Blood and Steel

Blood and Steel (1959)

** (out of 4)

WW2 film produced by Gene Corman so that should tell you that we're dealing with a low budget. Four American soldiers wind up on an Island help by the Japanese and must find a way to get off. This film actually looks a lot better than it should due to the low budget but in the end it really doesn't offer anything we couldn't see elsewhere. The cast, including a young Brett Halsey, are pretty good with performances that won't win them Oscars but they're worthy enough for the film. There are a couple good gunfight scenes and there's some nice visuals captured in the scope frame but again, we've seen this type of film countless times.

Four Seabees land on "Gizo Island" in 1943 in order to survey it for an airstrip to be built for the U.S. during the war against the Japanese. On the island is a contingent of Japanese soldiers bored with their occupation. Eventually both sides clash. As for the island natives themselves, the film makers were apparently so cheap that they only provided for one, as embodied by Ms. Rodann. James Hong, a familiar Asian actor, plays one of the Japanese occupiers. The four Seabees are a dull lot with the possible exception of James Edwards, a capable black actor, who is wounded and fights his way back to the dinghy that brought the men to the island. Of course the fact that he's black would have eliminated him from the mission during WW2, unfortunate truth-be-told. It doesn't matter. The film is short, filled with action, yet still boring. Calvin Jackson tries to keep things lively with his music score, but this is still nothing more than a 50's TV-level war drama of little consequence or interest. And the futility of its ending is enough to make you feel you've wasted an hour watching the whole wretched thing.

This is your perfect 2nd feature that used to play before the featured film was played. It is watchable, and, in parts, not too bad. As a stand alone film by itself without any 2nd feature, however, it would not be strong enough to last more than three days early in the week, and certainly not good enough to be a FRI, SAT and SUN featured film at a theatre. The story of four men who must survey an island for the Seebees is interesting, but the Corman idea of injecting a woman in the mix is not really a very good idea. The civilian in the Japanese camp was later the restaurant owner for the Seinfeld show. Mediocre at best.

I think there is no point. This looks like a pilot for a one-hour war drama like COMBAT! that never got beyond this stage. Filled with Cold War angst about the forthcoming Third World War, we watch as shots of Americans with guns alternate with shots of Japanese with guns, eked out with occasional shots of palm trees, until the fighting is past. "Poor slobs" the Yanks announce about the dead Japs, until the Japs, not quite dead, start shooting.

This is the earliest instance I have encountered of the Racially Integrated World War Two Combat Unit, which is a nice thing when it comes to acting jobs for Blacks and racial harmony, but is historically nonsense. U.S. military units were segregated by order of that *great* humanitarian Woodrow Wilson and integration did not begin to take place until an executive order during the Korean War by Harry Truman, alleged KKK member.

Director Kowalski later went on to helm some good episodes of COLUMBO, so either this wasn't his métier or he needed a decent script and actors or he learned how to direct as he went along. Whatever.

Four American Seabees land on a Pacific island held by a small, bored, left behind Japanese garrison. Their mission is to determine whether an airfield can be built on the island, and then get out and report back. However they run into the Japanese almost immediately and wind up running and fighting for the rest of the film.

The movie fails on many levels.

It is not credible as an action movie. The Americans hide almost effortlessly from the Japanese, who seem listless and lackluster in their pursuit. The Americans' Tommy guns never seem to need reloading. They talk in almost normal voices in spite of nearby Japanese. They almost always spot the Japanese first and hide successfully in places where they should be spotted pretty quickly.

It's just as bad as a character movie. The officer in charge is irascible and arbitrary. The men aren't entirely believable. The Japanese, even though they have small parts, are better presented as people. The single girl in the story, who is completely unbelievable as a native islander, is given a totally predictable and mechanical part.

The plot lurches from action to action, almost as if the writers wrote a scene, the company played it, and then the writers asked themselves, Now what should we do next?

Perhaps, as others have suggested, this was a pilot for a TV series that was never made. It has a few good touches, but they are overwhelmed by the failures.