Hammer Film - Ultimate Collection (Mill Creek)

[Jajuka89]

Originally Posted by profholt82

Between this set and Universal's Hammer Horror set, I've been binging a lot of these movies recently. And as much as I enjoy Hammer's classic gothic horror output, the one that really caught me off guard was actually a war film found on one of the last discs of this set. That disc features two WWII movies directed by Val Guest.

The first was The Camp on Blood Island which was a decent enough POW camp escape flick in the vein of The Great Escape, and while fairly well done and entertaining enough, it was nothing remarkable. It is worth noting though, that the enemy was depicted as sadistic in a manner similar to other genre movies such as First Blood Part 2 and the Missing In Action movies of the 80s. And I mention this because almost the opposite could be said in describing the depiction of the enemy in the second movie of the disc Yesterday's Enemy.

Yesterday's Enemy was utterly captivating. For a movie released in 1959, it had not the themes and sentiments of a war movie of it's time, but of later, more non-conforming Vietnam movies such as Apocalypse Now and Platoon. It was dark and uncompromising in a way that I was not prepared for, the antithesis of its contemporary war dramas. The protagonist captain is an anti-hero who makes decisions that are morally ambiguous and somewhat shocking, and while many of his men are morally conflicted by his orders, there is this unspoken sense conveyed that they know that they'd be dead already if it weren't for this man.

It explores themes and ideas of committing atrocities/warcrimes in the name of the cause/greater good. And different perspectives of the events are shown from the point of view of both our British protagonists' and that of the Japanese antagonists. There are feelings of empathy and apathy all around. The story plays out in a rather realistic fashion that is ultimately depressing and unlike the vast majority of movies in the genre. If you haven't seen or heard of Yesterday's Enemy, I highly recommend it. This movie really feels as though it was 20 years ahead of its time, and is yet practically unknown outside of genre enthusiast circles.

I watched "Yesterday's Enemy" this morning due to your post. I have to say I was not disappointment. I was also very impressed by Philip Ahn's acting.
Thanks for the recommendation.