Between Heaven and Hell (film)
Encyclopedia
Between Heaven and Hell is a 1956 20th Century Fox
Cinemascope
colour war film
based on the novel The Day the Century Ended by Francis Gwaltney that the film follows closely. The story is told in flashback
format detailing the life of Sam Gifford (Robert Wagner
) from his life as a Southern
landowner to his war service in the Philippines
during World War II
.
The film stars Robert Wagner
, Buddy Ebsen
, Terry Moore
, and Broderick Crawford
, was directed by Richard Fleischer
and was partly filmed on Kaua'i.
The film's score by Hugo Friedhofer
that included elements of the Dies Irae
was nominated for an Academy Award.
with the dark shadow of missing chevrons. A long tracking shot follows his release from the stockade as the music becomes the Dies Irae
and the screen credits roll.
When the United States
gets involved in the war, Gifford's National Guard unit is called to active service with the United States Army
. Gifford's father-in-law is the Colonel (Robert Keith) commanding his regiment. Despite Gifford's wealth and commanding position in civilian life, he is not a commissioned officer
but a platoon sergeant
. As opposed to his callous treatment of sharecroppers viewed in flashback, Gifford becomes friends with three private
s in his platoon
whose company he prefers over those of his own rank.
Though capably leading his platoon earns him a Silver Star
medal for valour, Gifford outwardly shows signs of fear, battle fatigue
, and neurosis
. These weaknesses intensify when his father-in-law is killed. When a frightened lieutenant machine guns his three friends
out of panic and inexperience, Gifford attempts to beat him to death with his rifle butt. Gifford is subdued, reduced in rank to private, and imprisoned.
Gifford is summoned by Lt. Colonel Miles (Frank Gerstle). Because he had earned a Silver Star
, he is given a choice of being sentenced to the United States Disciplinary Barracks
in Leavenworth
or transferred to George Company, a de facto
punishment company
assigned to a dangerous area of the front lines. Gifford chooses the punishment company, which is commanded by Captain Grimes, a former First Sergeant
(Broderick Crawford
). Captain Grimes insists everyone call him "Waco", wears no rank insignia and forbids military salutes lest he become a target for sniper
s. Everyone in George Company hates Waco except for some pre-war regular army
comrades-in-arms (Frank Gorshin
and Skip Homeier
), who act as Waco's personal bodyguard
s. Impressed by Gifford's combat record, Waco offers him a membership in his private circle as a radio operator. This ends when Gifford beats up Homeier for making remarks about his wife's photograph. Waco burns the photograph and exiles him to a forward platoon on outpost duty under the leadership of a lieutenant called Little Joe (Brad Dexter
). Gifford forms a friendship with former sharecropper Willie Crawford (Buddy Ebsen
). Gifford is sent back to company HQ with reports for Waco from Little Joe. Upon returning to the company Gifford is later tasked by Waco with leading a small six man patrol to check a town near the front lines. It is a dangerous assignment but Gifford executes it well. The patrol finds the town abandoned. Gifford takes a small sign off the front door of the town's church. The sign names the church and the town. While returning to their unit Gifford and his men spot a platoon strength Japanese Imperial Army unit armed with mortars heading back towards the hills near George Company's Headquarters. Gifford reports his findings to Waco. Waco accuses Gifford of not going to the town but hiding in the hills. Gifford tosses the sign from the town's church on Waco's desk. Then the headquarters receives a heavy artillery barrage from the Japanese mortars that Gifford warned Waco about. After the attack Waco apologizes to Gifford and commends him for his leadership on the patrol. Waco is then shot and killed by a Japanese sniper for returning a salute from some of his soldiers. Gifford leads several soldiers back up to Little Joe's platoon as reinforcements. They beat off several enemy attacks. Eventually after the last attack Gifford and Crawford are the sole survivors. With Crawford wounded in the leg, Crawford orders Gifford make it through the lines alone to warn the Company of an impending large attack. At first Gifford refuses to leave Crawford behind, but Crawford insists, pointing a pistol at Gifford and saying its an order.
Gifford fights his way through Japanese soldiers to make his way back to the Company but he is wounded along the way. Upon reaching the company he finds that most of the Battalion has come up to begin a new offensive. Gifford warns them about the Japanese units that massing in the hills. He demands that help be sent to rescue Crawford. Just at that moment a patrol comes in with Crawford on a stretcher. Crawford and Gifford are told because of their wounds they are being shipped home. Gifford tells Crawford that he wants Crawford to live with him and his family at his mansion back home and he can have a job at Gifford's company.
-born Francis Irby Gwaltney
soldiered in the Philippines with the 112th Cavalry that served throughout the Pacific doing several amphibious landings. During this service he formed a friendship with Norman Mailer
whom he met there.
The Day the Century Ended was Gwaltney's most famous novel. When Fox picked the 1955 novel up for filming they assigned it to Philippine veteran Rod Serling
famed for his American television plays. Unfortunately Serling's first screenplay was nine hours long and the project was given to other writers, notably Harry Brown
who had written the book A Walk in the Sun.
Between Heaven and Hell is one of the 1950s depictions of the US Army that did not paint a recruiting poster image and was more in tune with many soldier's memories such as From Here to Eternity
, Robert Aldrich
's Attack
or Samuel Fuller
's films.
Fleischer uses the Cinemascope widescreen format well, notably in views of hills lit up by a firefight
.
panned the film, writing, "To be just as blunt about it as Twentieth Century-Fox, Between Heaven and Hell, a World War II drama, lands accordingly, with a pretty dull thud. This curiously rambling, unconvincing and often baffling picture, opening yesterday at Loew's State, very sketchily suggests the regeneration of a hard-headed young G. I. on a Japanese island in the Pacific...Except for the sideline skirmishes with the Japanese, and one fine, big beachhead battle staged by director Richard Fleischer, the action focuses on the outpost, where a brutal, slightly demented company commander, Mr. Crawford, reigns supreme. Mr. Wagner not only manages to survive some snarling comrades, most of whom are wiped out, but also the enemy in a series of lagging, disjointed clashes, verbal and physical, that shed little light on anything or anybody."
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
Cinemascope
CinemaScope
CinemaScope was an anamorphic lens series used for shooting wide screen movies from 1953 to 1967. Its creation in 1953, by the president of 20th Century-Fox, marked the beginning of the modern anamorphic format in both principal photography and movie projection.The anamorphic lenses theoretically...
colour war film
War film
War films are a film genre concerned with warfare, usually about naval, air or land battles, sometimes focusing instead on prisoners of war, covert operations, military training or other related subjects. At times war films focus on daily military or civilian life in wartime without depicting battles...
based on the novel The Day the Century Ended by Francis Gwaltney that the film follows closely. The story is told in flashback
Flashback (narrative)
Flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...
format detailing the life of Sam Gifford (Robert Wagner
Robert Wagner
Robert John Wagner is an American actor of stage, screen, and television.A veteran of many films in the 1950s and 1960s, Wagner gained prominence in three American television series that spanned three decades: It Takes a Thief , Switch , and Hart to Hart...
) from his life as a Southern
Southern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
landowner to his war service in the Philippines
Battle of the Philippines
Battle of the Philippines may refer to several wars, military campaigns, and major battles which have been fought in the Philippine Islands, including:...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
The film stars Robert Wagner
Robert Wagner
Robert John Wagner is an American actor of stage, screen, and television.A veteran of many films in the 1950s and 1960s, Wagner gained prominence in three American television series that spanned three decades: It Takes a Thief , Switch , and Hart to Hart...
, Buddy Ebsen
Buddy Ebsen
Buddy Ebsen was an American character actor and dancer. A performer for seven decades, he had starring roles as Jed Clampett in the long-running television series The Beverly Hillbillies and as the title character in the 1970s detective series Barnaby Jones, and played Barnaby Jones in the movie...
, Terry Moore
Terry Moore (actress)
Helen Luella Koford , better known as Terry Moore, is an American actress. Terry Moore made her film debut at age 11 and grew up with all the icons of the Hollywood era that made Hollywood what it is today, also known as "The Golden Age of Hollywood". Moore is an Academy Award nominated actress...
, and Broderick Crawford
Broderick Crawford
Broderick Crawford was an Academy Award-winning American stage, film, radio and TV actor, often cast in tough-guy roles and best known for his starring role in the television series "Highway Patrol."-Early life:...
, was directed by Richard Fleischer
Richard Fleischer
-Early life:Fleischer was born in Brooklyn, the son of Essie and animator/producer Max Fleischer. He started in motion pictures as director of animated shorts produced by his father including entries in the Betty Boop, Popeye and Superman series.His live-action film career began in 1942 at the RKO...
and was partly filmed on Kaua'i.
The film's score by Hugo Friedhofer
Hugo Friedhofer
Hugo Wilhelm Friedhofer was an American film music composer born in San Francisco. His father was a cellist trained in Dresden, Germany; his mother, Eva König, was born in Germany.Friedhofer began playing cello at the age of 13...
that included elements of the Dies Irae
Dies Irae
Dies Irae is a thirteenth century Latin hymn thought to be written by Thomas of Celano . It is a medieval Latin poem characterized by its accentual stress and its rhymed lines. The metre is trochaic...
was nominated for an Academy Award.
Plot
The film begins with military drums and a shot of a bearded Robert Wagner behind barbed wire wearing dirty fatiguesFatigues
-Clothing:* Nowadays, usually a synonym of battledress.* Formerly, work clothes worn by soldiers to avoid getting their uniforms dirty in non-combat manual work* Camouflage-patterned clothing found in civilian fashions...
with the dark shadow of missing chevrons. A long tracking shot follows his release from the stockade as the music becomes the Dies Irae
Dies Irae
Dies Irae is a thirteenth century Latin hymn thought to be written by Thomas of Celano . It is a medieval Latin poem characterized by its accentual stress and its rhymed lines. The metre is trochaic...
and the screen credits roll.
When the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
gets involved in the war, Gifford's National Guard unit is called to active service with the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
. Gifford's father-in-law is the Colonel (Robert Keith) commanding his regiment. Despite Gifford's wealth and commanding position in civilian life, he is not a commissioned officer
Officer (armed forces)
An officer is a member of an armed force or uniformed service who holds a position of authority. Commissioned officers derive authority directly from a sovereign power and, as such, hold a commission charging them with the duties and responsibilities of a specific office or position...
but a platoon sergeant
Platoon Sergeant
In many militaries, a platoon sergeant is the senior enlisted member of a platoon, who advises and supports the platoon's commanding officer in leading the unit.-Singapore:...
. As opposed to his callous treatment of sharecroppers viewed in flashback, Gifford becomes friends with three private
Private (rank)
A Private is a soldier of the lowest military rank .In modern military parlance, 'Private' is shortened to 'Pte' in the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth countries and to 'Pvt.' in the United States.Notably both Sir Fitzroy MacLean and Enoch Powell are examples of, rare, rapid career...
s in his platoon
Platoon
A platoon is a military unit typically composed of two to four sections or squads and containing 16 to 50 soldiers. Platoons are organized into a company, which typically consists of three, four or five platoons. A platoon is typically the smallest military unit led by a commissioned officer—the...
whose company he prefers over those of his own rank.
Though capably leading his platoon earns him a Silver Star
Silver Star
The Silver Star is the third-highest combat military decoration that can be awarded to a member of any branch of the United States armed forces for valor in the face of the enemy....
medal for valour, Gifford outwardly shows signs of fear, battle fatigue
Combat stress reaction
Combat stress reaction , in the past commonly known as shell shock or battle fatigue, is a range of behaviours resulting from the stress of battle which decrease the combatant's fighting efficiency. The most common symptoms are fatigue, slower reaction times, indecision, disconnection from one's...
, and neurosis
Neurosis
Neurosis is a class of functional mental disorders involving distress but neither delusions nor hallucinations, whereby behavior is not outside socially acceptable norms. It is also known as psychoneurosis or neurotic disorder, and thus those suffering from it are said to be neurotic...
. These weaknesses intensify when his father-in-law is killed. When a frightened lieutenant machine guns his three friends
Friendly fire
Friendly fire is inadvertent firing towards one's own or otherwise friendly forces while attempting to engage enemy forces, particularly where this results in injury or death. A death resulting from a negligent discharge is not considered friendly fire...
out of panic and inexperience, Gifford attempts to beat him to death with his rifle butt. Gifford is subdued, reduced in rank to private, and imprisoned.
Gifford is summoned by Lt. Colonel Miles (Frank Gerstle). Because he had earned a Silver Star
Silver Star
The Silver Star is the third-highest combat military decoration that can be awarded to a member of any branch of the United States armed forces for valor in the face of the enemy....
, he is given a choice of being sentenced to the United States Disciplinary Barracks
United States Disciplinary Barracks
The United States Disciplinary Barracks is a military prison located on Fort Leavenworth, a United States Army post in Kansas....
in Leavenworth
Leavenworth, Kansas
Leavenworth is the largest city and county seat of Leavenworth County, in the U.S. state of Kansas and within the Kansas City, Missouri Metropolitan Area. Located in the northeast portion of the state, it is on the west bank of the Missouri River. As of the 2010 census, the city population was...
or transferred to George Company, a de facto
De facto
De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...
punishment company
Penal military unit
Penal battalions, penal companies, etc., are military formations consisting of convicted persons for which military service in such units was either the assigned punishment or an alternative to imprisonment or the death penalty.-Nazi Germany:...
assigned to a dangerous area of the front lines. Gifford chooses the punishment company, which is commanded by Captain Grimes, a former First Sergeant
First Sergeant
First sergeant is the name of a military rank used in many countries, typically a senior non-commissioned officer.-Singapore:First Sergeant is a Specialist in the Singapore Armed Forces. First Sergeants are the most senior of the junior Specialists, ranking above Second Sergeants, and below Staff...
(Broderick Crawford
Broderick Crawford
Broderick Crawford was an Academy Award-winning American stage, film, radio and TV actor, often cast in tough-guy roles and best known for his starring role in the television series "Highway Patrol."-Early life:...
). Captain Grimes insists everyone call him "Waco", wears no rank insignia and forbids military salutes lest he become a target for sniper
Sniper
A sniper is a marksman who shoots targets from concealed positions or distances exceeding the capabilities of regular personnel. Snipers typically have specialized training and distinct high-precision rifles....
s. Everyone in George Company hates Waco except for some pre-war regular army
Regular army
A regular army consists of the permanent force of a country's army that is maintained under arms during peacetime.Countries that use the term include:*Australian Army*British Army*Canadian Forces, specifically "Regular Force"*Egyptian army*Indian Army...
comrades-in-arms (Frank Gorshin
Frank Gorshin
Frank John Gorshin, Jr. was an American actor and comedian. He was perhaps best known as an impressionist, with many guest appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show and The Tonight Show...
and Skip Homeier
Skip Homeier
-Career:Homeier began acting as Skippy Homeier at the age of six, on the radio show Portia Faces Life. From 1943 until 1944 he played the role of Emil in the Broadway play, Tomorrow the World. Cast as a child indoctrinated into Nazism, who is brought to the United States from Germany following the...
), who act as Waco's personal bodyguard
Bodyguard
A bodyguard is a type of security operative or government agent who protects a person—usually a famous, wealthy, or politically important figure—from assault, kidnapping, assassination, stalking, loss of confidential information, terrorist attack or other threats.Most important public figures such...
s. Impressed by Gifford's combat record, Waco offers him a membership in his private circle as a radio operator. This ends when Gifford beats up Homeier for making remarks about his wife's photograph. Waco burns the photograph and exiles him to a forward platoon on outpost duty under the leadership of a lieutenant called Little Joe (Brad Dexter
Brad Dexter
Brad Dexter , was an American actor.-Life and career:Dexter was born Boris Malanovich , in Goldfield, Nevada, of Serbian parentage. He spoke Serbian as his first language. Burly, dark and handsome, Brad Dexter was usually given supporting roles of a rugged character...
). Gifford forms a friendship with former sharecropper Willie Crawford (Buddy Ebsen
Buddy Ebsen
Buddy Ebsen was an American character actor and dancer. A performer for seven decades, he had starring roles as Jed Clampett in the long-running television series The Beverly Hillbillies and as the title character in the 1970s detective series Barnaby Jones, and played Barnaby Jones in the movie...
). Gifford is sent back to company HQ with reports for Waco from Little Joe. Upon returning to the company Gifford is later tasked by Waco with leading a small six man patrol to check a town near the front lines. It is a dangerous assignment but Gifford executes it well. The patrol finds the town abandoned. Gifford takes a small sign off the front door of the town's church. The sign names the church and the town. While returning to their unit Gifford and his men spot a platoon strength Japanese Imperial Army unit armed with mortars heading back towards the hills near George Company's Headquarters. Gifford reports his findings to Waco. Waco accuses Gifford of not going to the town but hiding in the hills. Gifford tosses the sign from the town's church on Waco's desk. Then the headquarters receives a heavy artillery barrage from the Japanese mortars that Gifford warned Waco about. After the attack Waco apologizes to Gifford and commends him for his leadership on the patrol. Waco is then shot and killed by a Japanese sniper for returning a salute from some of his soldiers. Gifford leads several soldiers back up to Little Joe's platoon as reinforcements. They beat off several enemy attacks. Eventually after the last attack Gifford and Crawford are the sole survivors. With Crawford wounded in the leg, Crawford orders Gifford make it through the lines alone to warn the Company of an impending large attack. At first Gifford refuses to leave Crawford behind, but Crawford insists, pointing a pistol at Gifford and saying its an order.
Gifford fights his way through Japanese soldiers to make his way back to the Company but he is wounded along the way. Upon reaching the company he finds that most of the Battalion has come up to begin a new offensive. Gifford warns them about the Japanese units that massing in the hills. He demands that help be sent to rescue Crawford. Just at that moment a patrol comes in with Crawford on a stretcher. Crawford and Gifford are told because of their wounds they are being shipped home. Gifford tells Crawford that he wants Crawford to live with him and his family at his mansion back home and he can have a job at Gifford's company.
Cast
- Robert WagnerRobert WagnerRobert John Wagner is an American actor of stage, screen, and television.A veteran of many films in the 1950s and 1960s, Wagner gained prominence in three American television series that spanned three decades: It Takes a Thief , Switch , and Hart to Hart...
as Former Sergeant First Class later Pvt. Sam Francis Gifford - Terry MooreTerry Moore (actress)Helen Luella Koford , better known as Terry Moore, is an American actress. Terry Moore made her film debut at age 11 and grew up with all the icons of the Hollywood era that made Hollywood what it is today, also known as "The Golden Age of Hollywood". Moore is an Academy Award nominated actress...
as Jenny Gifford - Broderick CrawfordBroderick CrawfordBroderick Crawford was an Academy Award-winning American stage, film, radio and TV actor, often cast in tough-guy roles and best known for his starring role in the television series "Highway Patrol."-Early life:...
as Capt. 'Waco' Grimes, CO Co.G - Buddy EbsenBuddy EbsenBuddy Ebsen was an American character actor and dancer. A performer for seven decades, he had starring roles as Jed Clampett in the long-running television series The Beverly Hillbillies and as the title character in the 1970s detective series Barnaby Jones, and played Barnaby Jones in the movie...
as Corporal Willie Crawford - Robert Keith as Colonel Cousins
- Brad DexterBrad DexterBrad Dexter , was an American actor.-Life and career:Dexter was born Boris Malanovich , in Goldfield, Nevada, of Serbian parentage. He spoke Serbian as his first language. Burly, dark and handsome, Brad Dexter was usually given supporting roles of a rugged character...
as Lt. Joe 'Little Joe' Johnson - Mark DamonMark DamonMark Damon is an American film actor and producer. He started his career in his native country, appearing in such films as Young and Dangerous and Roger Corman's House of Usher...
as Pvt. Terry Co. G - Ken ClarkKen Clark (actor)Kenneth Donovan "Ken" Clark was an American B-movie actor. He appeared in movies in America and Europe, including the Secret Agent 077 trilogy....
as Morgan - Harvey LembeckHarvey LembeckHarvey Lembeck was an American comedic actor best remembered for his role as Cpl. Rocco Barbella on The Phil Silvers Show in the late 1950s, and as the stumbling, overconfident outlaw biker Eric Von Zipper in the beach party movie series during the 1960s...
as Pvt. Bernard "Bernie" Meleski (Co. G) - Skip HomeierSkip Homeier-Career:Homeier began acting as Skippy Homeier at the age of six, on the radio show Portia Faces Life. From 1943 until 1944 he played the role of Emil in the Broadway play, Tomorrow the World. Cast as a child indoctrinated into Nazism, who is brought to the United States from Germany following the...
as Corporal Swanson Co.G - L.Q. Jones as Pvt. Kenny Co.G
- Tod AndrewsTod AndrewsTod Andrews was an American actor on the stage, screen, and television. Born in New York, he was raised in California. He studied acting and journalism at Washington State College.-Career:...
as Lt. Ray Mosby - Biff ElliotBiff ElliotBiff Elliot is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his role as popular detective Mike Hammer in the 1953 version of I, the Jury, and as his guest appearance in the Star Trek episode "The Devil in the Dark".-Early life:...
as Tom Thumb Co.G - Bart Burns as Pvt. Raker Co.G
Production
ArkansasArkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
-born Francis Irby Gwaltney
Francis Irby Gwaltney
Francis Irby Gwaltney born 9 September 1921 in Traskwood, Arkansas died 27 February 1981 was a prolific Southern American author. He was the most well known author to have set his books in Arkansas.-Biography:...
soldiered in the Philippines with the 112th Cavalry that served throughout the Pacific doing several amphibious landings. During this service he formed a friendship with Norman Mailer
Norman Mailer
Norman Kingsley Mailer was an American novelist, journalist, essayist, poet, playwright, screenwriter, and film director.Along with Truman Capote, Joan Didion, Hunter S...
whom he met there.
The Day the Century Ended was Gwaltney's most famous novel. When Fox picked the 1955 novel up for filming they assigned it to Philippine veteran Rod Serling
Rod Serling
Rodman Edward "Rod" Serling was an American screenwriter, novelist, television producer, and narrator best known for his live television dramas of the 1950s and his science fiction anthology TV series, The Twilight Zone. Serling was active in politics, both on and off the screen and helped form...
famed for his American television plays. Unfortunately Serling's first screenplay was nine hours long and the project was given to other writers, notably Harry Brown
Harry Brown (writer)
Harry Peter McNab Brown, Jr. was an American poet, novelist and screenwriter.-Life:Born in Portland, Maine, he was educated at Harvard University, where he was friends with American poet, Robert Lowell...
who had written the book A Walk in the Sun.
Between Heaven and Hell is one of the 1950s depictions of the US Army that did not paint a recruiting poster image and was more in tune with many soldier's memories such as From Here to Eternity
From Here to Eternity
From Here to Eternity is a 1953 drama film directed by Fred Zinnemann and based on the novel of the same name by James Jones. It deals with the troubles of soldiers, played by Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Frank Sinatra and Ernest Borgnine stationed on Hawaii in the months leading up to the...
, Robert Aldrich
Robert Aldrich
Robert Aldrich was an American film director, writer and producer, notable for such films as Kiss Me Deadly , The Big Knife , What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? , Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte , The Flight of the Phoenix , The Dirty Dozen , and The Longest Yard .-Biography:Robert...
's Attack
Attack (1956 film)
Attack, also known as Attack!, is a 1956 American war film. It was directed by Robert Aldrich and starred Jack Palance, Eddie Albert, Lee Marvin, William Smithers, Robert Strauss, Richard Jaeckel, Buddy Ebsen and Peter van Eyck...
or Samuel Fuller
Samuel Fuller
Samuel Michael Fuller was an American screenwriter, novelist, and film director known for low-budget genre movies with controversial themes.-Personal life:...
's films.
Fleischer uses the Cinemascope widescreen format well, notably in views of hills lit up by a firefight
Firefight
Firefight may refer to:* firefight, a large exchange of bullets between two sides * Firefighting, process of extinguishing destructive flames* A game mode in Halo 3: ODST and Halo: Reach video games...
.
Critical response
When the film was first released, The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
panned the film, writing, "To be just as blunt about it as Twentieth Century-Fox, Between Heaven and Hell, a World War II drama, lands accordingly, with a pretty dull thud. This curiously rambling, unconvincing and often baffling picture, opening yesterday at Loew's State, very sketchily suggests the regeneration of a hard-headed young G. I. on a Japanese island in the Pacific...Except for the sideline skirmishes with the Japanese, and one fine, big beachhead battle staged by director Richard Fleischer, the action focuses on the outpost, where a brutal, slightly demented company commander, Mr. Crawford, reigns supreme. Mr. Wagner not only manages to survive some snarling comrades, most of whom are wiped out, but also the enemy in a series of lagging, disjointed clashes, verbal and physical, that shed little light on anything or anybody."
External links
- Between Heaven and Hell film trailer