Retreat Hell

This is a war time propaganda film, but it is also a darn good one! Honestly, I think this is possibly the best film about Korean War that I saw until now (although I still have to see "Steel helmet" and "A hill in Korea").

1950. After the completely unexpected North Korean invasion of the south, American commanders struggle to assemble enough troops to stop the enemy and prevent the whole contry to fall prey to communists. Very much demobilised after Word War II the US Marines are hard pressed to gather even one division - and therefore all bottoms of all drawers are scraped. It is at that moment that a Marines reserve officer, Captain Paul Hansen (Richard Carlson), a veteran of WWII, is recalled to duty and, although he is a communication specialist, receives the command of an ad hoc company - composed in large part of green recruits... His company is part of a recently formed battalion, commanded by an extremely tough professional officer, Lt. Colonel Corbett (Frank Lovejoy). Immediately after the first roll call everybody, veterans as the new recruits, is send into a tough training... And then the film really begins.

This film, albeit not very long (94 minutes only) is very much filled with good fighting scenes (some of which use authentic fighting footage) and also quite honest dialogs. It shows the periple of one battalion (and especially one of its companies) all the way from the training camp to Inchon landing, battle for Seoul, pursuit towards Yalu river, the sudden Chinese counter offensive, the battle of Chosin and then the archi-famous fighting retreat to Hungnam. The title comes from the authentic quote by Major General Oliver B. Smith, who, once his foces surrounded by the Chinese on all sides, answered to a question about the retreat: "Retreat, hell! We're not retreating, we're just advancing in a different direction!" - and indeed, his division had to fight and defeat Chinese troops in order to withdraw to safety...

The director and the scenarist had the great idea to make the main hero of this propaganda film a guy who is a reluctant warrior. Captain Hansen used to be a lieutenant and a good platoon leader in WWII and he performed well - but once war ended, he got married, found a good job, became father of two little girls and was a very happy civilian, when another war started... Hansen of course tries to make his job the best he can and he certainly is not a coward, but he is neither happy nor enthusiastic about all this business and his overriding priority is to get back home in one piece and if possible bring back as much of his men unharmed... He also doesn't have any ambition for promotion, as he definitely doesn't want to continue his career in the military and so he is more interested in next mail arrival to hear news from home rather than honing his commanding skills... All of this makes him not so popular amongst other officers in the battalion, who are all professionals but it also creates an interesting character - and he remains interesting AND mostly unchanged until his last moments of screen presence...

There are some other interesting characters in the company, including but not limited to a redneck fellow from deepest south of USA, whose ancestors fought for the Confederation in War Between States and who is all happy at the idea that after more than hundred years, US Marines Corps finally fights "on the right side"...))) But the most important single character is the youngest guy in the company, 17 years old Jimmy W. McDermid (Russ Tamblyn), an impossibly immature and silly kid, so delicately build and pretty, that he looks more like a young girl than a soldier - which may be an issue when you come from a military family in which EVERYBODY is either an active duty Marine or a hardened, grizzled, battle-scarred veteran of the Corps...)))

I appreciated a lot the care for details in fighting scenes, very much visible in Inchon landing and the whole fighting retreat, but ESPECIALLY, during the first battle against Chinese army. The human wave tactics, coordonated by the sound of bugles, are here shown in all its horror - indeed, Chinese communist commanders used their overwhelming advantage in numbers to throw wave after wave of light infantry at Americans, without any regard for the casualties, keeping just enough fresh troops in reserve for the moment when their enemies run out of munitions... Considering how thinly were stretched UN forces near Yalu river in the winter 1950 and how enormous was attacking Chinese army, it was a sound strategy - but its human cost was horrible (not that it mattered to Mao and his henchmen...). I also liked some slight touches of realism, like mistakes in English made by soldiers when writing inscriptions on their equipment (some of them were clearly much, much better at using guns than pens).

This film was made in 1952 when studios didn't have yet any Soviet weaponry (or even copies of it) available, therefore director decided to arm North Koreans and Chinese pictured in this film with some Japanese and German arms, to show clearly that their weapons were different from those used by Americans. I cannot say that I cared for that much, as seeing Nambu light machine guns (instead of Degtaryev DP) and MP-40 submachine guns (instead of PPSh-41) in hands of communist soldiers in Korea in 1950 may be a little surprising - but on another hand it is just a relatively minor detail.

The tone of the film is patriotic and optimistic, even if half of the film describes a bitter, figting retreat through a frozen hell. Me, I appreciated it A LOT, but if you are alergic to this kind of things, you should stay away from this film.

Bottom line, this is a VERY GOOD war film. I will absolutely keep my DVD for another viewing. ENJOY!

I had just read Jeff Shara’s novel on the Korean War, “The Frozen Hours: A Novel of the Korean War,” which was excellent. The Korean War today is described as a failure – and it really wasn’t.

At the end of the book, the author recommends this movie. So, I got it. I was, however -- somewhat disappointed.

“Retreat. Hell” is too simplistic, too Hollywood. Perhaps someone will do – a more realistic remake. I think Americans are now ready for it – and would really appreciate it.

I highly recommend Jeff Shara’s novel. This movie, not so much.

The Frozen Hours: A Novel of the Korean War

Enjoy.

I thought I'd seen every WWII/Korean War film Hollywood ever made after 50 years, so this one was a real treat...especially the battle scenes (which are many). You won't find any computer generated tanks, airplanes, or armies here, and that to me was worth the price itself! They had to employ hundreds of extras back then to depict the flood of Chinese troops attacking down the hillsides with trumpets blaring. This must have been a terrible sight to behold by the Marines in that convoy who fought like lions against both the enemy that outnumbered them as well as the Frozin Chosin.

I could rewrite my review of "Fixed Bayonets" for this but I'll just say that if you have forgotten the Korean War (which never ended, its just a cease fire..yeah...that's right) so has Hollywood and the film industry. These stories should be retold and honor due to those Veterans rendered. A good story and good War Film. It should inspire you to research that time and conflict. Recommended.

Good story about getting Marines ready to fight in Korea and then through the Landings at Inchon and the Chosin Reservoir. Some good battle scenes and decent acting. Overall a good Korean War movie.....Disc is very good quality, sharp picture and goos sound.

Surprisingly good B movie. Briefly goes over how the Marine Corps met the challenge of rebuilding combat units when the call went out for Marines to fight in Korea. Notable is the factual treatment on how reservists, regulars and recruits were melded into a fighting team and went directly into the fight from half a world away.
Good action sequences and decent acting. It was filmed soon after the Chosin Reservoir breakout (where the title of the movie comes from). The resolute bravery of those who fought in that campaign was fresh in the mind of the American public. Sadly, it's now a chapter from 'The Forgotten War' that was Korea, our first 'hot war' against the scourge of communism.