Une minute avant l'heure H

In 1999 there was a big to-do about a supposed atrocity during the Korean War, the strafing of civilians fleeing fighting during the initial push by the North Koreans down the Korean peninsula at No Gun Ri. It turned out that the main eyewitness for the story was a liar who was not even in in-country in 1950. The fuss would have been no surprise to viewers of this movie. Here it was artillery fire rather than air attack that caused civilian casualties, but the situation was basically the same. The film depicts the sad necessity of firing on a column of refugees, driven at gunpoint by communist soldiers hidden among them in civilian clothes, who were trying to get past U.N. lines. The blame in the movie is clearly on the commies, but there is no attempt to gloss over the ugly necessities of war. This movie was the first time I ever heard the phrase "Fire for Effect", a phrase I was to utter myself frequently years later as an artillery officer in Vietnam and Cambodia.

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.

Rather dreary Korean War drama where everybody appears to be performing "by the numbers". There's none of the intensity expected of those life-and-death situations that distinguish the era's better war films (Bridges of Toko-Ri; Pork Chop Hill; Retreat, Hell!). The action never really gels, which I suppose is the fault of director Garnett who appears disengaged from what's on screen. It doesn't help that the screenplay also appears stitched together from a host of war movie clichés, few of which stick around long enough to establish themselves--- the wives, the ethnic grunts, the lonely orphan. It's like a runner in baseball thinking he has to touch all 100 bases before he can score.

Of course, the film does contain one dramatic highlight that caused considerable controversy at the time, but has since proved revealing--- the intentional shelling of civilian refugees by American forces. The screenplay tries to soften the impact with North Korean infiltrators holding refugees at gunpoint, but the destruction occurs anyway. Now, that was really a pretty gutsy move on somebody's part since the war was still going on when the movie was released in 1952.

Though not publicized at the time, we now know from proved incidents such as No Gun-Ri (There was more than one eye-witness, and the only dispute is over the number killed) that such atrocities did occur on our side as well as the enemy's. And though not included in highschool history texts, there was considerable sympathy for the North from the peasantry of the South because of the landlord-dominated government of the South, many of which had collaborated with hated Japanese occupiers during WWII. As a result, considerable guerilla activity occurred in the South both before and during the war itself. Details such as these cast light on the basic accuracy of the movie's depiction. Ironically, the problem for GI's was the same here as in Vietnam--- how to distinguish friendly civilians from the enemy, while too often the solution was to kill them all. But when your own life is on the line, what do you do? That's why Mitchum's Col. Janowski is so torn.

Apparently studio honcho Howard Hughes had high hopes for the production since his name appears above the title. And even though the seams from stock footage are pretty obvious, the film is well produced with locations at Fort Carson, Colorado, where the terrain was said to resemble that of Korea. But background and special effects can hardly compensate for the general listlessness of the results or the ill-conceived Ann Blyth role. Nonetheless, the movie does remain memorable for its one revealing episode.

The picture features a Colonel , Robert Mitchum as Col. Steve Janowski , who is stationed in Seoul , he is a military adviser training the South Korean army . Things go wrong when North Korean troops invade the South. Janowski is assigned a dangerous misision along with other officers and soldiers, a motley and important support cast : Charles McGraw , William Talman , Charles McGraw, Richard Egan , Eduard Franz , in charge of evacuating civilians which means persuading United Nations official Ann Blyth that she has to go too . But then Janowski ends up bombing South Korean refugees .Love That Lived with Danger! Back of every man of action ... there's a woman made for love .

Korean war action film divides its time between an army romance : Robert Mitchum/Ann Blyth and war action . This is an allegedly true story in which various military served as technical advisors as Army Capt. Edward R. Harrison ,Lt. Col. S. Paul Latiolais , and Dr. Henry De Young , a former Korean Minister to Gen. Douglas MacArthur's headquarters, , and in fact , it used 175 Korean War veterans as extras . Howard Hughes' RKO didn't waste much time in getting neither a great film , nor a notable drama on screen , being a medium budget movie , but an acceptable flick . Stock footage was used to fill in the background and is far more striking than anything the writers could up with . Besides , the blend of battle scenes and romance never amounts too much . Pure sentimental slop , it is a stirring and sometimes moving tale , accompanying some spectacular aerial scenes and impressive bombing behind enemy lines . As for the aerial scenes were used Mustang fighter planes from Buckley Field in Denver and F-80 jets . The lukewarm melodrama features Robert Mitchum as a tough Colonel who quickly achieves the confidence of the other soldiers around him, at the same time he sings a Japanese song . Ann Blyth delivers a decent acting as the beautiful officer and widow who finds out about the horrors of war when she falls in love .

Produced at a cost of millions to bring you a million thrills by the powerful producer Edmund Grainger .Being professionally directed by Tay Garnett , though including flaws as well as gaps , and extremely sentimental . Tay was a good Hollywood craftsman . Tay entered films in 1920 as a screenwriter . After a stint as a gag writer for Mack Sennett and Hal Roach he joined Pathe, then the distributor for both competing comedy producers, and in 1928 began directing for that company . Garnett garnered some attention in the early 1930s with such films as Bad company (1931) and Way Passage (1932) , but his best work came in the mid-'30s and early 1940s with such films as S.O.S. Iceberg (1933) , China seas (1935), Slave Ship (1937) and Trade Winds (1938) . His best known film would have to the John Garfield/Lana Turner vehicle : The postman always rings twice (1946), although his version of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1949) was a well-deserved critical and commercial success as well . Other successes were the followings : Bataan (1943) , The cross of Lorraine (1943) , Soldiers Three (151) , The Black Knight (1953) , Stand-in , Mrs Parkington , Cause for alarm , The big push , Seven sinners , Slighly honorable , Main Street to Broadway , Cheers for Miss Bishop, Eternally yours , among others . One Minute to Zero (1952)results to be a treat for Robert Mitchum and Ann Blyth fans . Rating : 5.5/10

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...