Rating: Summary: A very tense, fast moving, exciting & almost hard-edged film Review: Objective Burma tried to strive for a kind of realism. It was beautifully photographed, fast-paced, tense and exciting. Had it not been for the somewhat corny ending the film would have had a very "hard edge" to it.
Rating: Summary: Action-filled, exciting war adventure Review: Objective, Burma! is a great WWII adventure about a behind-the-lines mission involving fifty paratroopers. The story follows Captain Charles Nelson and fifty paratroopers who are dropped behing enemy lines in Burma so that they may blow up a radar station. They run into numerous problems and have to fight their way out of the Burmese jungle. There is action at every turn with the tense conclusion a perfect ending. Fans of Errol Flynn will love this one as well. As the movie moves along, the viewer begins to feel the same feelings the soldiers stuck in the jungle do. The whole movie seems very realistic because of the setting in the jungle, actually filmed in California. What is there to say about Errol Flynn? He gives another great performance as Captain Nelson, the heroic leader of the paratroopers. Henry Hill is also very good as an aging war correspondent who accompanies the men on their mission. Also joining them are James Brown, William Prince, George Tobias, and Stephen Richards. This is a great World War II adventure that will keep all viewers interested. The final battle is great with plenty of anxiety in the air. Excellent action, great story, interesting character, how can you lose? Check out this Errol Flynn classic!
Rating: Summary: Action-filled, exciting war adventure Review: Objective, Burma! is a great WWII adventure about a behind-the-lines mission involving fifty paratroopers. The story follows Captain Charles Nelson and fifty paratroopers who are dropped behing enemy lines in Burma so that they may blow up a radar station. They run into numerous problems and have to fight their way out of the Burmese jungle. There is action at every turn with the tense conclusion a perfect ending. Fans of Errol Flynn will love this one as well. As the movie moves along, the viewer begins to feel the same feelings the soldiers stuck in the jungle do. The whole movie seems very realistic because of the setting in the jungle, actually filmed in California. What is there to say about Errol Flynn? He gives another great performance as Captain Nelson, the heroic leader of the paratroopers. Henry Hill is also very good as an aging war correspondent who accompanies the men on their mission. Also joining them are James Brown, William Prince, George Tobias, and Stephen Richards. This is a great World War II adventure that will keep all viewers interested. The final battle is great with plenty of anxiety in the air. Excellent action, great story, interesting character, how can you lose? Check out this Errol Flynn classic!
Rating: Summary: muted grace Review: OK, so it does give an impression that only Americans fought the Japanese in Burma. (The British most certainly fought there, too, especially since Burma was THEIR colony, part of the Indian Empire.) I personally don't mind that at all, after all, this was a story about ONE company of paratroopers taking out ONE Japanese radar station. They did not even represent the entire American presence in that front. So I have no problem with that. But when you consider the time this movie was made, you cannot help but admire the no-nonsense, straightforward manner it was told. Not an ounce of excess fat (OK, maybe a little, but forgivable). This movie simply means business. The language is spot on. The other reviewer's remark about salt tablets was right on the mark. (Who would have thought salt, which terrifies some people today, was so vital to some people, once upon a time?) Equipment checks, last minute reminders, "hook up", "stand in the door", the burying of parachutes, tactics, the positioning and pulling out of machineguns, you'll have to make a great leap forward, to "Band of Brothers" in the 21st century, to find something this sound, this honest. I don't know how technically authentic it was, but I know it just feels so authentic. No superheroes. Even the lead character, Capt. Nelson, is your average (G.I.) Joe. The only thing that makes him special is his ability to focus on the mission and to put the welfare of his men above all things. Yes, during the scene where they were ambushed after supplies were dropped, you wish Nelson had been more active in saving those stricken men. But when you really think about it, what he actually did, saving those who can still be saved, avoiding an engagement when they were poorly positioned and low on ammunition (they did not get the supplies, remember), is what YOU would have done. No blind, heroic charges against entrenched enemies. No unnecessary displays of gung-ho. Even without all those, you still feel their peril. (And thankfully, no silly encounters with snakes, scorpions or - God Almighty - rhinos as in most "jungle" war movies. I don't know where the crocodiles in the Editorial review came from, though. Never saw one.) Obviously, the audio will not match that of modern war movies, such as "Saving Private Ryan", the current standard. Some of the props are poorly done, such as the TNT, which look like wooden blocks painted over. On the other hand, you get a war movie that is nothing short of a breath of fresh air in a world choked by the smoke of "Windtalkers", one that does not rely on special effects to hold you in its grip. Highly recommended.
Rating: Summary: Good action-packed movie.........wheres the DVD Review: Raoul Walsh directed this gruelling, gritty, compelling war story, produced during World War Two, as the fight in the Pacific was still in full swing. Errol Flynn, in one of his least glamorous roles, stars as a hard-bitten Captain in charge of an American paratrooper unit that gets sent on a commando mission into Japanese-occupied Burma. They easily achieve their goal of destroying a strategic radar post, but are decimated while trying to return from enemy territory. The film is remorselessly well paced, tense, and manages to transcend the conventions of Hollywood's WWII combat melodramas: it is propagandistic and uses certain formulas, but it is also earthy and anxiety-provoking in a way that the grade-B war films of the era were not. The predicament of the soldiers -- stranded behind enemy lines and cut off from their support -- is made visceral in a way which few movies manage to convey, making this film a clear precursor to "Platoon" and "Black Hawk Down." It's bleak tone and realistic portrayal of the foot soldiers, with their dark humor and fatalistic resolve, all rings true. Highly recommended.
Rating: Summary: A superior WWII combat film... very suspenseful! Review: Raoul Walsh directed this gruelling, gritty, compelling war story, produced during World War Two, as the fight in the Pacific was still in full swing. Errol Flynn, in one of his least glamorous roles, stars as a hard-bitten Captain in charge of an American paratrooper unit that gets sent on a commando mission into Japanese-occupied Burma. They easily achieve their goal of destroying a strategic radar post, but are decimated while trying to return from enemy territory. The film is remorselessly well paced, tense, and manages to transcend the conventions of Hollywood's WWII combat melodramas: it is propagandistic and uses certain formulas, but it is also earthy and anxiety-provoking in a way that the grade-B war films of the era were not. The predicament of the soldiers -- stranded behind enemy lines and cut off from their support -- is made visceral in a way which few movies manage to convey, making this film a clear precursor to "Platoon" and "Black Hawk Down." It's bleak tone and realistic portrayal of the foot soldiers, with their dark humor and fatalistic resolve, all rings true. Highly recommended.
Rating: Summary: Take your salt tablet and quit whining Review: This is a great restoration of the original movie and two shorts. Any fan of Errol Flynn or WWII movies will enjoy it. This is one of the best jungle war movies you will ever see. The sound effects and sets they used to give the feel of the jungle are great. Even if it is black & white you will feel like you are there. The action is good paced with a group of paratroopers going from a quick in and out destroy a radio station mission to a drawn out survival mission walking back to friendly territory. The DVD includes a short movie on Tailgunners with Burgess Meredith and Ronald Reagan and another about Tanks with Paul Tobias. These were used as propaganda films during the war and are actually fun to watch. The one on tanks is in color. This is well worth adding to any movie collection. I'm sure most fathers would love to get it as a gift.
Rating: Summary: A Flynn Classic Review: This movie was filmed while WWII was still in progress. I have watched this movie over 50 times. If you like classic war movies...this is one of the best. The cast was very believable. Note the caption at the end of the movie about the Japaneese.
Rating: Summary: Among the Best War Films Review: When I read histories of the Pacific War, I frequently come across passages telling of a rage held by allied soldiers against the Japanese, more intense than that held against the Germans (though had they known at the time about Malmedy and the Holocaust, it might have been a different story). There is a scene in "Objective Burma" which conveys to me, more effectively than any other film, how that rage was born. This is a Warner Brothers "A" picture, directed by the great Raoul Walsh, and it shows. The acting is superb, and the locations are totally convincing. The framework for these is a conventional story of an allied patrol's sabotage of an enemy radar station, deep in the jungle, and its harrowing trek back to safety. What sets "Operation Burma" apart is its concentration on the humanity of the characters within an "action film" context, without resort to melodrama. It is a delicate balance, that many films fail to maintain, and it is perhaps why Errol Flynn is ideal as Captain Nelson, leader of the patrol. Flynn's screen persona as a swashbuckler was always tempered by a disarming mildness, which not only made the ladies swoon but enabled him convincingly to reveal the human frailty behind the bravura. And nowhere else does he display this double facet to better effect than in "Operation Burma". It is said that the best commanders are those who only have to ask in order to be obeyed. Flynn is this kind of commander. Other fine players should not be neglected. There is a standout performance by Henry Hull, as an elderly journalist whose ambition to cover the war from the ground leads him to the realization that in war it isn't just combat that kills. I also like Warner Anderson, both grim and sympathetic as Flynn's commanding officer. And the uncredited Erville Anderson's "Vinegar Joe" Stillwell is so convincing, I fancied the general was playing himself! I like to have films representing each of a broad range of interests. For Errol Flynn, I have "The Adventures of Robin Hood," "Operation Burma" and "That Forsyte Woman". As well as any others, these three films define Errol Flynn's career. For World War II, I have "Operation Burma," "They Were Expendable" and "Saving Private Ryan". As well as any others, these three films define World War II. They are musts for any comprehensive film library.
Rating: Summary: Among the Best War Films Review: When I read histories of the Pacific War, I frequently come across passages telling of a rage held by allied soldiers against the Japanese, more intense than that held against the Germans (though had they known at the time about Malmedy and the Holocaust, it might have been a different story). There is a scene in "Objective Burma" which conveys to me, more effectively than any other film, how that rage was born. This is a Warner Brothers "A" picture, directed by the great Raoul Walsh, and it shows. The acting is superb, and the locations are totally convincing. The framework for these is a conventional story of an allied patrol's sabotage of an enemy radar station, deep in the jungle, and its harrowing trek back to safety. What sets "Operation Burma" apart is its concentration on the humanity of the characters within an "action film" context, without resort to melodrama. It is a delicate balance, that many films fail to maintain, and it is perhaps why Errol Flynn is ideal as Captain Nelson, leader of the patrol. Flynn's screen persona as a swashbuckler was always tempered by a disarming mildness, which not only made the ladies swoon but enabled him convincingly to reveal the human frailty behind the bravura. And nowhere else does he display this double facet to better effect than in "Operation Burma". It is said that the best commanders are those who only have to ask in order to be obeyed. Flynn is this kind of commander. Other fine players should not be neglected. There is a standout performance by Henry Hull, as an elderly journalist whose ambition to cover the war from the ground leads him to the realization that in war it isn't just combat that kills. I also like Warner Anderson, both grim and sympathetic as Flynn's commanding officer. And the uncredited Erville Anderson's "Vinegar Joe" Stillwell is so convincing, I fancied the general was playing himself! I like to have films representing each of a broad range of interests. For Errol Flynn, I have "The Adventures of Robin Hood," "Operation Burma" and "That Forsyte Woman". As well as any others, these three films define Errol Flynn's career. For World War II, I have "Operation Burma," "They Were Expendable" and "Saving Private Ryan". As well as any others, these three films define World War II. They are musts for any comprehensive film library.
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