8mm Forum: TOO LATE THE HERO!! 5X400ft ABC Films

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Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on December 13, 2007, 12:50 PM:

Here's a war classic that's not all that well known, but a winner just the same. Robert Aldrich directed this and it is an interesting contrast to his classic "The Dirty Dozen", which was a flag waving action epic, while this one is quite the opposite. While "The Dirty Dozen" was about a bunch of misfits banding together to fight a common evil, this film is about a band of misfits, (well, solders that would rather be elsewhere), that deteriorate and fall apart.

Clift Robertson is sent on a mission by his superior officer, (Henry Fonda) to a British camp on a secret mission to find out the movement of japanese troops.

He arrives to find a British camp where they are less than enthusaistic about the war effort. Between them and the Japanese is an immense field which the japanese have not mined, as, if they attack the British, they will go by that route.

At the beginning of the film, some British officers are trying to get across the field alive, as the Japanese try to gun them down, and the British shell the japanese at the same time to aide thier comrades.

Soon the american is out on a field exercise with the British, (led by Denholm Elliot, from Raiders of the Lost Ark fame). They encounter a radio base. The British leader not only wants to take it out, but as an extra bonus, wants to radio back to the British camp, just to show the Japanese "what for". Clift refuses to go on the attack as this is not a part of the mission objective. The British leader is killed, (falling dead with his dead staring eyes looking right at Clift, haunting him), but they continue thier mission.

Thier worst fears are realized when they discover a japanese airfield! They now have some new information to get back to the British camp, but they are discovered. The japanese use an ingenious tactic, they put up a speaker system through-out the
jungle, and are using psycological warfare to convince the British that they're situation is hopeless.

One of the British kills his commanding officer (who was injured in the earlier skirmish with the Japanese) and convinces all but one to run out on the last two, (Clift and Micheal Caine), but they are soon captured and the killer of his commanding officer is killed.

Now the japanese commander uses the two surviving prisoners as hostages to try to convince the two to give up. They won't.

After the two have some heated arguments, (why shouldn't they cut and run?), they decide to take out the japanese commander, which will allow them to cause enough confusion to get back over the field to the British camp, before the japanese can regroup and attack them. They kill the Japanese officer and make the run. Only Micheal Caine makes it and after explaining who the other man was, he staggers back to get his fallen body.

This is an exciting psycological thriller, and there are many allusions to vietnam in this film, as it is also set in the jungle. The idea of the psycological warfare is novel and constantly exciting, as you see these troops slowly turn on each other. The japanese commander is actually the most sympathetic character, as really doesn't want to have to kill the British, he's just doing his job, and you do feel sorry for him when he dies, and that run across he open field is as thrilling the first time you see it as the last! The editing of that scene, (much like the one at the beginning of the film) is very well edited and excellently paced.

FILM CONDITION

This is on 5x400 reels, (which can be squeezed down to 4X400.) It is a condenssation of the original movie, which ran 130 minutes, this runs 77 or so minutes. The editing is truly excellent. if you hadn't seen the original film, you really wouldn't be missing anything major. First class editing.

SHARPNESS

The print has a very good (but not excellent) focus. More than passable, between a Ken films digest and Derann.

COLOR

My print is regrettably starting to fade in some scenes. The first two reels have a brown to the blacks, which is a little un-nerving during the 14 minute night scene, (almost pitch black in some cases), but the last three reels have nearly perfect color. I get the feeling that the original negative may have been iffy, but this could also be because many a feature (edited or not) would come from various scources, as we have all tended to find to be true.

CONTRAST

The contrast could be better, but it's not the worst I have seen, but it could have been improved for the night scene. It is more than passable.

SOUND

The soundtrack is mono and is booming, very loud, with no drop offs in the soundtrack. Very nice.

This is an almost forgotten film, but certianly one well worth your time to find a print. I understand that this was released as a 1X400ft version, but pass that up and get this 5X400 ft version. It gives you an excellent jist of the story. You won't regret it!

LONG LIVE SUPER 8!!!!!

[ December 13, 2007, 05:20 PM: Message edited by: Osi Osgood ]

Posted by James N. Savage 3 (Member # 83) on December 13, 2007, 01:08 PM:

Osi-

Who released this film on super 8?

James.

Posted by Mark Williams (Member # 794) on December 13, 2007, 02:48 PM:

Osi,

Didn't Robert " Dirty Dozen" Aldrich direct this film??

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on December 13, 2007, 05:03 PM:

By Gosh mark, your right! I'm changing my review to reflect that. I'm getting old! I added some more info on the film itself as well. I tend to write these quickly on the fly and so it's much better now that I edited it some.

This was an ABC films release.

Posted by Mal Brake (Member # 14) on December 14, 2007, 05:14 AM:

Was this the film with the tag line
"You zig, I'll zag, one of us will get through"

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on December 14, 2007, 02:57 PM:

I really don't know. Mal, but it fits.

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