Rating: 
Summary: A Walk in the Sun: War as Microcosm
Review: A WALK IN THE SUN is a faithful screen adaptation from the novel by Harry Brown. Director Lewis Milestone relates the events of one day in the journey of a platoon in Italy as they take their 'walk in the sun.' Unlike most movies of the World War II era in which the focus is on the 'big picture', here Milestone limits his camera to record the microcosm of war. For a film about men in war, the actual amount of fighting is surprisingly negligible. In fact, the movie contains only two scenes of combat and each lasts only a few moments. What emerges is a movie that pictures combat with an enemy that is rarely seen and then only in shadows. As the film begins, a landing craft heads toward the beach at Salerno. It is the darkness just before dawn. The soldiers in the craft are warned to be quiet. Still, despite their caution, their lieutenant is killed by shrapnel, leaving Sergeant Porter (Herbert Rudley) in charge. As the men hit the beach, they begin to take casualties. Death seems only to come unexpectedly, quickly, and from far away. The death of Private McWilliams (Sterling Holloway) points out one of the film's subtexts: that the confusion of war makes it impossible for soldiers to make sense out of a war that is so vast that all they can hope to understand is only their microscopic view of it. McWilliams is symbolically killed as he tries to use binoculars to peek over a ridge to see the action on the other side. The Gods of Mars are determined to punish those hubristic soldiers who dare to aspire to a godlike understanding of the chaos of war. Sergeant Porter suffers mental collapse, leaving Sergeant Tyne (Dana Andrews) now in command. His orders are to march to a small farmhouse and secure it. Such an order is simplistic only on its seeming innocuousness. The company begin their trek toward the farmhouse, and as they walk, we can see individuals emerge from the collective company identity. There is the usual ethnic breakdown of men in combat. Private Rivera (Richard Conte) plays the Jersey City wisecracking machine gunner always bumming butts from mates. John Ireland is Windy the philosopher soldier who sees Porter sobbing helplessly and comments, 'Sometimes a wound does not always bleed.' Huntz Hall as Private Carraway is the slightly older version of the Brooklyn East Side Kid from his earlier days as Satch. Lloyd Bridges as Sergeant Ward dreams of apples as he tries to reconnect to a civilian life that he fears he may never see again. And leading them all is Tyne, whose management philosophy is shaped by the observation of one of his mates: 'Everything in the army is simple: you live or you die.' As they walk, they can hear the war far more than they can see it. German planes strafe them, shells land amidst them, armored cars appear out of nowhere, and all the while the only warning they have is a brief buzz of noise. Every few minutes, an offscreen balladeer sings a song, which the audience can hear but the soldiers cannot. The song takes its cue from the title as it reminds the viewer that the purpose of the trek is to take a 'walk in the warm Italian sun.' The first combat scene reinforces the concept that the enemy is nameless and faceless, though nonetheless deadly for their distance. A German armored car approaches and the Americans ambush it with grenades and machine gun bullets, causing it to crash and burn. The audience never sees the faces of any of the Germans. The only German anatomy that is seen is a hand that appears out of a burning vent. This hand,in the light of the remainder of the film, can be seen as symbolic of the Americans' view that war is far distant and totally impersonal. As the Americans approach their objective of the farmhouse, they plot to take it as they earlier had destroyed the armored car. The Americans attack, and the only view that the audience has of the defenders is that of hands manning machine guns pointing at the attacking Americans. The attack is successful, but the cost is high. Despite Rivera's oft repeated refrain that 'Nobody dies,' many do, and as the Americans wait for reinforcements, they have time to reconnect with each other. The irony of Rivera's comment when juxtaposed with Tyne's belief in the simplistic choice of war as leading only to life or death makes A WALK IN THE SUN one of the most powerful war movies ever filmed that try to justify to men why they may have to die and how to keep their sanity even if Private Rivera is right.
Rating:
Summary: A Walk in the Sun: War as Microcosm
Review: A WALK IN THE SUN is a faithful screen adaptation from the novel by Harry Brown. Director Lewis Milestone relates the events of one day in the journey of a platoon in Italy as they take their 'walk in the sun.' Unlike most movies of the World War II era in which the focus is on the 'big picture', here Milestone limits his camera to record the microcosm of war. For a film about men in war, the actual amount of fighting is surprisingly negligible. In fact, the movie contains only two scenes of combat and each lasts only a few moments. What emerges is a movie that pictures combat with an enemy that is rarely seen and then only in shadows. As the film begins, a landing craft heads toward the beach at Salerno. It is the darkness just before dawn. The soldiers in the craft are warned to be quiet. Still, despite their caution, their lieutenant is killed by shrapnel, leaving Sergeant Porter (Herbert Rudley) in charge. As the men hit the beach, they begin to take casualties. Death seems only to come unexpectedly, quickly, and from far away. The death of Private McWilliams (Sterling Holloway) points out one of the film's subtexts: that the confusion of war makes it impossible for soldiers to make sense out of a war that is so vast that all they can hope to understand is only their microscopic view of it. McWilliams is symbolically killed as he tries to use binoculars to peek over a ridge to see the action on the other side. The Gods of Mars are determined to punish those hubristic soldiers who dare to aspire to a godlike understanding of the chaos of war. Sergeant Porter suffers mental collapse, leaving Sergeant Tyne (Dana Andrews) now in command. His orders are to march to a small farmhouse and secure it. Such an order is simplistic only on its seeming innocuousness. The company begin their trek toward the farmhouse, and as they walk, we can see individuals emerge from the collective company identity. There is the usual ethnic breakdown of men in combat. Private Rivera (Richard Conte) plays the Jersey City wisecracking machine gunner always bumming butts from mates. John Ireland is Windy the philosopher soldier who sees Porter sobbing helplessly and comments, 'Sometimes a wound does not always bleed.' Huntz Hall as Private Carraway is the slightly older version of the Brooklyn East Side Kid from his earlier days as Satch. Lloyd Bridges as Sergeant Ward dreams of apples as he tries to reconnect to a civilian life that he fears he may never see again. And leading them all is Tyne, whose management philosophy is shaped by the observation of one of his mates: 'Everything in the army is simple: you live or you die.' As they walk, they can hear the war far more than they can see it. German planes strafe them, shells land amidst them, armored cars appear out of nowhere, and all the while the only warning they have is a brief buzz of noise. Every few minutes, an offscreen balladeer sings a song, which the audience can hear but the soldiers cannot. The song takes its cue from the title as it reminds the viewer that the purpose of the trek is to take a 'walk in the warm Italian sun.' The first combat scene reinforces the concept that the enemy is nameless and faceless, though nonetheless deadly for their distance. A German armored car approaches and the Americans ambush it with grenades and machine gun bullets, causing it to crash and burn. The audience never sees the faces of any of the Germans. The only German anatomy that is seen is a hand that appears out of a burning vent. This hand,in the light of the remainder of the film, can be seen as symbolic of the Americans' view that war is far distant and totally impersonal. As the Americans approach their objective of the farmhouse, they plot to take it as they earlier had destroyed the armored car. The Americans attack, and the only view that the audience has of the defenders is that of hands manning machine guns pointing at the attacking Americans. The attack is successful, but the cost is high. Despite Rivera's oft repeated refrain that 'Nobody dies,' many do, and as the Americans wait for reinforcements, they have time to reconnect with each other. The irony of Rivera's comment when juxtaposed with Tyne's belief in the simplistic choice of war as leading only to life or death makes A WALK IN THE SUN one of the most powerful war movies ever filmed that try to justify to men why they may have to die and how to keep their sanity even if Private Rivera is right.
Rating: 
Summary: DVD quality incredibly poor
Review: A Walk in the Sun may be a good movie, but this DVD is amazingly bad. It looks like Madacy made it from a 10th generation VHS tape. They are even moments when static, from the poor tracking of the source tape, is visible. On top of that DVD compression artifacts abound, and my new DVD player has a lot of difficulty playing the disc without pausing every few minutes. It's absolutely amazing how little pride Madacy apparently takes in its products. The one star rating is for the wretched DVD quality only.
Rating: 
Summary: One of WW II's best
Review: A Walk in the Sun remains one of the truly best world war two films.It was a low budget film that got the most mileage out of that budget. The action scenes were spare but very effective. The final assault on the farmhouse occupied by Germans and their dreaded machine guns is one of the most memorable few minutes in war film history. However, viewers may have great difficulty obtaining a complete version with good video quality. Over the years VHS tapes and even the current DVD have been remiss in either completeness or picture quality. I think this may be due in part to the film's having been public domain for so many years. Nevertheless, a laserdisc version was produced in about 1991 0r 1992 and has excellent picture quality and is a complete version to boot. The only downside of the disc is the poor sound quality which can be levelled and enhanced with an updated sound system. For lovers of war films, "A Walk in the Sun" is a definite must have and even the current DVD is better than no version at all.
Rating:
Summary: Don't buy the DVD version!
Review: Great film (though not as good as "Attack!"). However, don't, repeat DON'T buy the dvd version of this film. - The quality is simply appalling with a hugely bad compression ratio (honestly it's like watching a grainy movie clip on someone's website). The dvd also had a tendency to splutter to a stop on my dvd player. Now wonder the dvd is so cheap. I've no idea what the vhs video version is like, but it's got to be better than the dvd. 4 stars for the film overall but only 1 star for the dvd version!
Rating:
Summary: MOre smoking ciggrets then anything
Review: I am i war movie buff and i think this is the worst one i have ever seen. Its is all just talking and smoking ciggrets.I was so board i almost fell asleep. This is on movie i wish i have never bought.
Rating:
Summary: A terrific film showing the meaningless of battle.
Review: I have seen "A Walk in the Sun" more than 50 times since I was a young boy, and I never cease to enjoy it. This film lets you get to know and care for the soldiers as average men called upon to exhibit extraordinary bravery. It also illustrates that war is primarily a series of small battles and small victories with great personal consquences. Even though the soldiers in the film achieve their goal, I always wonder, "was this important enough to sacrifice the lives of so many?" Fine performances from the entire cast make this exceptional film worth viewing and discussing.
Rating:
Summary: "Nobody Dies," Best World War II Movie, Poorest DVD Quality
Review: I have watched this film trillions of times, and I own many VHS and Beta copies of it. I first saw it as a kid in the 1950's, and it is truly haunting. The dialogue, acting, tension buildup, realism, psychology, and photography/camera work are nothing short of superb. It is a film way ahead of its time, true to its genre, and probably the best/most realistic film to come out of WWII. Many of the ethnic/cultural stereotypes are quite good, even considering the absence of African-American roles, probably fairly accurate for the time. The depiction of war seems very genuine. Does anyone know what Dana Andrews meant when he said "4 ways from the jack?" What a shame that the DVD version by Madacy is so poor. There are video/digital dropouts, terrible sound, missing frames. The VHS and BETA versions are of better quality overall. There is no evidence of ANY Dolby Digital sound. I hope someone will recognize the true artistry of this film and issue it in a better DVD version. I would also recommend "The Best Years of Our Lives", although I don't know if it is out on DVD yet. Anyway, I rate this film as a "Must See/Own!"
Rating:
Summary: Still one of the best World War II films
Review: I too have seen A walk In The Sun countless times since I first saw it on television when I was a kid in the mid 1950's. I still believe that it is one of the best war films ever made. Yes, I also have seen Saving Private Ryan many times and love it as well. In many ways, these films have a lot in common. They both exemplify the tenseness and horror of war. While SPR is more graphic, A Walk In The Sun succeeds with superb camera work and more subtlety. The acting in A Walk In The Sun is excellent and I practically memorized all of the humorous dialogue between Pvts Rivera (Richard Conte) and Freedman (George Tyne). These two were a quintesential element of the film. This film was excellently directed by Lewis Milestone and should not be missed.
Rating:
Summary: A very memorable film
Review: I was born in 1941 and remember seeing this movie as a young boy. I have always viewed this film as the most anti-war film I have ever seen. It has truly had a major effect on my view of the futility of war. I truly believe that this is one movie we all should see at least once.
|
