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| Between Heaven and Hell | 
 enlarge | Director: Richard Fleischer
Actors: Robert Wagner, Terry Moore, Broderick Crawford, Buddy Ebsen, Robert Keith
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Category: Video
List Price: $6.98
Buy New: $4.98
You Save: $2.00 (29%)
New (4) Used (6) from $2.49
Avg. Customer Rating:  14 reviews
Sales Rank: 44202
Format: Color, Original Recording Reissued, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: VHS Tape
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 94
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.3 x 4.2 x 1.1
UPC: 024543039303
EAN: 0024543039303
ASIN: B000063UV3
Theatrical Release Date: 1956
Release Date: May 21, 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 The Cinematography is quite spectacular!! April 10, 2006
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
I recall watching this movie on color TV in 1969 and being impressed with the visual awe within the story itself. Flashbacks are the basic form of narration. Pay attention and be prepared to watch it a few times to soak it up. This one stands alongside the well-presented WWII films of the 1950's like Battle Cry and The Naked and The Dead, though somewhat flatter in tone.
 Between Heaven and Hell February 24, 2006
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is one of my all time favorite movies. And still is!
Thank you.
On "an island in the Pacific, 1945", a boy becomes a man... March 26, 2005
13 out of 13 found this review helpful
This highly underated war movie is one of the best of its kind, telling the story of a troubled young soldier, Sam Gifford (played by Robert Wagner), who's at war with himself as well as the enemy. He's outwardly cold to those around him, and for good reason: he's been busted from sergeant down to private for striking an officer. His old squad has been wiped out in a tragic accident, and he's been transfered to a new unit under the command of an insane captain (played by Broderick Crawford).
Through flashbacks we learn that Sam grew up in Tennessee (my home state) where he was the head of a cotton dynasty, which he commanded with an iron fist. His beautiful wife (played by Terry Moore) learns of this sinister, heartless side of him and they fight. Later her father (which is Sam's commanding officer) is killed on the same Pacific island as Sam, and he's furthur depressed. In his new unit under Broderick Crawford's command, he meets a cropper-turned-soldier (played by Buddy Ebsen) who befriends him and watches over him like a father would.
They become close friends, but their friendship is put to the test when they are stationed on an isolated hill with only a handful of troops to defend it against swarms of Japanese troops. In one deadly assault, all of the Americans are killed except for Sam and his friend, who is now wounded. Sam must then choose between trying to carry his wounded comrade through enemy lines, or trying to save himself. I won't spoil the ending, but I will say that this is one of the best war movies I've ever seen (and I've seen hundreds!).
The dvd has a great picture and sound quality, especially the sound. I had to turn up the volume on my tv loud to hear the dialogue, only to be "blown away" by the tremendously loud explosions and machine gun fire! This may seem like a dvd defect to some, but to me it only enhanced the excitement of the battle scenes! The dvd is bare-bones as far as special features go, although it does have several theatrical trailors from classic war movies, which is nice. Overall, I highly recommend this classic to all fans of war movies.
Slipped right by us before we realized what we had January 28, 2005
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
Bobby, we hardly knew ye....
If Hollywood cannot suppress a great concept and turn it into drivel before a film gets made, they often will find a way to do it after it has been released. Orson Welles learned this the hard way making Citizen Kane to his great pain, and could never get quite enough funding for any big film after that.
This is no Citizen Kane, nor will Robert Wagner ever, ever, be confused with Orson Welles. On the other hand, to call him un-charismatic?!? Not to a whole generation of girls in the 50's and 60's, including my sweetie. Not to mention to a whole generation of guys who wanted to be like him.
As a war film, it is way above the cut and cannot be written off too easily after viewing. I esteem it as much as Hell Is For Heroes with Steve McQueen or Attack! with Jack Palance. Films that stood out from the fodder, and were rarely duplicated if ever. Why this one never got respect, I am too young to have heard, and at this point, there is a whole new generation who will get to see, and perhaps appreciate it.
I saw this film many years ago on TV and I never quite forgot it, for many reasons, and I have been dying to see it released on DVD.
The other reviews on this site give a decent summation of the plot, but the truth of the film goes deeper. Buddy Ebson as a sharecropper gives a slyly informed humanity to people we all have driven by when we saw them (barely) working in the fields, or else cleaning our offices, or in our kitchens.
Broderick Crawford so typifies the insanity of war, where we can find ourselve in situations without a rulebook, yet not knowing the rules means death.
Before the war, seen in flashback, Wagner is deeply unhappy at the top of the heap, and takes it out on those at the bottom of the pyramid as if he had no feelings. Yet, he loves his wife with the passion of youth, and something deeper, as she him.
He is a landed aristocrat in a South about to experience drastic change, but has not yet figured out how to deal with the peasants who are people too.
If he were a lesser man, as is his best friend (Tod Andrews, who would later play the Gray Ghost on TV), the difficulty of being a chivalrous and decent man whose culture demands he forget decency when dealing with his social inferiors, he would not be so driven and unhappy.
War experiences bring out the best and worst in men, and we see his best friend (from before the war) fail the test and, in the process, killing Wagner's new friends, common men, made during the war, and we experience the pain when his surrogate father dies. If you wondered where Tom Hanks in Saving Private Ryan got the shakes, watch Rober Wagner progress in this film. He is more than adequate. He has things to teach others who followed.
A film does not have to be perfect to be great, and this is a great film, and flawed, make no mistake. Being ignored for so long means only that we should take a closer look now, and judge carefully before writing it off.
Get the DVD in widescreen. On Turner TNT, only the credits are in widescreen, the rest is pan and scan, which is a shame. In contrast, the original wide frame is composed to advantage throughout, when you see it for the first time in almost 50 years as it was meant to be seen.
 Turgid drama, Inept acting, Wrenched plot! October 30, 2002
9 out of 18 found this review helpful
There is not much to recommend this trivial world war II drama. Broderick Crawford, Buddy Ebsen, and Robert Wagner all confirm their tertiary status in the Hollywood pantheon. The plot is inept and incredible, staggering through bunches of flashbacks. The minor miracle (Rich and arrogant southern playboy/landowner comes of age and learns to love the common man) is insufficiently believable. The battle action is sporadic.HOWEVER, the DVD presentation is fine. Super-saturated colors come through perfectly, and the definition is great! The DVD quality is the sole reason I give the film 2 stars rather than 1. May I recommend films such as Patton, Tora Tora Tora, or the Longest Day for fine World War II action!
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