Un ponte per l'inferno

I have seen plenty of Umberto Lenzi's movies, and I have to admit that I didn't expect much of this movie, because almost all of Lenzi's movies from late 80's and early 90's that I've seen, have been more or less bad ones. But still, being a big fan of his movies, I decided to buy this one on UK DVD and give it a try.

It was late night, when I began to watch it, and I was pretty tired, but I set myself to trash-mode and pressed play. I was right, it was really trashy, but in a quite enjoyable way. Plot was pretty bad, and there was some scenes that made no point, but hey, it's a zero-budget Italian WW2-movie, so I didn't expect anything more. One thing above the others is something that I have to mention here: the musical score by Fabio Frizzi was really nice.

So, if you want to just watch a war movie with great cast, awesome script and billion dollar budget, you'll be definitely disappointed. Otherwise, if you enjoy trashy Italian style stuff, this may be the movie for you.

Not the Lenzi's best, but definitely not the worst either. I'll give "Bridge to hell" 7 out of 10.

When one looks at director Umberto Lenzi's war films, it's really hard to define his style. His early efforts were strong and showed excellent potential, they were low-budget stories which emphasized characters over large-scale action; in the 1970s, he produced two messy epics with star-studded casts; and in the 1980s, he released "Wartime" now "Bridge to Hell", both incredibly cheap, plot less action pieces with little or no redeeming qualities.

The story of "Bridge to Hell" is simple, and often times Lenzi tends to forget the point and lets it wander off in any direction which seems convenient. A group of 3 Allied POWs treks across war-torn Yugoslavia, trying to reach the Allied lines in Italy. Along the way, they learn of a secret treasure which the Yugoslav partisans are hiding from the Nazis, and decide to steal it for themselves. The bulk of the film's 90 minute running-time is comprised of shoot-outs between the ex-POWs and German soldiers, tanks and planes. The film's conclusion leaves the story un-resolved and feels tacked on, but then again, there really is no appropriate way to end a film such as this.

As the saga unfolds, it becomes full of holes and lacks any flair; the three escapees run into a band of partisans and help them in their fight in exchange for weapons and a guide. Then they continue their journey, only to run into more partisans and repeat the cycle. It's obvious that the writers were running out of ideas when two of the main characters crash a plane, go on their way, only to steal another plane, and crash yet again. Several times, continuity is disregarded for convenience's sake: early on in the film, it is clearly established that the Partisans lack an air force – later on, the heroes witness a huge partisan aerial bombardment! There is a scene of vicious German attack dogs running around in a field, snarling like they're rapid, but they never go on to attack anything. At one point in the film, one character yells of nearby German fighters, "Those Messers are shooting at us!" but shots of the planes reveal them to be unarmed transports, flying in formation and minding their own business.

The special effects, and action scenes in general, have a very cheap look and feel. Lenzi splices close-ups of his own actors into a continuous reel of stock footage from films like "Battle of the Eagles" and "When the Bell Tolls". What makes matters worse is that this isn't good-looking stock footage; most of it centers around really, really funny miniature airplanes, looking just as bad, if not worse, as the miniature work in Japanese war movies from the 1960s. Some shots lack sound effects, so one can see the miniature fighters' machine-guns blasting away but hear nothing.

To top it off, Lenzi throws logic out the window as the characters blast away at legions of German soldiers without bothering to aim their weapons. In response, the Germans run around in a frenzy without bothering to shoot back, and fall down dead in every direction. One German officer tries to sound an air raid siren in one scene, and when it doesn't work he claims "Sabotage". Moments later, when German planes attempt to take off and chase a stolen fighter plane, they can't take on fuel. I really don't understand why; it's not as though the Partisans and fugitives coordinated the escape; it was a spur-of-the-moment decision! German soldiers advance cautiously onto a bridge, dodging bullets as we hear plenty of explosions and gunfire -- but the good guys aren't firing back at them! These are the most obvious errors, but there's plenty more to go around.

Dubbing reaches a new low, too. To add insult to injury, some of the actors share a common voice – one German soldier sounds just like one of the main characters! When the German soldiers speak German, it's obvious that their voices were dubbed in because there is an annoying metallic rasping sound.

It's hard for me to understand how Umberto Lenzi could make four serviceable films over a 10-year period, and suddenly seem to fall apart at the end of his career. Maybe it's not his fault; maybe he only a minimal budget to work with and this was the best he could crank out. It's unfortunate to see a fair director go under this way - all this film is good for is a decent tearing down.

Bridge to Hell (1986)

** (out of 4)

Italian WWII film has three Allied POWs trying to make it across Yugoslavia to safe lines in Italy but along their journey they learn about a treasure being hid from Nazis so they decide to steal it themselves. The story is rather weak and director Lenzi seems to forget what the actual story is at times because the movie is constantly going off in different directions and we get scenes that don't appear to have anything to do with the actual story. Just take a look at one sequence where a bunch of guard dogs show up for no apparent reason unless that said reason ended up on the cutting room floor. The film was obviously done on a very cheap budget as there's very little here that would make you think that you were actually watching a war movie. We do get a couple big battle scenes with a lot of explosions and gun fire but it all looks rather cheap. We also get the mandatory plane crash, quick edit of pilots jumping out and then quick edit of an explosion. The entire movie is pretty much built around stealing this treasure but this too never really gets resolved and by the time the end credits start you wonder if you're missing something or if the production simply ran out of money. Lenzi had pr oven himself to be a good director but he doesn't really do much here as we get no style, no clear story being told and worse of all is that there are many times when the movie just drags along. None of the lead actors are all that good and it doesn't help that the dubbing is rather bad.

I honestly can't remember the last time I laughed this much watching any war movie. Even CASABLANCA EXPRESS wasn't even half as entertaining as this film in sheer badness level. Umberto Lenzi seems to be working well with his Yugoslavian crew and actors in that the action scenes are all fairly exciting in a deliciously hammy way. There's plenty of funny miniature effects which are filmed in a very similar close-up way that Antonio Margheriti (and Michael Curtiz) filmed their miniatures. However, the plot is completely laughable, repetitive, and ultimately dull. Young American actor Andy J. Forrest (who looks kinda like a serious Jim Carrey) goes through his lines with a Jimmy Stewart-sounding dubbed voice while leading a couple terrible actors across the Yugoslavian countryside killing endless Germans. In one scene, Forrest and co. run into a bunch of resistance members, and in the next scene help them fight Germans, only to escape and... run into more partisans and help them out too! This goes on for over 90 minutes and grows tediously overlong near the end, descending into outright slapstick comedy as Forrest steals plane after plane and crashes every single one.

There's a lot of really annoying things going on here. First off, the Germans dont really speak English OR German, they merely say "Schnell" over and over again, which basically means "Fast". Is that really the only German word they knew? Also, several scenes are thrown in for no reason, like a shot of a bunch of German attack dogs (which never go on to actually attack anything). Add to the list the completely idiotic action scene at the end, involving 3 people fending off about a million German soldiers completely effortlessly. In some parts of the said battle, the three main characters will be busy planting explosives while machine gun fire is heard and endless Germans die and fall off the bridge. As entertaining as this was, it was totally goofy and unbelievable, actually predating TROMA'S WAR. Fabio Frizzi's score is acceptable synthesizer garbage (much like Luigi Ceccarelli's scores), but sounds totally out-of-place in World War Two movie!

Umberto Lenzi's made close to half-a-dozen war movies, and his late 80's efforts are by far his least impressive. Watch DESERT COMMANDOS or THE GREATEST BATTLE instead. Sure their plots suck too but they arent half as

corny as this one.

In the late 1980s, exploitation giant Cannon Films released a series of direct-to-video action flicks called 'Action-Adventure Theater,' which sported the endorsement of 'B' movie icon Michael Dudikoff. These four movies were cheap, zero-budget knockoffs from smaller European producers that had no chance of being widely marketed in the United States.

'Un Ponte per l'inferno' AKA 'Bridge to Hell' is the lone title in this series with an historical context, set in Yugoslavia during World War II. The film was written and directed by Umberto Lenzi, whose career was in freefall at this point and would soon include more low-budget stinkers and hack television credits. Italian cult cinema fans are usually aware of Lenzi, who became a master of the giallo through such charmers as 'Orgasmo' and 'Seven Blood-Stained Orchids' while milking the war genre in 'Battle of the Commandos' and 'The Greatest Battle.' After becoming a recognized talent during the 1960s and 70s, however, Lenzi seemed to lose his mind, taking part in the deplorable 'Eaten Alive' and 'Cannibal Ferox' besides other trashy horror films.

Lenzi was clearly out of options in his directorial career by the time of this film, as its cheapness is apparent from the beginning. The action takes place in Yugoslavia during the time of German occupation and focuses on three escaped POWs who are trying to reach the allied forces in Italy: Lieutenant Bill Rogers (Andy J. Forest), a U.S. air force pilot; Sergeant Mario Espozi (Carlo Mucari), an Italian soldier; and Blinz (Paki Valente), an Austrian who has deserted the Wehrmacht. With help from an Orthodox priest, the trio is led to a band of partisans who need pilots to fly their two remaining airplanes and bombard German armaments in the hillsides. The POWs meanwhile learn from nun-turned-partisan Vanya (Francesca Ferre) of priceless gold chalices that are enshrined in her order's St. Basil convent. After running two aerial missions successfully, the POWs decide amongst themselves to steal the treasure. They exchange their flying services for weapons and get help from Vanya to find the chapel, unaware of their plan.

The premise of 'Bridge to Hell' is terribly weak and there is nothing in the script or production values to keep things afloat. It is all just a pretext for several lame action sequences in which a tiny partisan group fights hundreds of Germans and mows them down without breaking a sweat. Most of these sequences are badly acted and interspersed with stock footage from better-financed productions. This is obvious from how the film's characters are shown in tight locations and never integral to what is 'happening' nearby. There are times aplenty when continuity and editing skills are forgotten, leading to hilariously bad moments. The photography by adult film cinematographer Luigi Ciccarese is also overexposed and has washed-out color; it seems to have been downgraded in order for the aging stock footage to look more cohesive with Lenzi's own work.

There is nothing in the plot to generate dramatic tension and the film quickly becomes a ridiculous, poorly thought-out cycle of gunfights, aerial maneuvers, and running through forests (as in trees, not Andy J.). The aerial bombardments by these POWs involve two shod biplanes that seem like relics from World War I and bombs that are thrown from the planes by hand(!). No matter how old or new the planes are, the idea of two such aircraft taking on a swarm of advanced German fighters (which the stock footage clearly shows) is ridiculous. Partisans on the ground stave off dozens of Germans with a few machine guns when in real life they wouldn't have lasted for more than two seconds. There are also crazy plot gaps such as when German attack dogs emerge from thin air and are gone as quickly as they came. Additional treats are the horrible audio quality and synthesized music by Fabio Frizzi that is pretty much a single theme repeated over and over again (like the plot). The very small pluses in this film are occasional touches of humor (Forest and Mucari bet a Rita Hayworth photo and a broken pocket watch during bombardment) and the presence of Francesca Ferre, who draws attention rather easily.

One can never expect much from direct-to-video films, but it's clear that Umberto Lenzi hardly tried to make this film entertaining. Assuming he knew how cheap this movie would be, the director could have written a script that focused on character and did away with grandiose visions like 'The Greatest Battle.' But for one reason or another, Lenzi fooled himself into thinking that 'Bridge to Hell' could achieve those heights with the right amount of cleverness. This is largely why 'Bride to Hell' will stay buried in a tall mountain of 80s shlock, with little to no artistic merit.

-Turkey- (0 stars out of 4)