Directed by Henry Koster
USA 1956

 

  The romance that happens in this picture, which came to the Roxy yesterday, is between a stalwart American captain married and a devilishly dapper English girl. She is the daughter of a retired British brigadier and is engaged to a British Commando major when the captain comes along. But he being Robert Taylor, he major being in North Africa, the captain's wife being back home in Connecticut and war being what it is, it doesn't take long for the little lady to give herself to the captain, heart and all.

This is what happens through most of the picture. A few times, the captain and the girl try to break off their romance—or are forced to—but they get back together again. Finally, the captain gets a ticket with a special commando group that will hit the Normandy beach on D-day, a few hours ahead of the main force. And who do you reckon he discovers is in command of that special group? Anyone who says the British major will be as clever as the fellows who wrote this film.

Actually, they wrote it from a novel by Lionel Shapiro, which dwelt at length, we're told, on the complex activities of D-day and the gruesome, gruelling thing it was. D-day in this so-titled picture is one very badly staged scene of Mr. Taylor and several other vigorous actors trying to knock out a coast-defense gun. But they get that over quickly, ship Mr. Taylor back to England with a wound and walk the major into a minefield. They wrap it up briskly in this film.

What do they think they're proving with this sort of romantic guff—that Dana Wynter is able to be attractive as an English girl? That will be gladly acknowledged. What then—that married men carried on with English ladies? That will be given credence, too. There is nothing very surprising about this knowledge, though it has been kept from the moviegoing patrons for many years by the very proper Production Code.

Excerpt from Bosley Crowther's review at the NY Times located HERE

Poster

Theatrical Release: May 29th, 1956

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DVD Review: 20th Century Fox - Region 1 - NTSC

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Also part of the Heroes of War Collection - Frontline Combat which includes Halls of Montezuma, Decision Before Dawn, D-Day the Sixth of June and Guadalcanal Diary
Distribution 20th Century Fox Home Video - Region 1 - NTSC
Runtime 1:46:08 
Video 2.35:1 Aspect Ratio
Average Bitrate: 7.16 mb/s
NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.

Bitrate:

Audio English (Dolby Digital 4.0), DUBs: French (mono), Spanish (mono) 
Subtitles English, None
Features

Release Information:
Studio: 20th Century Fox Home Video

Aspect Ratio:
Original Aspect Ratio 2.35:1

Edition Details:

• Theatrical Trailer
• Fox Flix trailers 


DVD Release Date: May 21st, 2002

Keep Case
Chapters: 26

 

 

Comments:

Although it is a pleasure to see a cinemascope film from the fifties in color, it is quite a weak transfer from Fox. Despite being dual-layered and progressive the image lacks detail and the colors are bordering on bleeding - often appearing saturated or inaccurate. Digital noise or dirt can be frequently seen in many of the sky scenes. Now this may be the way the film looked theatrically (re: color balance) - I guess I'll never know, but regardless, this is the weak link of the Heroes of War Collection - Frontline Combat  boxset both in transfer and the film itself (although Decision Before Dawn has damage - see review HERE). The DVD was originally released in 2002 and has been added to this package without any further work on the image (VOB files verify the original date).

Robert Taylor is always great in wartime romances but this effort tends to take a lot for granted. I wasn't totally uninterested in it although it pales in comparison to the other war drama selections available in this package. The price again is excellent.

Gary W. Tooze

 





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DVD Box Cover

   

CLICK to order from:

Also part of the Heroes of War Collection - Frontline Combat which includes Halls of Montezuma, Decision Before Dawn, D-Day the Sixth of June and Guadalcanal Diary
Distribution 20th Century Fox Home Video - Region 1 - NTSC




 

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