Jump Into Hell

I saw this when it came out in 1955. I would like to obtain it in DVD or VHS format. Where can I get this done? I think that it would help the American viewing public to understand we got involved in Vietnam. The problem was that the French were surrounded in Dien Bien Phu and were expecting American air strikes to help them get out of being surrounded by the Vietminh. The air support never came and the French were over run. The United States filled the vacuum left by the French in order to contain communism.

President Eisenhower started by sending about fifteen American servicemen as advisers in the late 1950s.

President Kennedy increased the complement of American servicemen to 15, 000 men and President Johnson up the ante to 500,000.

The narrative follows the 1954 battle of Indo-China's Dienbienphu, as the French try to prevent their fortress from falling to the indigenous Viet Minh.

Strictly as a war movie, the results are not very good. Outside of the stock footage, the small battles are not well staged. For example, there's that dreadful scene where three French troops dive into a Viet Minh foxhole, the battle being filmed more like a Three Stooges comedy than a matter of life or death. That's not surprising since director Butler's credits shows a distinct preference for comedy. Then too, the acting, particularly Van Eyck, is uninspired, to say the least. I agree with the reviewer who notes the movie's best parts are those in Paris. Also, note how brief the women's parts are even though they're given the kind of billing that misleads audience expectations.

All in all, it's not possible to discuss this nakedly propagandistic movie without a few observations. The Viet Minh are consistently vilified, while the French colonialists are consistently lionized (with one exception). Nowhere, however, does the film acknowledge the French as an army of foreign occupation, in service to what remained of the French empire post-WWII. Nor does the film distinguish between nationalism, anti-colonialism, and communism. Yet all three were in play among the Viet Minh. The political landscape was, in fact, much more complex than this simple-minded, reductionist screenplay acknowledges. As propaganda, the movie is clumsily obvious, at best. Too bad, we Americans had to find out the complex realities of Indo-China the hard way. At the same time, it's movie screed like this that helped grease the skids.

***SPOILERS*** Movie loaded with great battle scenes as well as cold war propaganda about the epic battle and siege of DienBienPhu in Northern Vietnam and the men of the French Foreign Legion and free Vietnamese nation who fought and died there. It's the spring of 1954 and the Communist Viet Mihn-forerunners of the Viet Cong of the 1960's and 70's- are making a last major assault of the last French resistance point in Indochina the jungle fortress of Dienbienfhu that's being held by a desperate force of some 12,000 French legionnaires and Free Veitnemese troops. Lead by Viet Minh commander General Ngeyn Von Giap the Viet Minh-named after Commie leader Ho Chi Mnih- have so completely surrounded the French fortress that the only way to supply it is by air.

It's French General De Castries, Arnold Moss, who plans to hold off the wave after wave of attacks until the last man as- well as bullet spent- is killed and exhausted knowing the hopeless situation, in being out numbered by the commie Viet Minh as much as 10 to 1, that only an a miracle can save him and his men. And that is all but gone when an air drop is ambushed by the Viet Minh who end up massacring most of the men dropped by air into Dienbienphu. All that's now left is for a last as well as suicidal assault by the Viet Minh to put a final end to the French control of Indochinma as the now 56 day siege of the Dienbienphu strong-point is about to come to an end.

***SPOILERS*** Great war footage, real and acted, as well as 1950's cold war propaganda in how the French were fighting for only the freedom and survival of the free Vietnamese people not their own imperialism makes this movie one of a kind in for-telling what was soon to come when the US was to take it's place in Vietnam and sadly suffer-some 20 years later- the same fate. The end came on May 7, 1954 when the Viet Minh broke through the last French defenses and overran the fortress. It was no easy victory for victorious Viet Minh losing 7,000 to 10,000 men in the battle compared to the loss of some 3,000 French legionaries and their Vietnamese allies. But it was to mark the final collapses of the French imperialist empire that lasted for almost 150 years with French controlled Algeria soon to explode and throw out its French occupiers before the year-1954-is over.

This decent war film starts out with a tribute to a fight against slavery. Unwittingly, the tribute actually described the struggle of the North Vietnamese against all foreign invaders and colonialism by the West. It was meant to imply the French were against slavery. Tell that to the colonials under their rule in various African and Asian countries, and they would laugh in your face. It has taken the world several decades to learn that colonial powers were the real slaveowners. And some have still not learned. The battle sequences are good, but, once again, one-sided. There is no character development of anyone except French people. The other soldiers are just mechanical men because they are communists. As if colonialists were morally superior to communists. I wonder why it did not occur to these people why the communists fought so bravely; as bravely as the French.

This is one of the very few films dealing with the the "French" phase of the Vietnam War. It's a medium budget (even though the guns aren't fully authentic) American film with many European actors. It was made at the height of the Cold War, and before the American public became jaded and cynical over our own involvement. Many brave men on both sides sacrificed their lives at Dien Bien Phu, and most believed deeply in their respective causes. A fair number of rear echelon French troops---including Vietnamese and Foreign Legionnaires (some of them with ugly past lives in the SS) parachuted into the slaughterhouse, even after the situation had become hopeless. Amazingly, some of them had never jumped before! But, despite this truly monumental display of courage, the overly worshipful portrayal of the French is more than a bit over the top.

The idea of turning Dien Bien Phu---surrounded by densely forested mountains----into a super firebase in an area with only one all weather road and an airstrip right under the concealed guns of an unsubdued enemy, was a military blunder of the first rank.

Unmentioned in the film is the fact that the French really expected massive U. S. intervention (despite Truman's prior refusals) if they got into serious trouble. But, they didn't even get the airstrikes they begged for. The ending is a bit deceptive since it is implied that the French went down fighting to the last man. Although they sustained---and inflicted---heavy battle casualties, in actuality they surrendered after running out of ammunition, and thousands of French soldiers and legionnaires went into captivity. Many died of disease and malnutrition.

The movie does contain a fair amount of action and the battle scenes are well staged. Some interesting parts deal with the "soap opera" flashbacks of the main characters about their prewar lives. I loved this movie when I was a kid. Although my subsequently acquired knowledge has cooled my enthusiasm in many respects, it is still an interesting historical period piece, and a worthwhile story about bravery and sacrifice.

Another one of a rather surprising number of quality films that have never made it to commercial video.