Between Heaven And Hell [HD]

On "an island in the Pacific, 1945", a boy becomes a man...
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...

Between Heaven and Hell
This war drama tells how a southern soldier changes from a class conscious snob and becomes a human being with the help of Buddy Ebsen. It shows in flashbacks how he used to be a ruthless plantation owner and how he treated his sharecroppers. Along comes WWII and realizes that in war, everybody is the same. His buddies all get killed due to the cowardice of an officer and Wagner almost kills him. He is courtmartial and sent to another unit and meets a psycho company commander played with gusto by Broderick Crawford. The platoon he is ordered to be with are sent up to relieve another platoon on this hill. They are attacked by a Japanese company and everyone is killed except Wagner and Ebsen, but Ebsen is wounded and Wagner must run back for help. Will he make it in time to rescue Ebsen? The movie was nominated for Original Score and if you look real hard, you will recognize Frank Gorshin, who later played the Joker on the TV version of Batman. Not the best war drama ever...

Between Heaven and Hell
This is a very effective psychological war film with a great performance by Broderick Crawford as the demented commander of a group of loose canons located in an isolated jungle outpost during W.W.II. Robert Wagner is ordered to the post for his transgressions and comes to terms with his own lack of humanity. This film contains one of Hugo Friedhofer's best scores. The stereo score on this VHS recording sounds excellent.

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