Helden - Himmel und Hölle (1964) watch online HD

i saw this 37 years ago on the bottom of a double (possibly a triple) bill in a theater on Delancy st. in New York City. it wasn't the one i went to see but since i see every film released i stayed for it. it was a very pleasant surprise. i have always been fascinated by caves and have toured through most U.S. caverns so the title and basic setting of the film was immediately of interest. the only star i remember was John Saxon who i liked so that was another plus. beyond all that however, the film was unusally gripping and interesting. the plot details have escaped me over the years but it had to do with a small group of people (men & women) forced to be in a cave together even though they don't particularly like each other. these conflicts are brought to the surface in the claustrophobic space to result in various acts of agression and violence. there were no monsters in the cave as might be expected with such films but the drama between the characters i found to be surprisingly involving. i even saw it a second time.

SETTE CONTRO LA MORTE (The Cavern) 1964

The film is set during World War Two in the mountains of Italy. A group of people are cut off from the outside world when a cave in traps them inside a massive cavern. The cavern was being used by the Axis forces as a supply depot. It is well stocked with food and fuel for the electric generator.

Trapped inside are American soldiers, John Saxon and Larry Hagman, German officer, Hans Von Borsody, British officer, Brian Aherne, Canadian pilot Peter Marshall, Italian soldier, Nino Castelnuovo and the pretty Rosanna Schiaffino.

The group agrees to leave the war outside and work together to survive. After the group does a count of the supplies etc, they decide to try and dig out. Needless to say the presence of Miss Schiaffino causes more than a little tension between several of the men.

After a hundred plus days in the cave, and several failed attempts to find a way out, the food and fuel begins to run out. Several of the group lose their minds and end up dead. Another drowns trying to swim out of the underground river and so on. It is only a chance explosion set off by mistake that frees the survivors.

Not a world class film by any means. But, considering the low budget involved, it fills the time well enough. Well worth a look in my books. This was the last film of noted b film director, Edgar G. Ulmer. Ulmer was the director of the low budget film noir gem, DETOUR.

Director Edgar G. Ulmer is mostly famous for one of the best film noirs ever made, Detour (1945)and therefore I was curious to see what else he has made.

This adventure drama about a group of people that gets trapped inside a fallout shelter/cave, is a exciting albeit slightly flawed film.

The group consists of a retired general(Brian Aherne), now working as war correspondent, a GI joe(John Saxon) who has been stripped of his rank,an Italian soldier( Nino Castelnuovo), army publicist(Larry Hagman) escorting the general, Italian civilian(Rosanna Schiaffino), Canadian POW(Peter Marshall) and a German soldier(Hans von Borsody) Despite different background, gender, these people must learn to co-operate in order to escape. There are some great scenes here when looking at this group and dynamics between them.

This film is like classical excerise in a philosophical discussion about ethics, human values and the darwinian model for survival.

Asking questions like:

Who is best leader?

Do everyone deserve a fair share of the small amount of food?

These and other vital questions are what film deals with and in way the film reflects society in a smaller scale.

The acting is very good and is surprise for modern viewers to see actors like Larry Hagman, now mostly famous for his role as JR Ewing in the soap opera Dallas, here showing a wider range then usual.

Same thing can be said about John Saxon who has(and still have) a long career, playing all kinds of characters. Here he does a good job playing a street smart soldier with disciplinary difficulties.

Rosanna Schiaffino is a new face for me but she is very believable as the only female stuck in cave surround by men. She very attractive something that causes tensions within the group.

Who should she choose?

Brian Aherne is just excellent, he plays his character with great subtlety, someone whos old ways doesn't really fit in with rest of the group. Time seems to have run away from him, and he can't keep up.

This film seems to be a lowbudget feature but Edgar G. Ulmer knew what he was doing, using the outmost of his small resources. The biggest flaw is in the script, where some character archs don't develop properly, the film is too long and should been shorter.

So future viewers that liked Lifeboat (1944), The Edge (1997), Sands of the Kalahari (1965)should get a kick out of this one.

Contains spoiler The cavern was known to authorities and stocked with provisions, including batteries. The members of the party included a German officer, an American GI, an Italian woman and several others. The German becomes part of their group and finds a way out but is shot by Americans as he gets out of the cave and he falls back into the cave and dies without being able to reveal the exit. He is not found after his death. That was the only thing I found odd about the movie in that his body would begin to smell and they should have been able to find him.

The major premise of the movie is that people have to get along with each other regardless of their "sides." Peter Marshall dies in an attempt to escape via the stream that runs through the cave. It was an absorbing story which I found fascinating. It was kinda offbeat as well.

The final film of legendary B movie director Edgar G. Ulmer, "The Cavern" isn't a movie that succeeds overall, but it does have some interesting aspects here and there that make you all the same stick around to watch it to the very end. It was obvious made on a painfully low budget, judging by some aspects like the somewhat blurry cinematography and other shabby production values. A bigger problem with the movie come from the script. The movie doesn't take very long to introduce the characters and get them stuck in the cave - less than ten minutes, as it turns out. Some more pre-disaster character development would have helped. And when it comes to the direction, there is a curious lack of tension. The characters take their predicament way too calmly until near the very end.

Despite those (and other problems), the movie manages to generate some interest. You'll be curious to see if the characters manage to escape their situation. It's also interesting to see John Saxon and Larry Hagman before they became famous. The best audience for this movie, however, is for low budget filmmakers. They will learn a lot from this film as to how to stretch a dollar and what to do (and not to do) when they make their own low budget movies. The movie does not work for the most part, but it is peculiar enough to not be an especially painful viewing experience.

Maybe this isn't the first WTF movie, but it certainly is in the running, and certainly the epitome of a WTF (What the Flock!) movie.

This movie, on the surface, is about people of different nationalities and sides during a war, being trapped in a cavern together. The social plot is about the "class" warfare, as the "officer" class becomes the majority, and the one "enlisted" man becomes the leader.

This should have been a good movie. The very nature of it destined it to "cult classic" status, but the writing is perhaps the worst you could get for what could have been great.

We want to cheer for the lone enlisted man, John Saxon, whose everyday looks made him a natural for the "Everyman", but his character looks to be written by someone who has never been in the "enlisted" class.

We have one German surviving to reach the cavern, who becomes the solitary enemy figure, but not a nemesis. In fact, he is one of the more rational of the characters. The nemesis figure comes from a cliché of a rich jerk, played by Hagman. However, Saxon's character is so poorly written, that we have a hard time pulling for him against the cliché jerk.

This is a great example of a great idea gone sour by poor writing. Not surprising to those of us who have sat in bard meetings where decisions over writing are made. It's always best to let one writer submit and at most one other to edit, before the director makes his final "rewrite", which most directors do. Today, you even have prima donna actors doing "rewrites", which is why you have so much garbage on film.

Those of us from the "enlisted" class want to cheer for this movie, and maybe that is why I don't rate it "1" or "2", but it is laughably bad. A real WTF movie, made worse by the fact that it did the worst job with a great idea.

First of all I'm the biggest John Saxon fan in the whole world. I can't think of a time when this guy showed up and didn't do his job-wasn'' convincing in a role? Never!

Big budget!! US Givt war footage, which these guys could never afford, mixed in with like a cheap shot of bricks falling from a truck. (The cars they use are so old and decrepit, it's funny)

But I'm pretty sure the whole purpose of this movie is for someone to see as much nakediditty as Rosanna Schiaffino / censors will allow.

I walked away from the movie for a couple minutes, you know multitasking, this is the first movie I can think of that sounds like it's dubbed...and it's not.

Really wretched. Really wretched.