User Reviews

VIEWED ON NORTH American HOME VIDEO FROM UNKNOWN DISTRIBUTOR

Now a veteran director in the war genre, director Robert Bianchi Montero's second war film rises above his other two efforts in the genre, while ripping off several other, more well-known movies.

The story is explained in a lengthy introduction as a war correspondent narrates some really, really bad looking stock footage: In 1942, the Japanese dominate the Pacific. The American air force has been bombing one small island, which they now intend to occupy and use a base for launching the invasion of Rabaul. A Marine platoon led by Captain Stern (Richard Harrison, "Churchill's Leopards") has 36 hours to scout the island and make sure all of the Japanese resistance has been wiped out before the Allies launch one massive, final bombing mission.

What's nice about this film is the way Montero's story follows his story from several different perspectives, tying it together quite nicely. The main focus is on Stern's trek through the jungle with his men and several encounters with Japanese tanks, pillboxes and patrols. Meanwhile, the committed Japanese Major Koshiro (George Wang, "Tepepa") deals with holding off the American patrol and a stubborn Swedish missionary (Pamela Tudor, "Kill Rommel!"). Finally, an American war correspondent (Alain Gerard) has accompanied the patrol, and he narrates the action from his own perspective, giving a much-needed human touch. Montero brings these three plot lines together in a nail-biting climax.

The cast of familiar actors is especially good. American actor Harrison is a very comfortable lead, and makes Stern a convincing leader of men - he's not flawless, there are times when he has to make hard decisions which may cost the lives of the men under his command, and we feel his agony at making those decisions. French actor Gerard is a great dramatic foil, who questions Stern's decisions almost every step of the way - but when he meets the Japanese in combat, he realizes that perhaps war isn't what he has perceived it as from the rear echelon. Wang hams it up as Major Koshiro, but is a great villain and a lot of fun to watch. Finally, Tudor really makes the most of her character, and despite limited screen time, is really the best of the ensemble cast: Her self-sacrificing missionary heroine is never less than totally believable, and kudos to her for a great performance. The supporting cast - including Luciano Catenacci, Rodolfo Valadier, Geoffredo Unger and Vittorio Richelmy - all have an important scene, and it's nice to see these actors in roles bigger than just space-fillers in the background, for a change.

While the film is really a fast-paced action flick, Montero is definitely trying to make an anti-war statement. Men on both sides die brutal, gruesome deaths: they're mercilessly gunned down by tanks, helplessly drowning in quicksand, or are burned to death with flamethrowers. There is a great scene, excellently handled by Harrison, in which Captain Stern tells one of his subordinates that it really pains him to wake his men up from a rest, knowing that their minds are on family back home - and that the Japanese have lives and families, too.

As far as the action sequences go, Montero uses a variety of techniques and settings to keep them interesting and quite juicy. There's one great scene in which the war correspondent does hand-to-hand battle with a Japanese samurai-swordsman, in the middle of an underground cave which is about to explode. Montero uses low angles and point-of-view shots in one sequence, in which a Japanese tank rolls out of the jungle and mows down helpless American soldiers.

The low point of the film is that, despite Montero's collaboration with three other writers, the film still borrows scenes and plot points from other, better war films. For example, one soldier is shot and falls into a ravine, where a picture of his wife and children floats by in his helmet; there was an identical scene in "Anzio". Moments later, Japanese troops try to stop an attack by rolling burning gasoline drums down a hillside towards enemy infantry, a la the climax of "Battle of the Bulge". The war correspondent character reminds me a lot of a similar character in "Objective, Burma!" and the general mood and pace of the picture strongly resemble "Beach Red".

Montero also loses points because he failed to shoot on-location. The movie was shot almost entirely on sound stages in Italy, furnished with fake-looking tropical plants. The sound stages are serviceable, never looking too cheesy like in some older American films such as "Suicide Battalion", but they're bad enough to hurt the integrity of the film.

"Thirty-Six Hours of Hell" never manages to rise above the ordinary, but a fine cast of Italian actors, well-shot action scenes and some great, natural humanitarian anti-war touches make it a movie worth seeing.

Moving war film set during WWII , dealing with a commando is assigned a dangerous mission on an island of Pacific already inhabited by stranded Japanese forces . June 1942 , all territories of Holland and England , from India , Maynar or Burma , Borneo , New Guinea , Salomen islands ..to Philippines have been occupied by the Japanese . November 1945 Australian forces carry out the first offensive . Admiral Theodore S. Wilkinson and his troops invade Bismark archipelago in the South Pacific , taking Tabaul . A island located in North Bougainville between Bismark archipelago and Philippines , there a troop of Marines led by an officer battle Japanese forces . The small American battalion is commanded by daredevil captain Stern (Richard Harrison) who rules over soldiers called Langousta (Carlo Gaddi, usually in baddie roles) , Bronx (Dan Harrison or Bruno Piergentili who starred some pasta Westerns) , Missouri (Goffredo Unger , usual master of arms) , Castle (Vittorio Richelmy) along with a war correspondent (Alain Gerard , the tale is seen through the eyes of this journalist by voice-in-off) , among others (very secondary role by Mario Bianchi , director'son , and future filmmaker of Spaghetti , thrillers and erotic movies) . At the beginning the Marines are successfully in wiping out Japanese led by Major Koshiro (George Wang) . But they are spotted and descended upon by enemies forces . They must go to the other side of the Pacific island , killing Japanenese , suffering exhaustion , risked encounters , swift attacks , quicksands and other elements until they are rescued . The platoon meets a nurse (Pamela Tudor) from Swedish Red Cross whose hubby died two years ago in a medic mission . The group must try to survive enemy that undergo a chase and a mini-war , as they fight all by themselves and finally find how wrong his misconceptions are .

This is a flag-waver wartime movie with a typical crew of Marines battling the 'yellow menace' on a Pacific atoll . The film packs warlike action , thrills , drama , shootouts , and results to be quite entertaining . A cool cast , nice direction , though sometimes mediocre , from Montero with riveting climax and enhanced by energetic score by Franco Salina make this a must for Italian warlike fans . The story is seen through the eyes a war reporter and contains a brief studio character seeking human frailty beneath surface heroism . The picture turns out to be passable and in enough budget for standards of the B-Italian war series . Acceptable Richard Harrison as two-fisted sergeant , in one of his best roles and no thanks to mediocre script . Strong and robust Richard Harrison was a magnificent muscle-man . He was one along with Ed Fury, Brad Harris , Kirk Morris , Reg Park , Mark Forest , among others , whom to seek fortune acting absurdly muscle mythological figures , but anybody topped Steve Reeves and Gordon Scott in popularity . Harrison played in Hollywood some minor roles as ¨Kronos ¨ and ¨South Pacific¨ , while shooting another inferior character in ¨Master of world (1961)¨ produced by American International , he met producer James H. Nicholson's daughter and married her within six months . Frustrated at not being able to secure meatier roles in America , Harrison jumped at the chance when offered the first character in 1961 ,¨The Invincible Gladiator¨ , which was filming in Europe along with his greatest success ¨The seven Spartans¨. He wound up settling in Italy for the next two decades. His lead role, of course, immediately typed him as another Herculean type and, to avoid being penned in too much as a muscle man , he sought characters in routine spaghetti westerns as ¨Texas the red¨ , ¨Gringo¨, ¨Reverendo Colt¨ , ¨Joe Dakota¨ , even the main role from ¨For a fistful of dollars¨ was offered to Richard Harrison , but he turned down and explaining : Maybe my greatest contribution to cinema was not doing Fistful of Dollars, and recommending Clint Eastwood for the part . He also starred another Wartime film : ¨Leopards of Churchill¨ and spy intrigue as ¨Master stroke¨ and ¨077 challenge to the killer's¨ . Once Italy closed down film production after the muscular craze had died down, he, like others, found himself unemployed. He did manage to scrape up work in Hong Kong , but a large portion of them were bottom-of-the-barrel Ninja movies .

Director Roberto B. Montero's skill with the thrills overcomes the artificiality of the story . Montero directed all kind of genres such as Eurospy : ¨Agent Z55 , atomic secret¨, ¨Mission Hong Kong¨ ; Adventure : ¨Thaurus , son of Athila¨, ¨Robin Hood¨ ; ¨Poliziottesco or Crime thriller : ¨Eye of spider¨, ¨An alibi per Morire¨ ; Mondo sexy documentary : ¨Sexy Follie¨ , ¨Africa sexy¨, ¨A fool's war¨, ¨Sexy nude¨ ,¨Mondo Infame¨ ; Historical/erotic : ¨Lucrecia Borgia¨, ¨The hot nights of Calígula¨ ; Gialli : "The Slasher ...is the Sex Maniac!" ; Western all'Italiana : ¨Oklahoma John¨ , ¨Durango is coming , pay or die¨ , ¨Thunder over El Paso¨, ¨Two sides of the dollar¨ ; and Wartime : ¨Rangers attack at hour x¨, ¨Damned platoon¨or ¨The battle of the damned¨ and this "36 Ore all'inferno" also titled "36 Hours in Hell" or "Last Combat" .

Others movies concerning the wartime sub-genre about American soldiers battling Japanese on the Pacific islands during the WWII are the followings : ¨Guadalcanal diary¨ (43) by Lewis Seiler with Anthony Quinn and Lloyd Nolan ; the classic ¨Sands of Iwo Jima¨ (1949) by Allan Dawn with John Wayne ; ¨Objective Burma¨ by Raoul Walsh with Errol Flynn ; ¨None but the brave¨, directed and starred by Frank Sinatra; and Between heaven and hell (1956) with Robert Wagner , among them.

Another reviewer described this Italian WW2 movie as 'exciting' but I'd have to disagree; despite containing plenty of action, particularly during the second half of the narrative, 36 HOURS OF HELL feels like quite a boring and plodding little movie, let down by pedestrian execution and a general lack of tension which becomes apparent in the lazy dialogue scenes.

The setting is the Pacific theatre this time around, and a jungle island the basis of the action. Richard Harrison is the rugged captain who arrives on the island with a squad of men and must make his way from one end to the other, clearing out any remaining Japanese soldiers en route. Inevitably everything doesn't go according to plan, and a fight to the death between both sides ensues.

I thought it was a pity that 36 HOURS OF HELL isn't a better film because the setting and set-up is a decent, if predictable one. There's barely any action in the first half but this really should be an exercise in tension as the soldiers pick their way through the sweaty jungle confines. The second half is better, featuring some good ambush scenes as well as soldiers falling foul of jungle perils and traps. But the scenes in the Japanese camp drag the pace down - the enemy would be better left unseen - and the inclusion of the female nurse is an unnecessary distraction. In the end, 36 HOURS OF HELL is just routine rather than watchable.

A platoon of American soldiers are sent on a mission to a Pacific Island to eliminate any Japanese resistance ahead of the Allies occupying it as a base for a massive invasion.

36 Hours of Hell is another Euro war movie or more specifically a Macaroni Combat film. It came out in the late 60's heyday of this Italian sub-genre. This is one of the rarer ones which was set in the Pacific theatre of war, as most others took place in Europe or the North African desert, most probably for budget reasons. I've found the films from this genre to be by in large pretty mediocre on the whole, with not a huge amount to make them overly memorable. This one falls into this category too, although it's probably one of the better ones I have seen. It has some decent action scenes, while the narrative told from the perspective of three protagonists - an American captain, a Japanese major and a war journalist – was varied and interesting enough to hold my attention from the most part. All-in-all, this is a pretty typical entry for this type of thing, so I expect those with a taste for it will enjoy it well enough.

After intense bombing designed to wipe-out Japanese forces on the Pacific Island of Rabaul, a small group of Americans are sent in to clean-up any remaining combatants before the main force lands. What should have been a routine mission turns out to be more complicated and deadly than hoped. The Japanese forces have weathered the bombing storm and are ready to take the fight to the Americans.

36 Hours of Hell stars Richard Harrison. Yesterday, I wrote about another Richard Harrison film - Rojo. My feelings on 36 Hours of Hell are much the same as my feelings on Rojo - it's terribly dry and predictable. I know the filmmakers did the best they could with a limited budget, but it felt like a series of clichéd set-pieces stuck together into a 90 minute film. There was little to hold my interest from one scene to the next. And it doesn't help matters the way the characters were presented. To be an effective war film, you have to care about the guys that are being blown to pieces. Here, other than Harrison, I didn't know enough about any of the other guys to care if they lived or died. Finally, I'm beginning to think that Richard Harrison may hold a limited appeal to me. I don't think he's particularly good in this film. One of his men is killed and his emotions are all wrong. The emotion he displays would be more appropriate for burning a steak on the grill than watching a man die.

There are a couple of positives I'll briefly mention. First, I appreciate the fact that actual Asians were used to play the Japanese soldiers. Even in 1969, you didn't see this very often. Second, the film looks great. The cinematography is quite good and better than expected. Third, I'm not overly familiar with Pamela Tudor, but her limited role here is memorable. Still, the bad outweighs the good and I cannot rate 36 Hours of Hell any higher than a 4/10.

One final note - I feel I need to mention the music. While I thought it was great, often brilliant, it never really fits the action on the screen. It didn't feel like the music you would associate with a war movie. In my opinion, Franco Salina's score would have been much more at home in a giallo.