War, 10-Movie Collection: The Eagle and The Hawk / The Last Outpost / Bengal Brigad / Jet Pilot / Ulzana's Raid / To Hell and Back / In Enemy Country / Raid on Rommel / Battle Hymn / Wake Island(Packaging may vary)

Great choice

Worth buying

We bought this for the movie "To Hell and Back." Price for the collection was good. Picture quality and sound quality are surprisingly good as well. Some of the movies are better than others entertainment wise. Overall, happy with the purchase.

These awesome movies.

good

DISK LOADED QUICKLY AND ALL MOVIES WERE GOOD!!! LIKED THIS ITEM, VERY MUCH!!!

To be fair, this is advertised as a "10-Movie War Collection". And it is that. These are not "classics", by any means, at least most of them. But they aren't advertised as such. They're advertised as a collection. So let's evaluate them as a collection. The first is a real downer, much like Errol Flynn's Dawn Patrol. Don't watch this first thing in the morning. Or before you go to bed. Frederick March is outstanding, and Cary Grant's not bad either. But there is no humor in it whatsoever, unlike Wake Island, whose ending is that much more powerful because of the humor that had permeated the movie beforehand, primarily in the characters of William Bendix and Robert Preston. Even The Last Outpost makes for good watching, largely due to Claude Rains. But then we have Rock Hudson as an English (?) officer battling Indians in India. We then have a biography of Audie Murphy, To Hell and Back, starring Audie Murphy, and while I admire Audie Murphy for his bravery, acting was, let's say, a challenge, and the movie is pretty much a yawn. Then we're treated to Rock Hudson again as a pilot in Korea. Not one of Rock's best. After that comes a romantic comedy, for god's sake, perhaps inspired by Ninotchka, but one of the silliest movies John Wayne ever became involved in. Then the third disc begins with a movie I'd never even heard of: In Enemy Country. I actually googled this because it looked and sounded so much like a TV movie, the kind that Universal did in the 60s. But, no, it was released in theatres. Another yawn. This is followed by Raid on Rommel, which, while not Patton, sure beats the hell out of In Enemy Country. But at least it's directed by Henry Hathaway. Last but hardly least is Ulzana's Raid, perhaps the best of the bunch. For a war collection, there's not a whole lot of war here. And lots of color. This is my own prejudice, but war movies ought to be in black and white. The war was black and white, metaphorically. And while I loved Patton, I suspect it would have been better in black and white. Can you imagine The Longest Day in color? *shudder* So you've got four, maybe five, out of the ten that you may watch twice or more. Even so, three bucks a movie is a good deal, and the quality of the prints is excellent. Not Blu-Ray, but excellent.

Great. Collection

bought on behalf of family member. loves war movies. great price. quality product

Películas de varios temas y épocas

Another of Universal's excellent low-priced, well balanced collections of lesser known movies within a genre. The Eagle & The Hawk - Gung-ho US pilots go off to Europe in WWI and quickly find it less glamorous than anticipated. Strong dramatically but badly patched studio and actual aerial photography. B&W The Last Outpost - Afghan & Sudan WWI settings. Tepid romance sandwiched between fine action sequences. B&W Wake Island - WWII. Fairly routine account of US Marines' defence of the island. Lots of familiar faces. B&W Bengal Brigade - Rock Hudson singlehandedly thwarts the 19th Century Sepoy Mutiny in India. Provided you go in expecting fun rather than history it's moderately exciting. To Hell & Back - Movie adaptation of Audie Murphy's story of his Texas farm boy to most decorated US soldier in WWII. Battle Hymn - Dull factual WWII story of a man's conflict between his religious beliefs and his duty as a soldier. It neither explores his torment nor makes his service very exciting. Jet Pilot - Basically a romantic comedy. Ridiculous plot has US pilot (Wayne) placed in charge of Russian pilot (Leigh) accused of being a spy. It's made palatable and even fun by its stars. In Enemy Country - Excellent WWII spy story. Well acted, believable characters in fast paced, action filled movie. Raid On Rommel - Title describes the plot but the movie is incredibly slow much of the time. Weakest of the bunch. Ulzana's Raid - A fine western with Burt Lancaster as a grizzled scout helping the cavalry try to stop an Apache raiding party. Along with 'In Enemy Country' worth the price of the DVD. Except where noted movies are in colour; widescreen or full screen as appropriate. No extras or subtitles.

ras

This is a great range of films with as you would expect some being of better quality than others though I should say that this is due to the films release dates covering a range of dates. The earliest being The Eagle and the Hawk from 1933. This is an early Cary Grant film and is based on a WW1 fighter/bomber squadron in France. The Last Outpost is an excellent film starring Grant again and Claude Rains who met during the WW1 in the Ottoman Empire and work together to save a tribe only to find that they are rivals in love. Wake Island is an early WWII morale booster and when this is taken into account it is a good film for what it is and reasonably historically accurate. Bengal Brigade is a pre-Indian mutiny film starring Rock Hudson. To Hell and back is essentially the Audie Murphy story, I have yet to watch battle Hymn or Jet Pilot but the latter stats John Wayne and the former Rock Hudson and so I would guess that both are likely to be of good quality and I know that Jet Pilot is said to be one Wayne's better and unusual roles. I was surprised by the complexity of the plot for In Enemy County which stars a very young Tom Bell and other actors whom I had not heard of before. That said it is in many ways for me the best of the collection even though the plot at time is highly improbable. Raid on Rommel is an adequate film in that the plot is thin but it is saved by the presence of Richard Burton. Ulzuna's Raid is an odd film in that it is part buddy movie in that the young cavalry officer comes of age as he works alongside Burt Lancaster to track down and capture or kill the Ulzuna of the title. It does not pull its punches and is quite violent at times and realistic in terms of people fearing being tortured by the rebel Indians. All in all a great collection of films, at a good price that justifies the need to have an all region dvd player to watch them on.