Commando de destruction

Intriguing wartime character studies. Outstanding characters abound. Stewart's romance with the Asian female lead is very poignant. Harry Morgan and Mike Kellin give outstanding character support - in fact the whole cast does, including a young James Best, looking hunky, well before his Dukes of Hazzard days.

I first saw this as a 16 year-old on its release in the UK, and have seen only glimpses on TV since. What I remember most is, having the year before seen "The Big Country", recognising the similarity of the scores as having the same composer in Jerome Moross (I had taken my seat after the opening credits). I felt quite pleased with myself at the time. I thought the movie to be much along the lines of earlier James Stewart/Anthony Mann classics, although with not quite the punch or pace. Harry Morgan's performance explains why he was never short of roles and why he became a stalwart member of the "MASH" brigade. Definitely worth another viewing.

Legendary American reporter Theodore H. White covered China in the 1940s, and he wrote the novel on which this unusual James Stewart feature is based. It's not quite anti-war, but it's a very long way from the flag-waving military movies that Stewart made in the 1950s.

Stewart's character is a U.S. military engineer working with a small team trying to slow a Japanese advance in China. Though there's plenty of action (especially explosions), the emphasis is on the Americans' interaction with their Chinese allies -- which is fraught with problems. Stewart's character has a local love interest, played by Lisa Lu, but their relationship is nothing like a conventional GI romance.

"The Mountain Road" was obviously meant to be a thought-provoking look back at World War II, and to audiences in the early 1960s it probably was. The climax may have been almost shocking. In today's more jaded world, the movie is likely to strike many viewers as dull, with an ending that resolves very little. But it you still have a rose-colored view of the "Greatest War," and think it was less morally messy than our current conflicts, this could be enlightening.

"The Mountain Road" is a different and interesting war film. Set in China in 1944, it is about a U.S. Army demolition team doing what it can to stop the Japanese advance as the Chinese and American forces withdraw. It is based on a novel of the same title by noted author Theodore H. White. White said that his story was inspired by an interview he had with a former OSS Major Frank Gleason Jr. who had headed just such a demolition crew. Gleason was later hired as a technical consultant for the film, although he is not listed in the credits. According to one source, Gleason headed a demolition group that blew up more than 150 bridges and destroyed more than 50,000 tons of munitions in Dushan.

The film shows the challenges of military command and conflicts that the lead character, Major Baldwin has. James Stewart plays that part very well. His conflicts are different in that most of his decisions about blowing up bridges, roads and even buildings in villages affect hundreds of civilians.

All of the cast are very good in their roles. Among the most prominent are Lisa Lu who plays Madame Sue-Mei Hung, Harry Morgan who plays Staff Sgt. Mike Michaelson and Glenn Corbett who plays Collins.

An interesting aspect of this film is that there are no Japanese soldiers. The Americans never encounter the enemy. The film depicts some of the aspects of the Chinese culture that Major Baldwin had not yet learned. The terrain looked like it could have been filmed in China, but was mostly rugged hilly country and mountains in Arizona.

The film has some impressive scenes of explosions. Some consider it an anti-war film, and it fits that mold of most war movies that show the horrors, death, destruction and insanity of war.

It's a good film, but not great. War film buffs and those who enjoy history should enjoy it. Others, especially modern audiences used to fast and furious entertainment, may find it hard to sit through.

The best line in the film is from Alan Baxter who plays Gen. Loomis. After Stewart's character tells him that he had asked for the command, Loomis says, "You know what command is, major?" Maj. Baldwin replies, "Well, sir, the book says... " And Gen. Loomis says, "Command is power. Pure, simple, unlimited."

Watching this film with jimmy stewart as a driven military man was interesting. I have always thought of stewart in the role in Harvey or its a wonderful life.

Stewarts characters struggle with power and his obsession to accomplish his objective was fun to watch. This film is worth the time spent and includes some great character actors of this period. I think it deserves its 6.6 overall rating.

Watching this movie develop reminded me of recent events in europe and made the film seem timely despite its age.