Une minute avant l'heure H

While many today remember Robert Mitchum for noir movies (like NIGHT OF THE HUNTER, OUT OF THE PAST and THE BIG STEAL) he also was great in other genres. And even though this is not his best war movie Mitchum shines in this forgotten movie. He plays a infantry colonel stationed with his men in South Korea before the Korean War. The movie has two subplots: Mitchum at war with his men or winning the affection of a UN worker (played by Ann Blyth). He is among the most believable characters I ever saw in a war movie, and that because he is NOT larger than life or hard as nails. Instead he looks like a decent man which everyone could count on. The only problem with the film is that even though it has some light moments (and Mitchum handles them well) it's very explicit as for some scenes of soldiers injured or killed that look a bit brutal. Not a war movie for the faint of hearth, but still awfully good.

Love and war are a favored show theme in a number of films... Love often brings people of completely different backgrounds together, as in Huston's "The African Queen," Hemingway's "A Farewell to Arms," Arthur Hill's "The Americanization of Emily," Douglas Sirk's "A Time to Love and a Time to Die." Also Anatole Litvak's "Act of Love" explores the relationship between an embittered GI (Kirk Douglas), and a lonely, helpless French girl (Dany Robin) fearful of becoming an outright tramp...

"One Minute to Zero" uses love to make the Korean War acceptable... Ann Blyth is a nurse who has already lost a lover to the war... She is deeply hurt and cannot bear the though of falling in love with a soldier... However, she does, with a fighter pilot played by Robert Mitchum... In the end she becomes convinced that he is doing the right thing...

One interesting point about the film is the scene where Mitchum (evacuating American civilians) strafes a column of refugees because it was feared that some guerrillas had infiltrated among them...

One Minute To Zero is a cold war film about Korea, very typical of its time. President Truman called it a police action, like we were going there to arrest Kim Il Sung and his cronies. It sure looked like a war from the point of view of the World War II veterans and their younger brothers who fought it.

Robert Mitchum plays one of those veterans, a career army man who rose from the ranks to become a Colonel. He's training the South Korean Army when the North attacks. His personal story is interwoven with the progress of the war from the initial attack until the landings at Inchon. Mitch is every inch the combat soldier in this film.

And Mitch falls big time for widow Ann Blyth, a United Nations worker. When the UN was founded post World War II a lot of people put hope and faith in it that it would prevent future wars and it would deter aggression with force if need be. The only reason it got into Korea was because the Russians were boycotting the Security Council at the time and couldn't veto anything. A gambit they never used again. Ann is a World War II widow who believes she's carrying out the ideals her husband fought for. Lots of folks felt that way back in 1950.

Director Tay Garnett did a good job editing in real combat footage with his actors. The film has a good sense of realism.

But it's a good romantic story as well, helped along by one of the most durable popular songs in history. When I Fall In Love came from this film, heard in the background but never sung. Curious because Ann Blyth is an excellent singer. Nat King Cole and Doris Day had hit records of it when the film was first out. Later on Etta James, The Lettermen, Donny Osmond, Natalie Cole all did well by this song. And right up to the present day Celine Dion and Clive Griffin did a duet record back in 1993. The good ones always survive and I wouldn't bet against a future hit single for some artist with this one.

There is one scene in this that would definitely jar today's audiences. At one point Mitchum directs his men to fire into a group of refugees who the North Koreans are using as a blind to smuggle men and arms into the South. And the movie makes sure you see that that was the case. I don't doubt such things happened. They're happening today. But the movie verdict acquits Mitchum and assuages Ann Blyth that she shouldn't doubt her man. What CNN would do with that today.

The supporting cast includes Charles McGraw, Wally Cassell, and William Talman. All do a good job.

It's a double treat. Lots of action for the men and plenty of romance for the women, or the other way around if that's what floats your boat.

Personally overseen by Howard Hughes, and thus long in gestation (originally under the title 'The Korean Story') and full of aerial action.

South Korea is portrayed as David taking on Goliath in the form of Moscow arming the North to the teeth, thus necessitating killing civilians being used by the commies as cover. Between taking such tough decisions Col. Bob Mitchum finds time to romance UN bleeding heart Ann Blyth, to whom he sings at one point in Japanese; while an instrumental version of Victor Young's hit 'When I Fall in Love' is constantly on the soundtrack.

ONE MINUTE TO ZERO is a typical American war movie with the then-contemporaneous Korean War serving as the theatre of battle in this instance. The film stars the ubiquitous Robert Mitchum as a hard-bitten combat veteran and colonel in the US army tasked with helping evacuate the local population while at the same time protecting them from advancing North Korean troops. There's not much in the way of a big story here as the war itself IS the story; however, as a realistic depiction of battle it works very well.

This is a visual film with some highly memorable combat scenes in it. Realism is enhanced through the use of real-life wartime footage and the scenes of jets firing rockets are quite incredible and never bettered by Hollywood special effects even in this day and age. I loved the tank battles as well although the film's tense highlight involves the Commies hiding inside refugee columns and ready to burst out and massacre at a moment's notice. A duck is involved in one of the film's tragic highlights. Character actors like Richard Egan, Charles McGraw, and William Talman flesh out realistic supporting roles although Ann Blyth's love interest suffers from the era's usual sexist depiction of women and feels like an unnecessary addition to the story.