j_eyon

I found a 3rd rate copy of the film on youtube to watch - and despite that - i was completely absorbed

the star Hideko Takemine had begun as a child actress and had appeared in a considerable number of films before this - probably filmed while in her late teens - altho she plays a 16 year old

she has no dialog for half the film - cuz she's a troubled teen who refuses to connect - even with the warm-hearted teacher who takes responsibility for her

nevertheless - Takemine registers every moment she's on screen - she coulda taught Brando or Dean how to wordlessly portray isolation and anguish

the film takes a sudden turn halfway thru - which might not be the best for Takemine's performance - but it doesn't ruin the movie

auspicious names appear behind the scenes - i never heard of the director Aoyagi Nobuo - but he does a commendable job - his assistant director is Ichikawa Kon - one of the cowriters is Kurosawa Akira

this was made early in WWII - but the setting was an island off the south coast of japan - so the war hardly touched the people - altho there were a few reminders

the girl and the teacher were sent to the Goto Islands - but i don't know if they filmed there - the setting is beautiful - even in the sad state of the film i watched - it kinda reminded me of my upbringing in southeastern alaska - however - and ominously for today's audience - the islands are not far from Nagasaki.

A pilot that never appeared on broadcast TV - for an anthology tv series tentatively named "Thy Will Be Done" - it's format strongly resembles Twilight Zone - which debuted a year later - this pilot had old time actor Charles Bickford doing the Serling like narration - the story's cast is led by Robert Culp - also in the group is future director of "Tootsie" Sidney Pollack

this is a psychological drama set in the future - where a handful of military men take turns manning the control room that launches the american nuke answer to a soviet attack - the story is all about the pressure placed on these men - who must decide whether play a part in the destruction of the world - when they don't know how much to trust the information given them - this leaves room for them to make a mistake and launch an attack when they shouldn't - or maybe they go crazy and launch one

despite Richard Matheson's contribution to the script - this is a tedious and predictable plot - even the ending is not a surprise - and its premise is flawed - the actual retaliatory system has built-in redundancies - it isn't up to one man

strangely - in the IMDb entry for this pilot - Stefanie Powers is said to be in the cast - but there's no character name for her role - and there are no females in the main story - there is a photo of a teenaged girl in the ending - where future stories were described - but that photo doesn't look anything like Stefanie.

Edginess was Steven McQueen's prime quality - and it dominates this film - which saw his star rising - while wholesome Robert Wagner's star was dimming - who do you think got the top billing - who do you think got the girl - played by prim & lovely Shirley Anne Field

this film is as much about the clashing personalities as the war - tho there's enuf WWII bomber action - done with with such gritty realism - i could almost smell the rain and leather jackets

i was especially impressed with the recreation of the WWII era - in costume and British atmosphere - this was in part accomplished by english director Phillip Leacock - who was lived there at the time.