There was a bit of a fad in the 1950s where directors remade their earlier hits - John Ford and Frank Capra did it, and here it's John Farrow's turn, having another go at his 1939 B picture classic, Five Came Back. This is commonly talked about as not being as good as the original, but while it's longer, it still has basically the same story, and I liked it. Some things I liked more than the original.
It has more star power - Robert Ryan is the craggy, boozy captain who falls for Anita Ekberg, sexy as hell and a lot more believable as a shady lady turned Earth mother than Lucille Ball, even if not as good an actor. Rod Steiger is methody (complete with sing-song delivery) as the condemned prisoner, but his performance works. Fred Clark shows his versatility by being a dodgy cop, Jesse White looks like he strolled straight out of the 1939 film, Gene Barry and Phyllis Kirk are the eloping couple. Keith Andes is a bit bland as the other pilot.
Farrow kept all the good stuff from the original: the unexpectedly moving bit where a gangster says goodbye to his son and is later killed; the philosophical killer; the throbbing drums whose silence indicates an attack; the really touching sacrifice of the old married couple. You never really believe everyone will go along with Steiger's judgement but it's not a bad dramatic device. They cut out the semi-commie dialogue from the original where the killer talked about how happy everyone was living in the socialist utopia under a benevolent dictator, and added a long scene where the little kid does the lord's prayer (was this Farrow's influence?), padded it out probably unnecessarily. The natives aren't that scary in this version either but it's still enjoyable.
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