blue_green1 Reviews

The Brotherhood of the Bell (1970 TV Movie)

Terrific! Great Performance by Glenn Ford!

[8/10 · 28 March 2010]

I could not believe this was a TV movie. Glenn Ford is fantastic. The relationships with his wife, father in law and father were very believable. His employer institute's locations (apparently at Pomona) were wonderful. Ford's character's journey, in his effort to confront the errors of his oath, was fascinating, whether traversing the private domain of his wife's family or the public domain of the talk television show he naively turned to at the end of his rope. His denial, incredulity, despair and paranoia I found to be far more realistically depicted than many similarly themed feature films I have seen. Attempts to discredit such a witness are the typical first offensive/defensive line of action for powerful groups engaged in illegal activity, including or especially when the context is the military! Coming from a community controlled by a once all popular secret society (take a guess), and rife with corruption, from the mayor to the judge, etc., I was riveted. Sure hope this gets released in a Glenn Ford box set!

Under the Flag of the Rising Sun (1972)

Phenomenal

[10/10 · 15 November 2009]

This film puts most war movies to shame. Here is a cinematically beautiful yet shockingly realistic depiction of what war is like. The betrayal of humanity involved on numerous levels is juxtaposed with the individual soldier's will to survive and with one widow's need to know the hidden truth about how her husband died. Her journey of naivete to knowledge and understanding is the central character arc that traverses through the accounts of several veterans from her husband's unit. The gorgeous photography features shot after shot of beautiful landscape that serves as a kind of silent and solitary witness to the mayhem.

Nowhere do you see the cloying sentimentality and heroism that stink up so many war films. I give it the highest rating.