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Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
To Hell and Back (Blu-ray) (1955)

To Hell and Back (Blu-ray) (1955)

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Released 4-Sep-2019

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Biography / War Reversible Cover
Rating Rated PG
Year Of Production 1955
Running Time 106:16 (Case: 102)
RSDL / Flipper Dual Layered Cast & Crew
Start Up Programme
Region Coding 2,4 Directed By Jesse Hibbs
Studio
Distributor

Umbrella Entertainment
Starring Audie Murphy
Marshall Thompson
Charles Drake
Jack Kelly
Gregg Palmer
Paul Picerni
David Janssen
Richard Castle
Bruce Cowling
Paul Langton
Art Aragon
Felix Noriego
Case Standard Blu-ray
RPI ? Music None Given


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English DTS HD Master Audio 2.0
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 1080p
Original Aspect Ratio 2.35:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles None Smoking Yes
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

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Plot Synopsis

     Made in 1955 To Hell and Back is the story of Audie Murphy, the most decorated US soldier in WW2; he was awarded numerous medals for bravery in action including the Congressional Medal of Honor, the highest US medal. The film is based on Murphy’s autobiography which was published in 1949, but what makes the film unique, and more than a normal WW2 film, is that Murphy plays himself as the film recreates his actions in the war.

     Audie Murphy grew up in a one parent, poor family in Texas. When Japan attacked Pearl Harbour and the US entered WW2, Murphy lied about his age and tried to enlist. Small in stature and unassuming, he was rejected by the Marines and the Navy but accepted into the Army. He was posted to North Africa but arrived too late to see active service in that theatre. However, he more than made up for it seeing action in Sicily, southern Italy, Anzio and southern France. A natural leader, Murphy rose from private to lieutenant and distinguished himself on numerous occasions in battles where his friends and comrades were killed in action, all before his 19th birthday. On 26 January, 1945, near Holtzwihr in southern France close to the German border, Murphy won the Medal of Honor; when waves of German tanks and infantry attached his company’s position, Murphy sent his men back to cover and singlehandedly called down artillery fire on his own position before climbing on top of a burning US tank to use its machine gun to hold back the enemy.

     To Hell and Back is very much a 1950s war film, made with the cooperation of the US defence forces. As such, while the battles are loud and exciting, with tanks, artillery rounds exploding, grenades, bazooka, rifle and machine gun fire, the bloodshed is sanitised (the film has a PG rating) as are the R&R sequences of the soldiers interacting with women, including Italian women, and the goodhearted banter between the soldiers. Not a swear word in hearing! In addition, the “German” tanks are rebadged American M41 US tanks (there would not have been many genuine German Panzers in the US in 1955) although the M-4 Shermans on the Allied side were authentic.

     To Hell and Back was directed by Jesse Hibbs. He also directed Murphy a few years later in Ride a Crooked Trail (1958) but thereafter was a TV director with episodes of Gunsmoke, Wagon Train, Rawhide and especially Perry Mason on his resume. His direction of To Hell and Back is workmanlike. This probably sums up the film, which is episodic in nature, with maps, WW2 archival footage and a voiceover narration keeping us up to date on where we are and what is happening.

     To Hell and Back is an incredible story of heroism and there is is no doubt that Murphy was incredibly courageous, as well as incredibly lucky. He was initially reluctant to play himself, suggesting his friend Tony Curtis instead. But he did agree; reliving his experiences must have been unsettling and apparently Murphy did have a difficult time in the sequence in which his best friend, named Brandon in the film and the book (Charles Drake), was killed in action. Although over 10 years too old to play himself as a teenager, Murphy has the presence and charisma to pull it off so once into the action sequences it really doesn’t matter. Other cast members in the squad, few of who survive the war, include Marshall Thompson, Gregg Palmer, Paul Picerni and Richard Castle. One of the more familiar faces in the film is David Janssen, who was The Fugitive between 1963 and 1967.

     When To Hell and Back was made in 1955 Murphy was already an established star, mainly in westerns. To Hell and Back was a big production: it was made in Cinemascope and Technicolor and the action sequences must have been impressive in 1955. With its charismatic star, a genuine war hero, To Hell and Back was a massive hit for Universal, its box office only surpassed by Jaws twenty years later. To Hell and Back remains a popular film with a rottentomatoes.com audience score of 82% (the critics score is 100% but from very few reviews).

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Transfer Quality

Video

     To Hell and Back is presented in the original 2.35:1 aspect ratio, in 1080p using the MPEG-4 AVC code.

     Made in 1955 in Cinemascope and Technicolor much of the film has a wonderful depth of field resulting in almost 3D figures in the landscape and strong, deep colours although other sections are a bit soft. There are some flickers of varying brightness in some scenes and marks and scratches on the WW2 archival footage of battleships, transports, aircraft and landing craft, but the film proper is fine and clean, with just some slight motion blur against picket fences or foliage. The night sequences were shot day for night so have excellent, clear detail. Skin tones are natural.

     No subtitles are provided.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     The audio is English DTS-HD MA 2.0 surround encoded.

     Dialogue is clear throughout. The effects, such as tank engines, artillery rounds, grenades, bazooka fire, explosions, rifle and machine gun fire, are loud and effective. Music and occasional impacts occur in the rears and some boom was directed to the subwoofer. The music is uncredited and is rather generic, stock music.

     There are a couple of slight lip synchronisation issues.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

Reversible Cover

     The cover can be reversed, showing the title without the ratings logo.

     There is no menu; the programme starts when the Blu-ray loads.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

     DVDs of To Hell and Back are pretty scarce and this is the only Blu-ray available.

Summary

     To Hell and Back was made over 60 years ago so understandably the battle sequences are fairly sanitised by modern standards. However, made in Cinemascope and Technicolor, the action sequences would have been impressive in 1955 and with its charismatic star Audie Murphy, a genuine war hero, playing himself, To Hell and Back remains a classic war film that is worth revisiting on Blu-ray. The video and audio are fine for a film of this vintage, there are no extras.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Ray Nyland (the bio is the thing)
Thursday, September 26, 2019
Review Equipment
DVDSony BDP-S580, using HDMI output
DisplayLG 55inch HD LCD. This display device has not been calibrated. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p.
Audio DecoderNAD T737. This audio decoder/receiver has not been calibrated.
AmplificationNAD T737
SpeakersStudio Acoustics 5.1

Other Reviews NONE