as it just wasn't right to know more about what Mifune's character was saying that Marvin's character understood. In any event, at least the film is available to everyone via multiple YouTube videos, in more than acceptable quality.
No comments:
Post a Comment