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4.0 out of 5 starsHearken to the Past
ByR. DelPartoon September 7, 2015
Criterion compiles a collection of the most intriguing and artistically and creatively inclined films in cinema history from the most well renowned to the most obscure. The DVD set of Samuel Fuller’s earlier films, DVD Eclipse Series 5: The First Films of Samuel Fuller, which include critically acclaimed The Baron of Arizona (Vincent Price and Ellen Drew) I Shot Jesse James (Preston Foster and John Ireland), and The Steel Helmet (Steven Brodie and Robert Hutton). Each film has a place of interest for viewers, especially The Steel Helmet.
The Steel Helmet (1951) centered upon the social climate of the Korean War. The most fascinating aspect about the making of the film is that it was produced during the early months of the war but reflected on how the last war World War II and how soldiers transitioned into another one. As viewers watch each soldier in the film, there are distinctions that show ambiguously, but one must also consider the period besides the war experience and how the world changed from 1945 to 1951; the Cold War was already in progress, reconstruction of Japan and Allied occupation of the country, and in the United States the Civil Rights movement was emerging and the military became a part of that movement, take for example the US Army. Observing the characters in the film, it was evident the change progressed but not without repercussions within inter-racial and inter-related lines between Black, White, and Asian soldiers.
Director Samuel Fuller was known for tipping the scales in terms of issues that tugged at emotions and by utilizing the individual characters to convey concerns that occurred in society. The other two films also provide social commentary within the lines of geography and region that also affected economic issues and the common man, the use of masculinity. The entire set of films are thought provoking, be it through the historical backdrop of the conflict of the Korean War or the Wild West, there are comparisons that reflect upon the period in which they were made that may have been longing for a simpler time or a complex one or both.
