Objective Burma

This is a fantastic movie that I could not turn away from. The DVD quality is great. I am very happy with this purchase.

This film has always been one of my favorite WWII flicks and I finally got around to ordering a copy from Amazon, which I just received. I'm definitely glad I did!

The photography is excellent and the DVD video and sound quality, while not top shelf, were better than I expected. The film is supposed to be 1.33:1 ratio, which I had assumed would leave black bars on both sides of the frame, as if played on a standard width television. To my delight the picture completely filled my 16:9 ratio Panasonic's screen and the people and surroundings didn't seem unduly squat or compressed.

The score for this film is also very good and creates the perfect balance of tension and bravado and blends perfectly with the action on screen. And boy oh boy is there action. Furious and frantic from start to finish, however the pace does slow often enough to flesh out the characters and allow you to care about them. There were several times I paused the film to take stock of the remaining men, to confirm who had died and who fought on. These men were well enough defined to easily have been my father or uncle, or somebody else I knew growing up. They were brave and heroic, yet frightened and confused, typical All-American John Doe's each and everyone.

The one element that might not be to the liking of every film buff is the jingoistic attitude and blatant racial slurs filling the movie. The enemy combatants are constantly referred to as being "Japs" and "Monkeys" and to quote one of the American soldiers after he has witnessed an atrocity committed against one of his own, "We ought to wipe em out. Wipe em off the face of the earth!" Certainly not the attitude an enlightened individual should strive for, but understandable in light of world events unfolding when this movie was made. And let's not forget that racial prejudice and intolerance was rampant on both sides of the ocean back then; fortunately much of the world has learned to curb such appetites in the years following the dark and desperate days of our Father's and Grandfather's youth.

Objective Burma is one of the better films of its genre and perhaps Errol Flynn's finest performance.

Highly Recommended.

To be honest, I was not expecting much from this 1945 film.

While I like Errol Flynn, I thought this might be a mismatch of his typical persona with the theme of this film. He's just too slick for a war drama I thought. This is for more of a John Wayne type it seemed.

But Flynn pulls it off with aplomb, and his usual suavity couples nicely with his role as mission leader Captain Nelson. But it is clear near the film of the film even his confident character is having self doubts.

Despite lack of any special effects and being entirely in black and white, the film is able to maintain a remarkable ongoing level of suspense. Like the solidiers you just don't know who or what is going to pop out of the jungle or go bump in the night.

The characters under his command group are also surprisingly well developed and the viewer develops empathy for their suffering. You will almost feel the jungle heat and humidity.

It's not a slam-dunk that his mission will be victorious despite a great start and you will be kept guessing up to the end.

Highly recommended for World War II or Errol Flynn fans.

Great movie in the Flynn tradition. Entertaining with plenty of action as well as a true feel for the era. If you like Movies with Errol Flynn as the leading figure you will like this one as well. I must admit that seeing it on this DVD brought me back to memories of the first time veiwed on a old black and white TV many years ago. The movie on this DVD is very well preserved and not washed out or full of artfacts like some movies of this era are.

Raoul Walsh's tight, pounding "Burma" is one of the best WWII films out there, and reportedly one of Flynn's personal favorites. It should be, as the swashbuckling star turns in a gritty, first-rate performance as the intrepid Nelson, with worthy support from Hull as the aging correspondent who's clearly in over his head. Long but consistently engrossing, this unsung classic merits a wider audience.