HELL IN THE PACIFIC is a 1968 Japanese/American co-production. The producers, Rueben Bercovitch and Henry Saperstein’s main claim to fame is that they partnered with Japan’s Toho studios to produce monsters pictures such as MONSTER ZERO, FRANKENSTEIN CONQUERS THE WORLD, and it’s pseudo-sequel, WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS. They hired John Boorman to direct their first mainstream effort, HELL IN THE PACIFIC. On the Japanese side of the production, they recruited acclaimed Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune, who loved the idea so much that he had his own film company, Mifune Productions, handle production duties. Along with American action star, Lee Marvin, the small cast (two people) and crew headed to the scenic Palau islands in Micronesia for location shooting. Due to a disagreement between the producers and Cinerama Releasing Corp, two endings were shot for the film; one for the Japanese version and an alternate, bleaker version for American audiences. Thanfully, Anchor Bay’s widescreen DVD contains both endings.

HELL IN THE PACIFIC opens on a small tropical island in the Pacific ocean during World War II. An American pilot (Marvin) and a resourceful Japanese military officer (Mifune) clash for possession of the island’s cache of fresh spring water. The Japanese officer uses all his military skills to keep the American from encroaching upon his turf. Their conflict is sometimes more than just mere survival, but rather an extension of the war being waged in the Pacific ocean. The resourceful Japanese officer tries smoking the pilot out of the brush. The pilot fights back by tampering with his opponent’s fish trap. The angry Japanese officer responds by constructing a barricade of sharpened bamboo. The pilot climbs a tree overhead and throws shotgun shells into a fire. When the shells go off, the Japanese officer crouches to protect himself--and gets pissed on by the American. Later, the Japanese survivor gets his revenge by capturing the American and strapping him up. After taking much abuse, the pilot escapes. He takes the Japanese military man by surprise and straps him up like the Japanese soldier did to him. Eventually, though, the American frees his hostage in realization of their plight. If they ever hope to escape from this island, they must learn to work together.

Under Boorman’s creative direction, the audience becomes the third castaway joining Mifune and Marvin in remote isolation. Like these two characters, the audience is mentally forced to revert to basic survival mode along with these actors. Of course, these are no ordinary castaways--one is a Japanese military officer, and the other is an American pilot; and the time frame is during World War II. Boorman reduces the tense situation to man’s most primal basics. He does not take sides with either country, in fact he strips away all evidence of politics or nationalism. Instead, Boorman focuses on moments of psychological and physical conflict. He does not bother with logic or traditional cinematic trimmings. Boorman also strips the identity of these men--they have no names for the audience to identitfy with. He includes sequences where the characters fantasize about killing their rivals. A struggle over fresh water leads each man to capture and torture the other--this is SURVIVOR to the Nth level. When they first cross paths, they want to kill each other mercilessly. After several confrontations they realize that they are each other’s only hope of getting off the island. As the movie progresses they learn to cooperate and build a raft to escape the island. Fate delivers their raft to a new island paradise--or is it?

HELL IN THE PACIFIC is an example of pure, unadulterated cinema. Toshiro Mifune barely speaks, and when he does finally utter some dialog, it is untranslated Japanese. This leaves the audience as confused as Marvin’s character is supposed to be. Because of the lack of dialog and traditional narrative, HELL IN THE PACIFIC relies heavily on cinematographer Conrad Hall to tell the story. Hall’s photography relates the characters to the landscape, with some truly stunning images. Conrad Hall makes great use of the widescreen lens and the scenic surroundings are appropriately lush and gritty. The cinematography is never bright; it’s like Boorman purposely filmed the action on cloudy days only.

Despite only having two humans in the entire film, there is a strong amount of star power in HELL IN THE PACIFIC. Toshiro Mifune and Lee Marvin handle their characterizations with fundamental gestures and movements. It is gripping entertainment watching these two men play off each other, fighting their way to survival through their hatred of one another. Boorman handles the conflicts so well and in a non-cliched manner. When the two men finally sit down at the conclusion and get drunk together, that the audience is happy to see them celebrate after they have spent the first hour trying to eliminate each other. There is even a few humorous moments, such as when Marvin is startled by Mifune inside an abandoned Japanese base, and he proclaims, "I thought you were a Jap!". In another scene, as they endeavor to gather logs to build a raft, Mifune grabs the biggest log on the beach (even though logs are seen everywhere), and Marvin says, "that’s my log!"

The one major letdown is the conclusion to HELL IN THE PACIFIC. Thankfully, Anchor Bay’s DVD lets you view Boorman’s intended, (and superior) ending. This ending is ambiguous, but still does not insult the patience of the audience. The ending that played in American cinemas is very abrupt and gimmicky. The original ending is a slap in the face to the audience who hyas watched these two men develop a friendship over the lengthy running time of the film. Obviously, the producers are trying to be heavy handed here stating that war has no winners. But audiences of the time know this and deserve better.

-  Aaron Miller

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