People are voting emotionally.
... View MoreHorrible, fascist and poorly acted
... View MoreWatch something else. There are very few redeeming qualities to this film.
... View Morean ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.
... View MoreA 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.
... View MoreA 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.
... View More"A Place in Hell" does something Italian war movies rarely do: it places reasonably-developed characters in an unconventional setting and then tells a straightforward story. This is an original, zesty little action movie and that alone gives it plenty of gas to run on until the final shots.A drunken war correspondent, a prostitute and happy-go-lucky Italian GI barely escape a bombing of Manila, only to realize that the island they land on has been captured by the Japanese. They hook up with a band of Allied survivors and attempt to escape. There's a twist, though: the US forces had been using the island to house an experimental radar base. The Japanese have captured the base, and are going to use it to guide their fleet in the coming invasion of the Philippines.Guy Madison, who was to become THE leading man in Italian war movies over the next few years, is the perfect leading man. He plays a war correspondent who's forced into leading the men simply because he has an honorary rank of major. His reactions to every situation are complex and believable. Sometimes he knows what to do, sometimes he doesn't; the moral conflicts of what actions are necessary and what should be avoided seem to come naturally. He plays a slightly toned-down version of the character Tom Hanks would play in "Saving Private Ryan", a civilian forced to lead men in battle - something he never prepared for.The supporting cast is full of familiar faces from other war films of the period. Maurizio Tocchi, Maurice Poli and Fabio Testi all bring parts of American soldiers to life, as they must deal with being stranded on an enemy-occupied island. When they must choose whether or not to escape or engage the enemy, the choice doesn't come easily.The script is a little formulaic, but director Giuseppe Vari keeps the pace moving, filling his story with quick, violent encounters between roving Japanese patrols and the American guerrillas. These action scenes are actually the low-point of the movie, as they don't involve much except a lot of Japanese soldiers running into the path of oncoming American fire and falling down dead. The juicy characters manage to keep the audience engrossed during the quieter moments, because there is always something signifigant going on.As far as camera-work goes, Vari's work is pretty standard, too, but definitely not dull. He uses lots of hand-held shots, some high angles, and rapid editing in the action sequences to make this one high-energy movie. The jungle scenery looks fresh and often foreboding, though occasionally beautiful. The chaos of war set against the beauty of the lush jungles is stressed in some final anti-war comments by Madison's character."A Place in Hell" is an engaging, well-shot and well-told story about men fighting against the odds. It's unique and enjoyable pulp, with a well-developed but never over-stated message behind it about the violence and pointlessness of war. A very good movie, and that's all there is to it.
... View MoreA 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.
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