Reviews (11)

"Jolson Story II": script only OK but Parks better than ever
"Jolson Sings Again" picks up where "The Jolson Story" left off and takes the singing star into the 1940s, when he finds himself in professional decline until his movie biography comes out. Because this sequel covers far less territory than the original, "Jolson Sings Again" lacks the stature and story values of the earlier picture. But in many ways it's even more fun to watch.

By this time Larry Parks, already impressive in "The Jolson Story," was in full command of the role. Parks is often very amusing and inventive here, adding little bits of business to his performance. As for his song scenes, this writer submits "Sonny Boy" for special praise. Parks is letter-perfect, so much so that the film editor doesn't cut away from Parks's face as he delivers one long, flawless take. Barbara Hale is excellent as the romantic interest, and Ludwig Donath and Myron McCormick are fine in support. (Look quickly for "Gong Show" bandleader Milton Delugg as a young accordionist.)

Fans of Al Jolson will enjoy hearing many popular hits, and movie buffs will especially enjoy the scenes showing the preparation and filming of "The Jolson Story." You don't have to know the original to enjoy "Jolson Sings Again."

JOLIE SINGS AGAIN
My favorite of the two Jolson Movies. Watch this wonderful DVD and be brought back to a time of Inocents. When movies really were Spectacular....Get the popcorn ready..Put your feet up and get ready for a wonderful Experience...........Enjoy !!

Never get tired of this one!
Larry Parks is incredible once again as Al Jolson. Sure, its kind of predictable, and some of the more popular scenes from "The Jolson Story" are redone here, but I could watch this movie every day and not get tired of the music, story, and especially Larry Parks! Would LOVE to have it in DVD if/when that happens!

Big Shock! Jolson's voice was not used on all songs!
Columbia Pictures was not happy with at least three of the tracks Jolson sang. He was older and not well so they brought in Jolson "sound-a-like" singer Norman Brooks to sing them. If you ever heard Mr Brooks you would be amazed! He HAD AL Jolson's voice!!
Once source told me that Jolie never knew the difference.

Entertaining sequel to "The Jolson Story" with Larry Parks
"Jolson Sings Again" is a worthy sequel to "The Jolson Story" with Larry Parks repeating his amazing portrayal of the sensational Broadway entertainer Al Jolson. The film takes up where the original ended with Jolson singing in a night club then he goes home to find that his wife Julie (Evelyn Keyes) has left him. William Demarest is back once again as Steve Martin (Jolson's friend and manager) with Ludwig Donath and Tamara Shayne repeating their roles as Jolson's parents. Jolson is only happy when singing on stage to a live audience but finds that he is now no longer in demand and it is difficult to get work. Steve Martin tries hard to discover some Broadway producer who will put Jolson into a show but no one is interested. Jolson then volunteers to entertain the troops abroad and is one of the first of the big stars to do this. While on one of these Tours he meets Col. Bryant (Myron McCormick) who is a big Jolson fan. On another Tour Jolson contracts an illness and is taken to hospital. Ellen Clark (Barbara Hale) is a nurse at the hospital where he is recovering and they fall in love and get married. Jolson still pines to be singing again and Steve Martin manages to get him a spot in an all star benefit show. The show is extremely long and Jolson doesn't appear until the finale by which time many people have left. However, Col. Bryant is in the audience that night and he stays to the end specially to hear Jolson sing. Bryant is now a Hollywood film producer and phones Jolson after the show with an offer to make a film of Jolson's life story. Much of "Jolson Sings Again" shows the background to the making of the earlier film which is fascinating - particularly when Larry Parks (as Jolson) is introduced to Larry Parks (as himself)!! "The Jolson Story" became a smash hit putting Jolson back on top and he went on to even greater success than before with another biographical film a few years later continuing his story in "Jolson Sings Again".

Some favourite lines from the film:

William Demarest (to Robert Emmett Keane): "I'm not going back to that guy with some lame excuse that adds up to only one thing - he's not wanted. I can't do it Charlie, and you're not going to make me do it".

Myron McCormick (to soldiers at Jolson troop concert): "I don't know what the name means to you. When I was your age it meant the world's greatest entertainer - Al Jolson".

McCormick (to Parks as Jolson): "Meet a young fellow named Larry Parks".

Barbara Hale (to Parks): "It's your right to hear those bobby soxers squeal".

It is interesting to note that the storyline in both films was not entirely accurate and took a few liberties with the facts. Jolson's mother died when he was eight years old yet in the films she lives on to see him become a big success on Broadway and in talking pictures. Many people who played active parts in Jolson's real life story did not even get a mention in the film versions. His long time manager Louis Epstein, his dresser valet Frank Holmes and his brother Harry Jolson were all eliminated!! The character of Steve Martin excellently played by William Demarest did not actually exist and it has been suggested that this role was probably a composite of the three men referred to above plus several other people. Jolson's first two wives were not even mentioned in "The Jolson Story" and Ruby Keeler (Jolson's third wife) would not allow her name to be used in the picture so attractive Evelyn Keyes had to play the fictitious Julie Benson instead.

Harry Cohn (the notorious head of Columbia Pictures) is to be congratulated for going ahead with Jolson's life story when all the other major Hollywood studios had turned it down. Even Warner Bros. (for whom Jolson had starred in several films) were not interested. Filming was started on a small budget and in black and white. When Harry Cohn saw the early rushes he decided to film in colour and make "The Jolson Story" a major prestigious production. This certainly paid off in a big way for him as the film became one of Columbia Pictures top money earners and led to this sequel "Jolson Sings Again". James Cagney and Danny Thomas were both offered the part of Jolson and surprisingly both of them turned it down! Jolson desperately wanted to play the leading role himself and was opposed to another actor portraying his life. Unfortunately for him the studio decided that Jolson was too old (he was 60 at the time of the first film) but Columbia could not have found anyone better than the young Larry Parks (31) who perfectly captured the Jolson style and threw himself into the part with relish. However, Jolson did manage to play himself in one scene of "The Jolson Story" singing "Swanee" on the Winter Garden runway (all filmed in longshot with no close-ups). A clip from this scene was also shown in "Jolson Sings Again" so he did manage to appear in both films after all. Following the completion of "Jolson Sings Again" Larry Parks only made another four films due to the McCarthy communist "witch hunt" which was a shame as he was a very talented performer. He died in 1975 but will always be remembered for these two magnificent Jolson films. It is remarkable that over 50 years after Jolson's death there is an active "International Jolson Society" still in existence which has hundreds of members worldwide and publishes regular illustrated journals. "The Jolson Story" and "Jolson Sings Again" are two of my favourite musicals and I can watch them over and over again. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Chandler gets my Vote any Day
AWAY ALL BOATS is a great WWII film set in the Pacific. Jeff Chandler gives one of his best performances ever as the Captain. He was the best choice for this role because it brought out his best qualities. He is a thinking man's Captain in the best tradition of the genre. There is also a lot of WWII jargon that has been lost from films for many years now. They don't make them this way now days. Our loss.

DVD is less than average
I saw this DVD at a local retailer at a discounted price and couldn't resist the bargain. It's a total waste of money. The picture qaulity is pretty good, but it's a pan and scan transfer, the sound is mono and not that great, and there are no special features save the usual French + Spanish subtitles and scene index. Typical GoodTimes style disc.

A Study in Naval Leadership
This is a story of a ship, its captain and crew, as they are melded into one. Chandler is great (I agree with other reviewers: we lost him way too young), but it is the story that is fascinating.

As the son of a WWII Chief Petty Officer, I was glad to see that the film captures the Chiefs as the "backbone of the Navy."

It is a must have for a WWII film library.

A great Clint Eastwood film!!
Can you find him? Mr. Eastwood plays a bit part in this pretty good WWII movie. I gave it 5 stars because I think everyone should see it at least once.

# 1 reviewer has it right, good for a rainy day
I was a great fan of Jeff Chandler when I was young. I did not even see this movie until years after his death. He was underrated as an actor, and died way to young (at 42 of blood poisoning following surgery in 1961). Men will probably appreciate this as a "war film" more than women. Women will only appreciate it if they were fans of Chandler in their youth. Most people don't know about him. He is all but forgotten today, and was in the mid-fifties one of the highest paid actors of his day. Check out the tribute sites to Jeff Chandler on the web, and buy Esther Williams new bio "Million Dollar Mermaid" due out Sept. 14. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Bandolero! peaks early, with a long, immensely satisfying opening half-hour in which cowpoke James Stewart saves his bank-robber brother (Dean Martin) from the hangman's noose... by strolling into town and masquerading as the hangman. As the brothers depart into Mexico, with a comely hostage (Raquel Welch) in tow, the action becomes more conventional. It's handsomely shot on eye-filling locations by outdoorsy veteran Andrew V. McLaglen (clever Jerry Goldsmith score, too). George Kennedy plays the lovelorn sheriff in pursuit, leading his half-hearted posse through bandito territory. Credibility suffers with Raquel's fabulous hair, which weathers kidnapping and life on the dusty trail with an unlikely sheen. Stewart and Martin, meanwhile, are too casual to allow the already-relaxed story to build up any real heat. For Western fans, the opening should make it worthwhile, even if it eventually becomes apparent why this one isn't considered a classic. --Robert Horton ... Read more

Reviews (8)

Great looking DVD
Typical oater. Jimmy Stewart and Racquel Welch save it from being completely forgettable. Stewart and Dean Martin play brothers who fought on opposite sides of the civil war, but have both been damaged by the experience, and have a hard time staying on the straight and narrow. Martin rode with Quantrell, and now robs banks for a living, an outlaw with hearts of gold, at no time do we believe he's really a bad man.

But what a splendid looking DVD! The image quality is absolutely perfect. Looks like a movie filmed last year, not one filmed 36 years ago. Both the image and sound quality are way, way above average, what every DVD release should be but very few are. The image quality is better than what this movie really deserves.

THESE ARE THE BAD GUYS?
Sure, James Stewart and Dean Martin have been in better westerns, THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE and RIO BRAVO, to name a few. Both of the aforementioned classics had John Wayne. The Duke isn't needed here in this great little romp and stomp and Jimmy and Dino had to have a blast playing the bad guys for a change. BANDOLERO! has some great scenes outside of Raquel Welch baking in the Mexican sun. It's well paced, anti-cliched, yet true to the formula Andrew V. McLaglen honed his craft on. Jerry Goldsmith delivers a haunting soundtrack.

Very good western with excellent cast
Bandolero! is a very good western that never slows down from beginning to end. This may seem like your typical western but it is a step above the rest. After the Civil War, two brothers are reunited on opposite sides of the law. Mace pretends to be a hangman to save his brother and his gang for robbing a bank. After saving them from certain death, Mace and Dee race south with a posse close after them. Along the way, they take along a rich widow whose husband was killed in the attempted bank robbery. The posse follows the gang into Mexico and "territorio bandolero", bandit country. This is a very exciting western with plenty of action. Much of the movie was shot at John Wayne's Alamo Village in Brackettvile, Texas which is very notable in the final shootout. Very good western that is well worth a watch.

James Stewart and Dean Martin are very good together as Mace and Dee Bishop, who were on different sides in the Civil War, but now must work together. Raquel Welch plays rich widow, Maria Stoner, who is the love interest of several characters. Her Spanish accent is questionable, but who really cares? George Kennedy is also good as Sheriff July Johnson, the leader of the posse. The movie also stars Andrew Prine, Harry Carey JR, Rudy Diaz, Denver Pyle, and Dub Taylor. The DVD offers a great looking widescreen presentation, two theatrical trailers for Bandolero!, and five other trailers from Raquel Welch movies. For a very good western with a great cast and plenty of action, check out Bandolero!

Beautifully photographed western
Just out on DVD, 20th Century-Fox's "Bandolero!" was originally released in June of 1968, most likely for the rural theatre and summer drive-in market. It's an unpretentious western, with a story not much better than the average episode of TV's "The Big Valley," but it's stylishly directed and its stars, Jimmy Stewart and Dean Martin, playing brothers, look as though they're having a good time. The disc is being marketed as a Raquel Welch picture, but the movie really belongs to Stewart and Martin. The DVD features a stunning 16X9 transfer of the original Panavision lensing, done by William Clothier. The print is so pristine it often looks as though it were shot yesterday. The movie is also helped by a marvelous score by Jerry Goldsmith, presented here in a fine Dolby Digital 2.0 remastering of the original 4-track stereo. I wish Fox had done the soundtrack one better by remastering it in the proper Dolby Digital 4.0, but the DVD sounds and looks so good as it is I really can't complain. One thing I can complain about is that on the disc's menu screen the picture that's supposed to be Dean Martin is actually Stuart Whitman! Who's the dummy at Fox responsible for that?

Exciting western with some comedy
Bandolero! is a very good western with a great cast and exciting action. Starring James Stewart and Dean Martin as Mace and Dee Bishop, it tells the story of these two outlaw brothers running from a sheriff and his posse into Mexico. The Bishop gang rides into Bandolero country, bandit country. Obviously, the posse must follow.

This cast is exceptional for a western. Besides Stewart and Martin, there is George Kennedy, Raquel Welch, Andrew Prine, Harry Carey, Rudy Diaz, Denver Pyle, and even Dub Taylor in one scene. Welch's Spanish accent drifts in and out, but she is still pretty good. Stewart and Martin are perfect as brothers reunited in southern Texas. Much of this movie was filmed at John Wayne's Alamo Village, which is most apparent in the final battle between the Bishops and the banditos. This movie is very exciting with good action and a catchy musical score. As pointed out by other reviews, this was obviously influenced by spaghetti westerns. The video isn't of the best quality, but still worthwhile. I hope this is put on DVD soon. Don't miss! ... Read more

Reviews (10)

one of the best films of all time
There is no doubt, this is one of the best films ever made. It is based on a true story, based during the Korean War. You better have plenty of Kleenex available--it's a tear-jerker. Don't miss this one.

Finding God Amidst The War
Rock Hudson stars as a minister who feels he has lost his calling and returns to the Air Force (he had fought in WWII) to train Korean soldiers during the Korean War. He and his men become involved with a group of Korean orphans and a young Korean/Indian woman that cares for them. While the war rages on, Hudson begins to find his way back to God, while also trying to protect the orphans. I initially believed that this was a war-action film, only to be surprised that, although there are several good fighting sequences, this was a more personal story of finding faith. Surprisingly, it meshes together well with the action. Hudson is earnest in his portrayal of the real life colonel, and he is well supported by Dan Duryea as one of his men/sidekick. There are some great lines about faith, and some of them made me think, especially the belief that God allows things to happen for reasons that may not be clear to us now, however bad they may seem at the time. In light of what has gone on in the world lately, this is a comforting thought. Battle Hymn is a well crafted, inspiring movie that never seems to preach, yet it certainly makes its points.

A HYMN TO HIM AND HER - MORE LOVE THAN WAR!
"Battle Hymn" is the story of a minister (Rock Hudson) who returns to train Korean soldiers to fight after he feels he has lost his calling. Of course he finds redemption and his true faith when he becomes involved with a group of Korean orphans and a young Korean/Indian woman that cares for them. Despite several brilliantly staged action sequences this film is not so much a war saga as it is a tale of introspection and finding courage in religion to carry on. The reason is simple; the film's director is Douglas Sirk - known for his soppy, sloppy and gushy melodramas that ooz treacle over substance, like "Imitation of Life" and "Written on the Wind". The blend of both adventure and drama is seamless. "Battle Hymn" is an intelligently-crafted and inspiring without being stoic or preachy.
THE TRANSFER: Overall the picture quality is nicely rendered but the ravages of time have not been kind in a few spots. Age related artifacts are present throughout - sometimes glaringly so. Black levels are often weak and fine detail is lost in the darkest scenes. Digital anomalies are not an issue for a generally smooth visual presentation. The audio is nicely presented - if somewhat dated.
EXTRAS: None.
BOTTOM LINE: "Battle Hymn" is finely wrought melodrama tinged with the prerequisite of combat that all war films have in common. The DVD is admirably realized but is not reference quality. Still, it's definitely worth a look.

this is the film to watch over the next few weeks.
A tribute to the essential benevolence of the US Army, and a justification of necessary warfare, 'Battle Hymn' was made with the full co-operation of the army (which allows for some spectacular airfights and picturesque bombings). It is introduced by an endearingly stolid miltary mandarin, General Earle Partridge of the US Fifth Air Force, posing against the eloquent priapic might of a grounded bomber. This is a propaganda film that shows the army as decent saviours of the world, protectors of the innocent; it displays the urgent need for heavy armaments and the engagement in warfare with totalitarian threats to that innocence.

The film is directed by Douglas Sirk, who has been for the last three decades the test case for the possibility within the monolithic global Hollywood industry of inserting a critical voice, of working within the system but producing films that go against the grain. Sirk's major legacy is a series of Universal melodramas from the 1950s, in which he took a despised, 'female', corny, conservative genre, and created the most devastating critiques of 50s America we have, with its mindless and mind-destroying conformism, its patriarchal repressions, its racism.

the films, being 'women's pictures', naturally focus on the domestic, on the interior lives of socially imprisoned characters. 'Battle Hymn', on the other hand, is a war film, male-dominated and set in the wide-open desert spaces of Korea. Nevertheless, Sirk finds a way to 'domesticate' this macho genre, with his feminised, camp soldiers; with his preponderance of cramped, interior shots.

there is a conscious opposition in this film that goes to the heart of the American 'problem' that would explode so traumatically in Vietnam. In the 1950s, when this film was made, America was led by a grounded military man, fetishised the family, and encouraged socially adhesive religious values. And yet Dean Hess, a vicar, a man of god, a family man, cannot live in this America. America is no longer fit for American men, primed by the Second World War, to live in. His marriage is sterile - only when he leaves does his wife become pregnant, and does he find the possibility of family in the shape of the teacher and Chu.

In an America so brightly optimistic and confident as Eisenhower's, any trauma cannot be spoken publicly. Any 'illness' must be taken outside and dealt with there. Hence the profusion of US military activity in the 20th century, a doomed attempt to atone for guilt and failure, which only results in the mass murder of foreigners.

'Battle Hymn' is quite a provocative film, with a hero and his sidekick called Herrmann and Hess, with two graphic bombings by the army of an orphanage and of fleeing refugees. The film is called 'Battle Hymn', and is an attempt to unite the conflicting US ideals of religion and militarism - Hess flails around wildly for the assurance that his murderous actions are not his fault, but part of God's will, sanctioning further brutalities. He is often ironically compared to Christ, when he is actually a mixture of the antiChrist and Midas, killing everything he touches. The only way he can save lives is to 'sacrifice' others.

'Battle Hymn' does not equate war with religion (a deus ex machina is epically ironic), but exposes the pathology of the army: the predominantly dull mise-en-scene matching the grey uniforms. American military imperialism is mirrored in the attempts to Americanise the Korean children, teaching them to eat 'candy', swallow Christianity and sing English. Any native rituals don't exist as examples of an alternative or older culture, but as theatrical expressions of Hess' moral progress.

the film also points to Sirk's great 'race' masterpiece of three years later, 'Imitation of life': in real America, segregation would have prevented Hess and Maples befriending one another. Here, they are made equal in the army, united by baby-killing and its justification by God.

Inspiring but Not Always factual
Once again, Hollywood has taken a true story, changed or omitted facts and passed it off as the real thing. Despite that, this is an inspiring and poignant movie and as another reviewer here said, this is the type of movie they don't make any more.

The stoic Rock Hudson plays Colonel Dean E. Hess, a real life WW II fighter pilot who comes to Korea to train the first ROKAF pilots in American aircraft and tactics. However, there are some glaring inconsistencies in this movie and what happened in real life to Dean Hess.

For one thing, Hess already had a degree in theology and was in graduate school when he became an aviation cadet in the Air Corps during WW II. He received his ordination and elected to return to the Air Force and make it his career postwar. It was not as the result of Korea itself or any deep spiritual problem. From what I read, when he bombed the orphanage or hospital in Germany during WW II, he did not have the problems portrayed in the movie.

The Anna Kashfi character, En Soon Whang was an older women in her 50s and not a beautiful, half-Korean - half Indian teacher. She was Korean and had lost two sons in WW II and in Korea. She had already helped start and maintain an orphanage. Then Major Hess helped out, along with many other Americans and the kiddy lift did happen. But not like in the movie.

This movie is inspiring because it does show the power of faith as well as Hess's value to a fellow pilot and long-term friend who he helps at the hour of his death. That was perhaps one of the most powerful parts of the movie, because his friend, a typical fighter pilot, has no foundation on which to stand. As he says to Hess, "I realize I was afraid to live and now, I don't know how to die." The minister in Hess the pilot finds his real calling, and pastors to his dying friend. He makes the transition from this life to the next easier for his friend and the other pilot is able to die peacefully. It is at that point that Dean Hess finds himself, by stepping outside himself.

I saw this movie for the first time more than 25 years ago on television and was very taken with it. It was at a time before I renewed my own faith. Dean Hess's pastoral counseling to his dying friend had a big impact on me because I had an inordinate fear of death and dying. His words had the effect of helping me conquer that fear and later, led me back to my own relationship with God. Perhaps that is the real (but hidden value) of this movie.

There is also another dimension to this movie that should be mentioned. The aerial sequences are extremely well done. Viewers who are fans of the North American P-51 Mustang will benefit from several scenes of combat flying that show the plane in its best light. In this part of the movie, Hudson manages to convey the competence of Hess as a leader and pilot. He is an excellent manager and teacher and his success training the ROKAF pilots is evident in later scenes.

Finally, one of the things the movie doesn't point out is that Colonel Dean E. Hess remained in the Air Force after the Korean War and not as a chaplain. He retired from active duty in 1971 as a full colonel and he spent the better part of his career as a fighter pilot. He was a man of God to be sure, but he was also a pilot and that is where he made his largest contributions to the service.

Paul Connors ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Solid B War Film with Plenty of Action
Walls of Hell (Intramuros) is a solid B war film produced in the Philippines. Based on an actual incident, the story revolves around U.S. and Filipino efforts to defeat 10,000 Japanese marines who defied orders and took over an ancient walled fortress in Manila for a fight to the death. 20,000 civilians are trapped inside. The film centers on a small group of guerrillas fighting around and under the 25-foor thick walls of the fortress. Led by Lt. Sorenson (Jock Mahoney), they attempt to rescue 1,000 civilians being held in a Japanese detainment camp who will be massacred if the fortress falls. Mahoney makes the most of his role and Fernando Poe Jr. co-stars as a bitter guerrilla fighter. The film is well directed by Gerardo de Leon and Eddie Romero (who also produced) and is reminiscent of Sam Fuller's early films. Overall production values are good and the movie makes good use of actual locations. If you cringe when you see Eddie Romero's name in the credits, this well executed and entertaining movie will surprise you. ... Read more

Description

Barbed wire is brought to the open range, and the ranchers are urged by Sandy Reeves to fight against it. Reeves secretly plans to bring sheep into the territory but forgets to count in Gene Autry, who makes certain nothing dishonest goes on for very long. Crashing action and catchy Western melodies make this a true Autry classic, featuring the songs "Down in the Valley," "Buffalo Gals," "Powder Your Face with Sunshine" and "Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie." ... Read more