To Hell and Back [DVD]

The Kino Lorber blu-ray of To Hell and Back is the only way to watch this film. If you’ve seen this in the past or are simply interested in war films in general, this wonderful HD presentation does this move justice and honors the spirit in which it was made. THaB is an important milestone in the genre and entertains while illuminating Audie Murphy the man. Growing up, I had watched this film several times during Saturday afternoons. I found it engaging as a child and was surprised that Audie Murphy played himself. Even being a youngster, I figured it must have been very hard for him to reenact those combat and death scenes. It was because of To Hell and Back that I knew of Audie Murphy since I never encountered any of his other films. Regardless, many of the moments in the movie stuck with me. On a side note, when I was in Basic Training, the Drill Sergeant was supposed to teach my platoon The Army Goes Rolling Along, but he preferred The Dog-faced Soldier and we sang that instead. So I developed a soft spot for that tune which is used extensively in different arrangements in the film. For WWII movies, it’s important to remember that there is a time before Saving Private Ryan and a time after Saving Private Ryan. What I mean by this is that audiences raised on a harder action films with gore will often find older war films wanting. But it was just not possible to show the level of carnage allowable today in 1955 when To Hell and Back was made. This has to be understood as not making the movie any less dramatic but rather a theatrical convention of it’s time. The horror of war doesn’t come from depicting bloody slaughter but from watching your best friends die just as Audie Murphy did in real life. To Hell and Back is a “B” film that was given a few extras that pushed it to higher level of quality. It was shot in color and in widescreen CinemaScope which really helps it pop on modern HD screens. The Blu-ray also has a nice commentary track by two historians and I appreciated that the cover of the case actually used the original poster for the artwork. A few negatives, the lame introduction by the general dulls the opening and the combat scenes were shot in Yakama Washington, and while picturesque, this area doesn’t really look like Sicily, Italy and France. Plus, nobody had a panzer so an American tank fills in for that, but as you probably already know, this happened a lot in most WW2 flicks. Finally, Audie Murphy was 30 but playing himself as he was at 17 to 20, so some suspension of disbelief is needed. To boil it down To Hell and Back is a coming of age story amidst the terror of war and about the loss of friends. It was made when those raw memories were still fresh and is a good time capsule of 1950s moviemaking. Recommended!

We just got back from visiting the Colmar region and heard of what happened there in WWII. I liked the movie and that Audey Murphy played himself in it!

Not enough can be said about how incredible this movie is, not only because it's a true story, and not only because the actor is the man who lived it, but because Murphy himself later said that he saw many things that were much more incredible than the unincredible things shown in the movie. Can't be judged as pure Cinema. If it wasn't a story that was documented as it was happening, nobody would believe it. It has to be judged from the viewpoint of knowing the entire history of Audie Murphy from his beginnings his troubles later in life. We see the movie through Murphy's eyes. Watching this honors him and All American heroes.

Excellent movie.

They should show this movie more on TV

The single biggest reason to watch this movie is that the star himself was in fact the single most decorated war hero of World War Two, and he is convincing here playing himself with dignity, sincerity, and humility, which, of course, Audie Murphy always had in spades. The movie was adopted from his best-selling autobiography, which my Mom let me read after blackening out all of the four letter slang (as she called it). Perhaps it shows that he was my childhood hero, and I still have a personalized autographed photo somewhere reading "Thanks, Barry, for being my fan" that a friend's mom got for three or four of us ten year olds at the time this movie was released in the mid 1950s. It was the first movie I saw ten times. And I wasn't alone; Murphy was a national icon. The movie truly is a classic; tightly directed, poignant, honest, accurate, and showing gripping combat without being gory or maudlin. It sometimes decends into travelogue movie-theater type newsreel moments, but these are thankfully rare and forgiveable. On the other hand, this is an interesting and absolutely true story of a common and uneducated boy from rural Texas who wanted more than anything to be a soldier and serve his country, and his subsequent deeds and patriotism above and beyond the call of duty inspired a whole generation of us who wanted to imitate his call to country. Unfortunately we walked into another time and the miasma of Vietnam. But that's another story for another time. Escape back to a time when the moral choices were clearer, and a real live hero was available to act his way memorably through an accurate recounting of his extraordinary if abbreviated military career. He may be gone too soon, the victim of a plane crash in the early 1970s, but his lifetime admirers remain. Enjoy!

Great movie

Great movie!

To Hell And Back is a good movie that still holds up. Decided to replace my dvd with this fine bluray. First saw it in the theater when it came out long ago. I have a sentimental attachment to it.

Great movie

Vielleicht erbarmt sich mal ein Filmverlag endlich, den Film über die Kriegserlebnisse von A. Murphy auch in deutscher Sprache zu veröffentlichen, zumal bereits mehrfach im deutschen TV mit entsprechender deutscher Sprache gelaufen. Wieder ein Film, der im Bundesfilmarchiv vor sich hin schmort. Die Kriegserlebnisse, die dem jungen A. Murphy zum höchstdekorierten Helden des 2. Weltkrieges verhalfen, sind sehr mitreissend und mit viel Action dargestellt. Sehr kurzweiliger toller Kriegsfilm. Auch hier im englischen Original sehenswert.

Regalo para mi suegro porque es una peli que vio de niño y le quedó marcada, la verdad es que el regalo ha sido todo un éxito.

Film anni 50, da un ottimo romanzo dello stesso protagonista.