Hell's Horizon

This time it is the poster that is a bit misleading - it suggests a sultriness that is completely lacking from this documentary style tale of an American bombing crew during the Korean War. John Ireland leads the cast as the rather obnoxious "Capt. Merrill" tasked with a mission to destroy a crucial bridge over a river. The film depicts their efforts and their more perilous and suspenseful return journey with fuel gushing from an hole in the wing. Marla English ("Sami") provides what little glamour this dryly produced wartime drama allows, and though it does feature some interesting actuality footage, this film is all a bit on the flat side with little to distinguish it.

Due to adverse weather conditions, a small squadron of bomber pilots and their crews stationed in Okinawa during the Korean War have no choice but to sit in their makeshift barracks while awaiting orders. To that effect, one young, enlisted man named "Buddy Lewis" (Larry Pennell) tries to spend as much time with one of the local women by the name of "Sami" (Marla English), who clearly likes him as well. One particular problem, however, is that an officer he works with named "Captain John Merrill" (John Ireland) also fancies Sammi and thinks nothing of abusing his rank to take advantage of the situation. Another potential situation involves another bomber crew member named "Sergeant Al Trask" (Hugh Beaumont), who is experiencing marital difficulties while stationed overseas, and it's affecting his morale to quite an extent. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this was an adequate Korean War movie, which started slowly but improved about halfway through. Admittedly, the casting of Marla English as the Japanese love interest wasn't entirely convincing; however, aside from that, this turned out to be an adequate B-movie, and I have rated it accordingly. Average.

The B-29 Superfortress bomber was essentially obsolete by the time frame (1953) of this film. It was a propeller-driven strategic bomber designed for World War II, however the jet age of the late 1940s and the jet fighters developed after the war made the plane vulnerable. The losses the USAF suffered in 1950 of B-29s on day bombing missions over North Korea to the Soviet MiG-15 jet fighter flown by the North Korean Air Force (using Soviet pilots) forced the USAF to switch to night bombing missions. After the 1953 Korean armistice, the USAF switched rapidly to jet bombers such as the B-47 and B-52. The older World War II propeller-driven bombers were phased out.

This film is one of a few films that shows a daylight bombing mission over North Korea and the plane is attacked by jet fighters. The ensuing drama of the plane getting back to Kadena Air Base (where the B-29s were stationed, unmentioned in the film) is what makes this a good war film that is worth watching. The other secondary elements of the film are watchable, but not notable.

The Korean War had only one good film in its entirety: The Manchurian Candidate, and 95% of that film has no combat action. The editing in this film borders on the horrendous, as only the characterizations, and the mighty effort of the very talented lead actor save the film.

Another major drawback is using an obviously Caucasian woman and child as Okinawans, when there were plenty of competent Asian actresses and kids who could have easily played those roles.

Other than the editing and casting errors, the film holds up pretty well for the combat sequences, even though they are footage pieces. The romance and Dear John sequences are believable to a lesser degree. The problem with Korean War films is that they are all destined to lose, just like the Vietnam films, but the Vietnam films like Apocalypse Now, and Platoon, as well as Go Tell the Spartans, were all much better produced, as losing can be much more dramatic than winning at times.

About the best use of stock footage I've seen. Make no mistake, there are ZERO shots of aircraft flying, taking off, even exteriors on the ramp that are shot for this movie, or even models. It's all tent city on a soundstage, interior of a (probably real but scrapped surplus) B29, and stock footage.

But it sorta works. They voice over things like the crew checking out the plane as the stock footage isn't that great resolution, it's mid shots, and one 50s USAF guy in all his gear looks very much like another.

Falls apart a bit in the action scenes where the footage cannot decide what altitude they are at (and it is scripted, sorta matters), the enemy aircraft are several /different/ USAF aircraft, and... oh, they bomb China. That also was briefed, but they forget when picking impact footage.

Well acted, pretty well scripted. Okay photography, and the in-aircraft scenes are awfully well done; the pilot ones are the only with pretty soundstage blocking, others feel very personal. Apparently had a good advisor, everyone does stuff that at least feels very authentic, everything deliberate.

Yes, the Korean love interest is super duper a white chick, and it's not just racist but is distractingly wrong.

Otherwise the worst thing about the film is the editing. It's just indifferent. Many shots too long, some too short and it cuts between unimportant things. The stock footage also falls prey to this; it could have used 90% less of it, and done almost everything from inside the aircraft, not just as a character study but as claustrophobic action. Those were already the best bits.