The hopelessness of war reflected from a little known back side of it.

clanciai

This is a very sad story but as deep as the ocean, charting the fates of the unknown limbo victims of war trying to make the best of a bleak life in the shadows just waiting for the dark final curtain to come down.

Everything is excellent in this film. The three main characters Trevor Howard, William Holden and Sophia Loren make this film monumental in its almost shockingly documentary human drama of a struggle for life against hopeless odds, while the carrot making them go on is the illusion of hope after all.

William and Trevor are both captains of tugs in the war saving "lame ducks", ships hit by submarines but not sinking, so they have to be tugged back to harbour, usually under hard fire from the u-boats. There are mines also, guns that don't work in battle, bad weather and what not.

They are old friends, have been to Panama together, and when William comes to help the tugging from America (before Pearl Harbour) he stays at Trevor's place, but there's also Sophia Loren as a widow from previous casualty captains. She was at her very best in unglamorous roles, and this is one of them. Her acting is delicately understatement-like all the way, she knows too much about the conditions of war and the horrible cruelty of its merciless laws of destiny, but still there is in her very cool playacting a deep warmth like burning coals that never fade. There is a touch of eternal continuity in this extremely fascinating character.

If you know anything about war, this film will touch you profoundly to the core. The black-and-white photography enhances its very human drama. There can never be enough said about rare films like this. There's only one thing to say: it's too good for words. At the same time, it couldn't be more hopelessly devastatingly noir.

score 10/10

clanciai 20 September 2017

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw3810350/