VividSimon Simply Perfect

RipDelight This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

Merolliv I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

AaronCapenBanner Raoul Walsh directed this real life account about a special operations unit of paratroopers led by Col. Nelson(played by Errol Flynn) who are sent into the jungles of Japanese held Burma to destroy a radar station there. The mission is a success, but the unit has difficulty getting out after their rendezvous sight at an old air strip is intercepted by the Japanese, forcing them to make a perilous trek behind enemy lines to a suitable landing point for the rescue mission, though that is many miles away, and not all of them will make it, since the angry Japanese are right behind them... Excellent war film with fine acting(Flynn was never better) and directing, with an insightful script. Quite powerful and harrowing at times in memorable film.

Jeff (actionrating.com) See it - The Japanese got more than they bargained for when they decided to mess with Errol Flynn. This time, Flynn plays the role of an American soldier commanding a handful of men who successfully complete a mission but must trek through miles of jungle to get to their rendezvous point. You know what that means – a high bad guy body count. There are three good combat sequences and a couple other smaller skirmishes. Different parts reminded me a lot of "Tears of the Sun" and "We Were Soldiers." This film is a little prejudiced, but I think it's forgivable when you consider we were at war with Japan when it was released. All in all, a classic first-rate WWII movie.

blanche-2 Errol Flynn leads his men in "Objective, Burma!" a 1945 war film also starring James Brown, William Prince, George Tobias, and Henry Hull. Flynn, as Captain Nelson, is charged with parachuting his regimen to Burma and disabling a camouflaged Japanese Army radar station that is detecting Allied aircraft flying into China. An older war correspondent (Henry Hull) accompanies them. Unfortunately, once they were in Burma, getting out became much more difficult.There's something about Errol Flynn war movies that invites controversy, and this one is no exception. The film was withdrawn from release in the United Kingdom after one week because it infuriated British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and drew protests about the Americanization of an almost entirely British, Indian and Commonwealth conflict.That aside, it's actually quite a good movie with a very authentic feel, even though it was filmed in Hollywood. Actual weapons, uniforms, and gear came from the military, which added to the reality of the atmosphere.Errol Flynn does a terrific job as Nelson, a man who is an excellent soldier and leader but who also inspires loyalty among his men. One of the actors seemed very familiar to me, and he turned out to be James Brown, who starred in The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin when I was growing up.There's both triumph and tragedy in this absorbing film. Another reminder on Memorial Day of what servicemen suffered. Except in this case, they were from other countries besides the U.S. in reality.

Steffi_P War films made during World War Two changed distinctly as the conflict wore on. At the beginning there were idealistic flag-wavers, feature-length recruitment ads. Then there were pictures about endurance and perseverance, designed to keep everyone's spirits up. In the final year of the war, when victory was certain yet the full cost and horror of it all was known and keenly felt, war movies began to take on a dark and bitter edge. Among the darkest and bitterest of them all was Objective Burma, released just a few months before the defeat of Japan.The story of Objective Burma, which gave writer Alvah Bessie his only Oscar nomination, involves a mission deep in the jungle which goes entirely according to plan, all except for the pickup of the men to get them back to base. The situation you then have is a group of soldiers stranded in a jungle swarming with hostile Japanese. What results is an incredibly tense story in which the hope is not one of victory but simply one of survival. It really makes a great basis for an action movie, because like a good horror flick it elicits a kind of thrill through the continual sense of danger. The characters are fairly one-dimensional GI stereotypes – cheeky, earthy, working class guys – that you can see in any cheap war flick, but this in a way adds to the horrific and harrowing impact of many of the later scenes. It soon becomes pretty clear that the "Burmese dancing girls" that one of the men jokingly refers to in an early scene, are not going to make an appearance in this kind of war film.Of course, it can only work if we the audience feel immersed in that danger. This is where director Raoul Walsh comes in. Walsh was really adept at this sort of thing, and strives to constantly give us a feel of the soldiers' plight. His every shot seems composed to give us a sense of both the vastness and the oppressive closeness of the environment. Often he uses point-of-view shots, for example putting us in the position of a GI peeping out of the bushes at a passing Jap patrol. At other times he takes a god-shot, looking down on the pitiful band wending its way through the undergrowth. There's a great use of sound design, with various animal noises making eerie laughing and screeching noises. What is important too is Walsh's focus on faces. In a movie where, from a distance, every uniformed man looks alike, an occasional attention grabbing shot of some very individual expression helps to underline the sense of this as a human tragedy. As the situation becomes more and more desperate, Walsh literally darkens the screen, with the impressive James Wong Howe cinematography getting ever more shadowy.You couldn't have made Objective Burma at the height of the war. It's simply too bleak. It would be useless as recruitment propaganda. The one thing that really ties it to its era however is the vehemence it shows towards the Japanese. You really get that feeling of bitterness towards the foe in a protracted conflict, and even the kind of mindset that would start dropping nukes on cities. And then again, Operation Burma has a kind of timeless and placeless quality to it, being as it is so far removed from any kind of civilization or familiar reference point. Stripped down to a handful of men, a huge expanse of jungle and an ever-present but barely-glimpsed enemy, this is a suspenseful and exciting adventure with broad and lasting appeal.