L'Enfer des Philippines

I can see that most of the other reviewers here really like this movie, but I can't really understand why, because this movie is extremely slow-moving and full of clichés all the way through, and has a really unlikeable leading man, who just wants to drink and smoke all the time, and likes to "take charge" of his men, and doesn't even flinch when his men (or women) get killed because of him dragging them out into the field.

Quite a lot of the scenes in this movie consists of people walking a lot. The final scene has a VERY lengthy sequence where a woman walks around an abandoned campsite for what seems like 10 minutes!! All she does is just walk around and look, run a bit, and stroll back and forth.. imagine that for at least 5 minutes near the climax of any movie! This movie is a total time-waster.

Only good thing about this movie are the following: My VHS-tape is surprisingly in widescreen, which was a big plus.

The two women (Esperanto and Betsy) are hot.

Fabio Testi is in this movie, and he kicks ass as usual.

Well, that's about it. This movie is so full of clichés, truly a horrible piece of war-glorifying trash - but without blood and gore, so you could actually see this with kids too, except that they'd probably be too bored to bother finish watching it.

4/10 - one star for Testi, two for each of the women, and one for the widescreen format (and the fast-forward button on my remote).

A Place in Hell is another in the cycle of films often categorised as Macaroni Combat. These Italian films are sort of war-action alternatives to the spaghetti westerns. But there is a reason that these movies aren't remembered by anyone outside of Euro-cult enthusiasts and that is that by-in-large they are pretty unremarkable and, unlike the spaghettis, they don't have nearly as many factors that make them stand out as a genre of their own. This one, like 36 Hours of Hell from the same year, is set in the Pacific, on-location in the Philippines to be more precise. This does make it a little more distinctive from most in the genre which were set in Europe or North Africa. Set during World War II, its story focuses on survivors of the Japanese attack on Manila, including a journalist, a hooker and an Italian soldier. They end up on a Pacific island overrun by the Japanese and are soon joined by a band of Allied soldiers who are in the process of trying to recapture a radar base from the enemy.

Despite the setting, I found this one to be a little too slow moving for my liking. It wasn't especially thrilling or particularly interesting either. I found 36 Hours of Hell to be a better example of this kind of thing to be honest. I expect it will still be of interest to Euro-war film fans though.

A decent pacific war action film. The story is familiar, a small random group of survivors from a Japanese attack have to undertake an "impossible" mission. Much is saved by crisp characters and rugged acting, though masterpiece this one is not.

An unusual feature for a film of this kind is the camerawork. Not only does the camera move a lot, already lifting this film above some of its peers, there are also a couple of visually ambitious sequences.

Released on video in Finland in the early eighties.

A PLACE IN HELL is a fun-but-forgotten Italian WW2 flick set in the Pacific theatre for a change (most of these films seem to be desert-set productions in my experience). It's business as usual for the scriptwriter, who concocts a storyline about a group of soldiers who have to undertake a deadly mission to blow up a Japanese base on one of the Pacific islands before escaping to the docks to make their getaway.

The film is surprisingly well made for its budget and genre, with atmospheric jungle locations and some top action to recommend it. The cast is merely average, with dependable leading man of Italian action cinema Guy Madison leading the way, but Giuseppe Vari's direction is better than average.

There's an excellent set-piece at the climax involving a deserted beach and village which is the perfect exercise in setting up tension before letting loose with a rousing climax. There are some thoughtful reflections on the nature of warfare here, which you aren't expecting in the dubbed English dialogue, along with location photography in the Philippines which adds to the authenticity.

During World War II in the Philippines: After a night of partying, two soldiers (Guy MADISON, Maurice POLI) and a beautiful prostitute (Helene CHANEL) are stranded on an island. They don't yet know that it is already occupied by the Japanese. Soon all hell will break loose. The stranded people fight their way through the jungle, meet their own soldiers (Fabio TESTI in an early role) and fight their way to a village by the sea. But there is a surprise lurking in the fine-grained sand...

Effective and hard MacaroniKOMBAT flick that keeps you interested with its impressive jungle and good fight scenes. The film is also known under the titles GRÜNE HÖLLE PAZIFIK, RAIDERS ON THE BLOODY BEACH and A PLACE IN HELL.

Unfortunately, the version on AMAZON PRIME VIDEO is no longer in such good condition and is too dark and blurry in some places. Nevertheless, director Giuseppe VARI has managed to make a war film that is definitely worth seeing.