Popular reviews

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  Review by Andy Summers 🤠 ★★★ 4

  Films produced during WWII frequently exhibited a unique atmosphere, seemingly shaped by limited budgets, political pressures, and the availability of Hollywood stars that weren't serving their country. I've spoken before about finding it so strange seeing historical events recreated by Hollywood literally months after the real documented incident. Clearly filmmakers and studios contributed to the war effort by offering audiences a positive distraction from the grim reports from Europe's battlefields, particularly after the United States entered the war, with cinema serving as a common form of escapism. It was however also a way of cashing in on the publicity that newsreels of epic battles or turning points in the war could bring. Everyone remembers Michael Curtiz's Casablanca, set and filmed…

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  Review by threepenny ★★★½ 2

  Opening scene is an unforgettable single shot following William Bendix as he staggers through the rubble of a Chinese town under fire, explosions all around him, people evacuating, buildings on fire (pretty sure I could see someone lighting some curtains up just before he enters the frame), finally stumbling across a baby crying atop his dead mother, he picks up the child and comforts him. Unforgettable. Later, the Chinese chuck a grenade into a troop transport truck which explodes, bodies flying everywhere. One of the best effects I've ever seen. Visceral. Alan Ladd is an oil trader who does business with the Japanese and doesn't care about the war, until he picks up Loretta Young, a teacher in China, and…

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  Review by comrade_yui ★★★★

  fantastic production values all over this (particularly with a steller one-take tracking shot at the beginning) with a no-nonsense moralistic script giving americans a sympathetic lens into the suffering of the average chinese citizens in the second sino-japanese war. i appreciated the earnestness, humor and consistent pulp thrills all throughout its very economical runtime, and the whole affair is cloaked in deep textures and shadows that play into the heightened reality of the adventure. it's grim enough to feel grounded but never excessively dour in the way that this kind of story would be portrayed nowadays. alan ladd acquits himself nicely as an a cutthroat anti-hero who has a redemptive change of heart, with loretta young and william bendix's characters providing the empathic heart & soul of the script. totally classic hollywood entertainment that still impresses.

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  Review by Neill Shaughness ★★★½

  I found Bendix' character painfully relatable.

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  Review by Ry ★★★★ 1

  Holy shit why does this go so hard? Fun explosions, tight, pulpy dialogue, it randomly swings between brutally realistic and peak 40s sentimentality, both of which are done so well, very little feels forced here.

  Just a great little package all around.

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  Review by sakana1 ★★★ 2

  This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

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  Review by theomcx ★★★★★ 2

  j'ai pas vu le film je suis en Chine actuellement et tous les réseaux SAUF letterboxd sont bloqués ici mdrr, comment vous allez?🙏🏻

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  Review by Allan Arkush ★★

  The opening extended action scene has some outstanding explosives staged in depth so it truly feels like you are in the middle of a war zone Hollywood style. The use of extras and placement of the ordinance is what makes John Farrow such a good Director. There is a problem that the Director could not overcome. A mediocre script and a cast that has a little chemistry and flat characterizations. William Bendix gives the strongest performance.

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  Review by matnol9 ★★★★

  I was in the mood for a William Bendix movie and this war action/drama film turned out to be a gem...right from the impressive opening scene with Bendix finding himself in the mist of Japanese air bombardment attack on a small town in Mei Ki China..and also finding a just orphaned baby boy...There was stellar technical explosive effects along with the film editing...Solid cast performances including Bendix...and Alan Ladd who plays one of those types of character where you kinda have to warm up to...he was awesome in a cool and composed way...his appearance was like that of Indiana Jones with a bit of Bogart and Eastwood...again the action scenes were solid, especially that game changing scene.

  And a solid performance by Loretta…

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  Review by Emily ★★★½

  Ladd and Bendix were great in this! A very dark film!

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  Review by TheThirdPill ★★★

  My 9th John Farrow
  Very impressive first scene.

  The rest was typical mediocre propaganda stuff. William Bendix was great though.

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  Review by hayley ★★★★ 3

  Sometimes picking a film randomly can lead to great things and I was super impressed with my choice. China is a wartime thriller with a tight script, great characters, fantastic action and even some darker tones that I didn’t expect from a 1940s film. Loretta Young & Alan Ladd had beautiful chemistry and I was sad we only got to really see it towards the end. But the way they laid together and talked whilst Young played with Ladd’s hair was quite intimate and romantic. I loved seeing such a sweet William Bendix it’s probably the softest and purest I’ve seen him in any role this far.