What makes it different from others?

Beautiful, moving film.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

"Cry of Battle" was released in 1963--the same year that "Spencer's Mountain" hit the big screen. Both star James MacArthur in a coming of age story, but it would be difficult to find two films so different from each other. Where "Spencer's Mountain" is filled to the brim with scenes about the virtues of family bonds and living in harmony with the land, "Cry of Battle" is nearly morally bankrupt. In fact, I am surprised the novel was chosen for filming.Set during World War II, the film features MacArthur as the son (David McVey) of a wealthy businessman, trapped on a remote island of the Philippines. He is befriended by a creepy opportunist named Joe Trent (Van Heflin)--a man for whom he feels both revulsion and loyalty.In refreshing contrast to the script, which is distasteful, is the performance of Rita Moreno as Sisa, a Filipina who is caught up in the tragedy of the war and the stormy relationship between the two men.The final scenes try to resolve the moral ambiguity of the film, but end up being abrupt, unsatisfying and enigmatic.

I thought that Rita Moreno wanted to break out and have someone sing for her as was done two years before in her supporting Oscar win for "West Side Story."This picture, as far as I was concerned, was a first-class stinker. You don't feel a World War 11 atmosphere in the Philippines. The Japanese enemy is rarely seen and you begin to wonder who the good and bad guys are in the film.The Van Heflin role as Joe is so complex and complicated; you don't really know where he is coming from. Rita Moreno is not exactly Pilar (Katina Paxinou) in 1943's "For Whom the Bell Tolls."James MacArthur, as the spoiled son of a wealthy American businessman stranded in the area, is about the only bright spot in this rather dull film.

For some unknown reason, Joe, 3rd mate on a merchant ship, is given a spot promotion to 2nd Lt, and given a squad of Philippinos with orders to attack a Japanese sugar processing plant. This is the last we hear of the plant.Tagging along, again for unspecified reasons, is the snot-nosed scion of an unseen mogul who falls in love with the heroine. The heroine, alas, is something of an opportunist, and ends up in bed with Joe just because. Naturally, the green-eyed monster makes an appearance.The only thing this film has to do with war are the 17 or so Japanese soldiers who occasionally make their appearance. Most of this movie deals with the angst felt by the snot-nosed kid in his never-ending attempts to pry the heroine away from Joe.I found this film to be a grand waste of time.

I was the producer of "Cry of Battle". The production name, Petramonte,is Stein(stone)berg(mountain) in Spanish. The rape scene was with Van Heflin trying to rape Pinang, played by the Phillipina actress, Marilou Munoz, not Rita Morena. For Trivia: I shot around Rita Morena so that she could fly back to LA for the Acedemy Award. She got an Oscar that year, returned and continued shooting. The working title was "To be a man". The book called for an young adult. Making the David McVey character younger with James MacArthur, it was better contrast as a much younger man. We shot a number of days using jitneys (old cars used as buses) horse drawn carts in crowded streets. This was that start of the Japanese attack. All of that work and footage went into the trash can and we ended up with a simple line about the date.