4 Movie Marathon: Classic War Collection (Wake Island / To Hell and Back / Battle Hymn / Gray Lady Down)

Great movies n good price

This four pack contains four classic military movies (although only three actually take place during wartime/ combat). The films come on two DVDs, with a selection screen on each to chose which film to watch. Apart from that, the films lack any main menu or special features. However, the transfer of each film is clear and excellent, which deserves more praise than any special features.The films are arranged by year, which also coincidentally arranges them by the time period that the films' combat/ action took place. Wake Island is first, and is the only black and white film in the set. It's about the actual defense of Wake Island by the Americans, and packs quite a bit of story and battle into its 90 minute runtime, with naval bombardments, fierce dogfights, and the like. Surprisingly, it was apparently filmed while the actual battle was taking place! It captures the general spirit of the defenders, although lacking historical accuracy; it was made as more of a stirring propaganda piece than anything, but is still an enjoyable watch to this day (much more so than some 1943 propaganda movies, such as Marine Raiders).Next up is Hell and Back, which is the story of Audie Murphy, who is played by... Audie Murphy! Those of you familiar with Cracked dot com should already know his story as the most decorated solider in the American army during WWII. It tells his amazing story and details the hardships he faced in life, both back at home and on the battlefield. The film culminates with a recreation of his amazing single-man defense that earned him his Medal of Honor. This one has a widescreen transfer, for those interested (all the films seem to have their correct aspect ratios; all the technical information is listed on the back of the DVD case, which is much more valuable than blurbs about the film that most DVD cases have).The second disc in the set has Battle Hymn, another biographical piece, this time taking place during the Korean War. A WWII pilot accidentally hits an orphanage with one of his bombs, and ends up making up for it by rescuing orphans in Korea. A solid movie, with quite a few aerial combat scenes. It's not often that you find a Korean War movie, either, and this one doesn't disappoint. Interestingly, both this film and To Hell and Back begin with an introduction from a real US Military General, the only two times I have encountered that in a movie, so far.Lastly, the set concludes with Grey Lady Down, a film about an American submarine damaged on its way back into port, requiring rescue. It's much more of a suspense thriller than anything, more along the lines of Poseidon Adventure. As other reviewers have noted, it's a little out-of-place on this set, as it's not really about war or combat, although it does take place during the Cold War. Still, it's a very good movie, and the kind of people who like war movies will surely enjoy it as much as the others in this set.All and all, it's a good purchase, especially since you get four good movies for the price of one! I bought it mostly for To Hell and Back, but I found the other movies to be very good, too!

-----------------------------------------------------"Four-Movie Marathon: Classic War Collection"(Universal Studios, 2011)-----------------------------------------------------A two-disc, four-movie collection of top-quality Grade-B war movies, where war is heck and the guys are all swell. This is the kind of stuff they used to show on afternoon TV back when I was a kid, full of corny dialog and American ideals. The colelction includes:"Wake Island" (1942)A real-deal wartime propaganda film, released in 1942, just months after Pearl Harbor and the defeat of a USMC garrison on Wake Island, just west of Hawaii. In December, 1941 the Marines held the atoll for two weeks against a ferocious Japanese assault, a story that is told here in classic idealized Hollywood style: the Americans are regular guys and big lugs who love pretty dames and puppy dogs and can gun down enemy soldiers by the truckload. The movie ends abruptly, on a sad note, with all the heroes being overrun by Japanese soldiers and killed within minutes. (In real life, most of the Marines were captured as POWs...) Hollywood does its best to put a positive spin on things, playing the Marines up as martyrs and exhorting the nation to keep fighting. Lots of aerial dogfight scenes, blown-up model ships and plenty of explosions on the ground. An oldie and a goodie."To Hell and Back" (1955)The Audie Murphy story, told with WWII hero Murphy himself starring in the lead. This Technicolor film is a little clunky; an attempt to revive American's enthusiasm for military readiness in the wake of the demoralizing, unpopular Korean War. Murphy makes the transition from a nervous, green farmboy to a fearless fighting machine."Battle Hymn" (1957)Rock Hudson stars in this colorful, sentimental exercise in Korean War revisionism, in which a retired pilot re-enlists to fight the Reds. The war was very unpopular at the time, and only later became shown as the same kind of "old school" heroic war as WWII."Gray Lady Down" (1978)David Carradine, Charleton Heston and Stacy Keach star in this late-date submarine film - seems a little out of place with the other three, older-vintage films, but still kinda fun.

All good titles and worth while seeing again !

Lest we forget.

Good collection for a fan of this category

All above punches good value for the products.

Very entertaining and informative regarding the Audie Murphy movie about his early years in the war. Worth the money to see.