Première victoire

source: In Harm's Way

Trailer—In Harm's Way

In Harm's Way

I have been watching this movie since it came out in 1965. It is one of the movies that sent me off to the US Navy in 1967. I recently purchased a DVD copy on the net for a great price and I watched it again. Yes, it is all fiction; but still a great movie against the back drop of WWII and the US Navy in the Pacific. It has battleships, cruisers, destroyers, PT boats, and submarines. It has confused yet brave men and women. It has old fashion love scenes that "fade to black after the first kiss". It has a rape scene where you do not see the violence; but, it is so well acted it is still terrifying. In the last 40 years I have read dozens of factual books about the US Navy in the Pacific. I still enjoy this movie very much and recommend it.

2.5 hours just flies by amidst the rigours of war and the chaos the soldiers endure both in combat and in their personal lives. A cast of superstars are overshadowed on this occasion by the performance of Kirk Douglas who has all the great scenes of the movie in my opinion. The word that continually springs to mind when I think about this movie is passion. Great storytelling :)

A film to show to John Wayne haters, it has stopped even his bitterest critics in full cry. Sensitively filmed in black and white, a superb cast of actors show the functions of human characters against the grinding and terrible necessity of war. The special effects are really quite good for the time, and it surpasses by far such films as 'Tora Tora Tora' and 'Midway,' for all the distance it carefully keeps from complete historical reality.