Battle Hymn

Rating:
Summary: A HYMN TO HIM AND HER - MORE LOVE THAN WAR!
Review: "Battle Hymn" is the story of a minister (Rock Hudson) who returns to train Korean soldiers to fight after he feels he has lost his calling. Of course he finds redemption and his true faith when he becomes involved with a group of Korean orphans and a young Korean/Indian woman that cares for them. Despite several brilliantly staged action sequences this film is not so much a war saga as it is a tale of introspection and finding courage in religion to carry on. The reason is simple; the film's director is Douglas Sirk - known for his soppy, sloppy and gushy melodramas that ooz treacle over substance, like "Imitation of Life" and "Written on the Wind". The blend of both adventure and drama is seamless. "Battle Hymn" is an intelligently-crafted and inspiring without being stoic or preachy.
THE TRANSFER: Overall the picture quality is nicely rendered but the ravages of time have not been kind in a few spots. Age related artifacts are present throughout - sometimes glaringly so. Black levels are often weak and fine detail is lost in the darkest scenes. Digital anomalies are not an issue for a generally smooth visual presentation. The audio is nicely presented - if somewhat dated.
EXTRAS: None.
BOTTOM LINE: "Battle Hymn" is finely wrought melodrama tinged with the prerequisite of combat that all war films have in common. The DVD is admirably realized but is not reference quality. Still, it's definitely worth a look.

Rating:
Summary: crazy
Review: a nutty film redoculi

Rating:
Summary: this is the film to watch over the next few weeks.
Review: A tribute to the essential benevolence of the US Army, and a justification of necessary warfare, 'Battle Hymn' was made with the full co-operation of the army (which allows for some spectacular airfights and picturesque bombings). It is introduced by an endearingly stolid miltary mandarin, General Earle Partridge of the US Fifth Air Force, posing against the eloquent priapic might of a grounded bomber. This is a propaganda film that shows the army as decent saviours of the world, protectors of the innocent; it displays the urgent need for heavy armaments and the engagement in warfare with totalitarian threats to that innocence.

The film is directed by Douglas Sirk, who has been for the last three decades the test case for the possibility within the monolithic global Hollywood industry of inserting a critical voice, of working within the system but producing films that go against the grain. Sirk's major legacy is a series of Universal melodramas from the 1950s, in which he took a despised, 'female', corny, conservative genre, and created the most devastating critiques of 50s America we have, with its mindless and mind-destroying conformism, its patriarchal repressions, its racism.

the films, being 'women's pictures', naturally focus on the domestic, on the interior lives of socially imprisoned characters. 'Battle Hymn', on the other hand, is a war film, male-dominated and set in the wide-open desert spaces of Korea. Nevertheless, Sirk finds a way to 'domesticate' this macho genre, with his feminised, camp soldiers; with his preponderance of cramped, interior shots.

there is a conscious opposition in this film that goes to the heart of the American 'problem' that would explode so traumatically in Vietnam. In the 1950s, when this film was made, America was led by a grounded military man, fetishised the family, and encouraged socially adhesive religious values. And yet Dean Hess, a vicar, a man of god, a family man, cannot live in this America. America is no longer fit for American men, primed by the Second World War, to live in. His marriage is sterile - only when he leaves does his wife become pregnant, and does he find the possibility of family in the shape of the teacher and Chu.

In an America so brightly optimistic and confident as Eisenhower's, any trauma cannot be spoken publicly. Any 'illness' must be taken outside and dealt with there. Hence the profusion of US military activity in the 20th century, a doomed attempt to atone for guilt and failure, which only results in the mass murder of foreigners.

'Battle Hymn' is quite a provocative film, with a hero and his sidekick called Herrmann and Hess, with two graphic bombings by the army of an orphanage and of fleeing refugees. The film is called 'Battle Hymn', and is an attempt to unite the conflicting US ideals of religion and militarism - Hess flails around wildly for the assurance that his murderous actions are not his fault, but part of God's will, sanctioning further brutalities. He is often ironically compared to Christ, when he is actually a mixture of the antiChrist and Midas, killing everything he touches. The only way he can save lives is to 'sacrifice' others.

'Battle Hymn' does not equate war with religion (a deus ex machina is epically ironic), but exposes the pathology of the army: the predominantly dull mise-en-scene matching the grey uniforms. American military imperialism is mirrored in the attempts to Americanise the Korean children, teaching them to eat 'candy', swallow Christianity and sing English. Any native rituals don't exist as examples of an alternative or older culture, but as theatrical expressions of Hess' moral progress.

the film also points to Sirk's great 'race' masterpiece of three years later, 'Imitation of life': in real America, segregation would have prevented Hess and Maples befriending one another. Here, they are made equal in the army, united by baby-killing and its justification by God.

Rating:
Summary: A POIGNANT AND OFTEN SECRET STRUGGLE
Review: Battle Hymn is a story about Colonel Dean Hess (Rock Hudson), a pilot stationed in Korea. But this is a Douglas Sirk film, so you know there's a lot more to it than that, and things aren't always what they seem. The movie manages to combine a warm and endearing stroy with a hidden plot that will please all the Sirk fans.

There's a moving death scene that rivals Greta Garbo and Robert Taylor in Camille for most romantic of all time. And this is man to man, not your convential sort of deal, by no means. Rock Hudson looked so at home running his fingers through the sergeant's hair and whispering comforting words about "the abundant light". Talk about swoon-worthy!

Battle Hymn can be summed up perfectly with this quote from the film: "Perhaps, through the agony of war, I have finally done what I was never before able to do. In reaching beyond myself, I have found myself." The quote signifies many things on many levels, and can be equally as disturbing as it is inspiring. You'll have to watch the movie to find out what it all means for yourself. Oh yeah, and it also helps if you know about Douglas Sirk and what his objectives were when making a movie. Then it will all become clear. Such genius. Such revelations.

Rating:
Summary: Proud To Be An American
Review: Being a service man myself. I can only say, speechless. They just don't make movies like this any more. Or is it that they don't make men like this who we can write books about or even make movies about. Alas, this is not true. The US Military still has the same quality of personnel, as yesteryear. Roughnecks along with the folks who just don't know any better. Just like the Sgt in the movie, the one thing that counts is that his hart is in the right place. Anyhow, it's a very patriotic movie that will touch anyone who has served, was a spouse, or a dependant of the military. A must see flick. THANK YOU COL HESS!

Any of the family of Col Hess is more than welcome to send me an email at [e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: Proud To Be An American
Review: Being a service man myself. I can only say, speechless. They just don't make movies like this any more. Or is it that they don't make men like this who we can write books about or even make movies about. Alas, this is not true. The US Military still has the same quality of personnel, as yesteryear. Roughnecks along with the folks who just don't know any better. Just like the Sgt in the movie, the one thing that counts is that his hart is in the right place. Anyhow, it's a very patriotic movie that will touch anyone who has served, was a spouse, or a dependant of the military. A must see flick. THANK YOU COL HESS!

Any of the family of Col Hess is more than welcome to send me an email at [e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: Inspiring but Not Always factual
Review: Once again, Hollywood has taken a true story, changed or omitted facts and passed it off as the real thing. Despite that, this is an inspiring and poignant movie and as another reviewer here said, this is the type of movie they don't make any more.

The stoic Rock Hudson plays Colonel Dean E. Hess, a real life WW II fighter pilot who comes to Korea to train the first ROKAF pilots in American aircraft and tactics. However, there are some glaring inconsistencies in this movie and what happened in real life to Dean Hess.

For one thing, Hess already had a degree in theology and was in graduate school when he became an aviation cadet in the Air Corps during WW II. He received his ordination and elected to return to the Air Force and make it his career postwar. It was not as the result of Korea itself or any deep spiritual problem. From what I read, when he bombed the orphanage or hospital in Germany during WW II, he did not have the problems portrayed in the movie.

The Anna Kashfi character, En Soon Whang was an older women in her 50s and not a beautiful, half-Korean - half Indian teacher. She was Korean and had lost two sons in WW II and in Korea. She had already helped start and maintain an orphanage. Then Major Hess helped out, along with many other Americans and the kiddy lift did happen. But not like in the movie.

This movie is inspiring because it does show the power of faith as well as Hess's value to a fellow pilot and long-term friend who he helps at the hour of his death. That was perhaps one of the most powerful parts of the movie, because his friend, a typical fighter pilot, has no foundation on which to stand. As he says to Hess, "I realize I was afraid to live and now, I don't know how to die." The minister in Hess the pilot finds his real calling, and pastors to his dying friend. He makes the transition from this life to the next easier for his friend and the other pilot is able to die peacefully. It is at that point that Dean Hess finds himself, by stepping outside himself.

I saw this movie for the first time more than 25 years ago on television and was very taken with it. It was at a time before I renewed my own faith. Dean Hess's pastoral counseling to his dying friend had a big impact on me because I had an inordinate fear of death and dying. His words had the effect of helping me conquer that fear and later, led me back to my own relationship with God. Perhaps that is the real (but hidden value) of this movie.

There is also another dimension to this movie that should be mentioned. The aerial sequences are extremely well done. Viewers who are fans of the North American P-51 Mustang will benefit from several scenes of combat flying that show the plane in its best light. In this part of the movie, Hudson manages to convey the competence of Hess as a leader and pilot. He is an excellent manager and teacher and his success training the ROKAF pilots is evident in later scenes.

Finally, one of the things the movie doesn't point out is that Colonel Dean E. Hess remained in the Air Force after the Korean War and not as a chaplain. He retired from active duty in 1971 as a full colonel and he spent the better part of his career as a fighter pilot. He was a man of God to be sure, but he was also a pilot and that is where he made his largest contributions to the service.

Paul Connors

Rating:
Summary: Inspiring but Not Always factual
Review: Once again, Hollywood has taken a true story, changed or omitted facts and passed it off as the real thing. Despite that, this is an inspiring and poignant movie and as another reviewer here said, this is the type of movie they don't make any more.

The stoic Rock Hudson plays Colonel Dean E. Hess, a real life WW II fighter pilot who comes to Korea to train the first ROKAF pilots in American aircraft and tactics. However, there are some glaring inconsistencies in this movie and what happened in real life to Dean Hess.

For one thing, Hess already had a degree in theology and was in graduate school when he became an aviation cadet in the Air Corps during WW II. He received his ordination and elected to return to the Air Force and make it his career postwar. It was not as the result of Korea itself or any deep spiritual problem. From what I read, when he bombed the orphanage or hospital in Germany during WW II, he did not have the problems portrayed in the movie.

The Anna Kashfi character, En Soon Whang was an older women in her 50s and not a beautiful, half-Korean - half Indian teacher. She was Korean and had lost two sons in WW II and in Korea. She had already helped start and maintain an orphanage. Then Major Hess helped out, along with many other Americans and the kiddy lift did happen. But not like in the movie.

This movie is inspiring because it does show the power of faith as well as Hess's value to a fellow pilot and long-term friend who he helps at the hour of his death. That was perhaps one of the most powerful parts of the movie, because his friend, a typical fighter pilot, has no foundation on which to stand. As he says to Hess, "I realize I was afraid to live and now, I don't know how to die." The minister in Hess the pilot finds his real calling, and pastors to his dying friend. He makes the transition from this life to the next easier for his friend and the other pilot is able to die peacefully. It is at that point that Dean Hess finds himself, by stepping outside himself.

I saw this movie for the first time more than 25 years ago on television and was very taken with it. It was at a time before I renewed my own faith. Dean Hess's pastoral counseling to his dying friend had a big impact on me because I had an inordinate fear of death and dying. His words had the effect of helping me conquer that fear and later, led me back to my own relationship with God. Perhaps that is the real (but hidden value) of this movie.

There is also another dimension to this movie that should be mentioned. The aerial sequences are extremely well done. Viewers who are fans of the North American P-51 Mustang will benefit from several scenes of combat flying that show the plane in its best light. In this part of the movie, Hudson manages to convey the competence of Hess as a leader and pilot. He is an excellent manager and teacher and his success training the ROKAF pilots is evident in later scenes.

Finally, one of the things the movie doesn't point out is that Colonel Dean E. Hess remained in the Air Force after the Korean War and not as a chaplain. He retired from active duty in 1971 as a full colonel and he spent the better part of his career as a fighter pilot. He was a man of God to be sure, but he was also a pilot and that is where he made his largest contributions to the service.

Paul Connors

Rating:
Summary: HAS EVERY EMOTION INCLUDED
Review: ROCK HUDSON DID A GREAT JOB PLAYING DEAN HESS. GREAT MOVIE IF YOU ARE A P-51 LOVER.

Rating:
Summary: Finding God Amidst The War
Review: Rock Hudson stars as a minister who feels he has lost his calling and returns to the Air Force (he had fought in WWII) to train Korean soldiers during the Korean War. He and his men become involved with a group of Korean orphans and a young Korean/Indian woman that cares for them. While the war rages on, Hudson begins to find his way back to God, while also trying to protect the orphans. I initially believed that this was a war-action film, only to be surprised that, although there are several good fighting sequences, this was a more personal story of finding faith. Surprisingly, it meshes together well with the action. Hudson is earnest in his portrayal of the real life colonel, and he is well supported by Dan Duryea as one of his men/sidekick. There are some great lines about faith, and some of them made me think, especially the belief that God allows things to happen for reasons that may not be clear to us now, however bad they may seem at the time. In light of what has gone on in the world lately, this is a comforting thought. Battle Hymn is a well crafted, inspiring movie that never seems to preach, yet it certainly makes its points.