smatysia

A decent science-fiction film for its time, even if a bit preachy. I would say that it pushes the views of the movement that at the time was known as anti-anti-Communism, which did not feel that Communism presented any real threat to the West, in spite of its openly stated goal to conquer the world. These people claimed that they were not Communist sympathizers, but in most cases really were.

I liked Patricia Neal's performance. Apparently, she thought it was a totally forgettable flying-saucer movie at the time, but even so she did not just mail it in. The effects were super-cheesy, but we get spoiled by modern cinema effects, and I cannot hold it against the movie.

Somewhat surprisingly, I had never seen this film until now. I did read the James Jones novel it was based on some decades ago. The book was excellent, and I highly recommend it. When you make a film out of an epic novel, however you can't put everything in, or the movie would run ten hours. Also, of course, some of the mature themes in the book were not permitted to be in movies in the early Fifties. Even so, I liked the film a lot. There were some excellent performances here from Deborah Kerr, Donna Reed, Frank Sinatra, and in a smaller part, Ernest Borgnine. I remembered Borgnine from his TV show in the Sixties(?) where he was a jovial, easygoing type, even in wartime, so it was a bit jarring seeing him play an evil, sadistic character. (For a lengthier and more involved treatment by him of a similar character, check him out in "Emperor of the North")

I was completely unaware of this film. Too bad, because I liked it pretty well. Humphrey Bogart shows off impressive range. And I was also unfamiliar with the spectacularly beautiful Gloria Grahame. She had movie-star level pulchritude, yet with at least a bit of understatement. I don't know if I'd call this one classically noir, but it did have a certain amount of that vibe, even though the settings were mostly quite upper-class.