There are ninety-one English-language movies made and released before 2000 in my Korean War Filmography, all of which dramatize some aspect of the Korean War. Some are fictional representations of the war; others are historically authentic. Some take place solely on the faraway, bloody battleground of Korea; others occur right here in the States, as young men of draft age face a frightening future. Some are intensely dramatic, a few horrific and some are surprisingly funny. Many are dull; a few are nerve-wracking. All are movies about a period in our history with which most people are relatively unfamiliar.
Films about the Forgotten War reflect that war’s anonymity. It is undeniable that the majority of Korean War films are of minor status. Most people would be hard-pressed to name five Korean War films; to name ten would be most impressive. Take a moment now, before you view the contents list of this book, and try to name ten Korean War movies. Write them down if need be. Then peruse the contents list below. Chances are that a few of your choices will not be there, because they are World War II films. Many of the “combat” Korean War films, especially those made during the war (from 1951-1953), are virtually indistinguishable from those made about World War II, with only the location and enemy being changed.
Nevertheless, study of these films as a genre can provide a valuable view of the time and the pervasive social attitudes of that time, especially when compared to World War II and Vietnam War dramas. Just as this particular war provokes differing responses in people than the previous and later international conflicts, so do the films about the war.
To qualify for inclusion and commentary in this book, each film had to fulfill at least one of two criteria (and preferably both): at least some of the film’s story and action must be set in Korea during the war, or the war must be important enough to the film’s story that character action is affected by the war. Thus, Love is a Many-Splendored Thing qualifies because William Holden’s war correspondent character visits U.N. troops and sees enemy action firsthand (though only briefly near the movie’s end), I Want You because of the war’s pervasive effect on the rural American life of its characters, and Back at the Front and Geisha Girl because the war profoundly affects the film’s action six hundred miles away in Japan. Others, such as The Rack, Japanese War Bride, Top Secret Affair and Chattahoochee refer to specific (fictional) incidents which occurred during the war which are crucial to their storylines. Thus, they are included as well.
Taken as a whole, these films form a general impression of the war from the American frame of reference. About half of them feature extensive battle action, while others depict how civilian lives have been altered by the war, or explore how it is viewed back in America, some six thousand miles from the battlefront. They comprise a time capsule of the era’s customs and attitudes, of a important period in history that, like the war itself, is gradually being forgotten. The main purpose of my book is to faithfully chronicle those movies and help people remember.
The movies themselves are arranged alphabetically, as follows, with a few of their stars listed to help identify the titles:
Air Strike (1955) Richard Denning, Gloria Jean, Don Haggerty
All the Young Men (1960) Alan Ladd, Sidney Poitier, Ingemar Johansson
An Annapolis Story (1955) John Derek, Diana Lynn, Kevin McCarthy
Back at the Front (1952) Tom Ewell, Harvey Lembeck, Mari Blanchard
The Bamboo Prison (1954) Robert Francis, Dianne Foster, Brian Keith
Battle Circus (1953) Humphrey Bogart, June Allyson, Robert Keith
Battle Flame (1959) Scott Brady, Elaine Edwards, Robert Blake
Battle Hymn (1957) Rock Hudson, Anna Kashfi, Dan Duryea
Battle Taxi (1955) Sterling Hayden, Arthur Franz, Marshall Thompson
Battle Zone (1952) John Hodiak, Linda Christian, Stephen McNally
Bombers B-52 (1957) Natalie Wood, Karl Malden, Marsha Hunt
The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1955) William Holden, Grace Kelly, Fredric March
Cease Fire (1953) Captain Roy Thompson, Jr., Corporal Henry Gozkowski
Chattahoochee (1990) Gary Oldman, Dennis Hopper, Frances McDormand
Collision Course: Truman vs. MacArthur (1976, TVM) Henry Fonda, E. G. Marshall
Combat Squad (1953) John Ireland, Lon McCallister, Hal March
Cry for Happy (1961) Glenn Ford, Donald O’Connor, Miiko Taka
Dragonfly Squadron (1954) John Hodiak, Barbara Britton, Bruce Bennett
The Eternal Sea (1955) Sterling Hayden, Alexis Smith, Dean Jagger
The Fearmakers (1958) Dana Andrews, Dick Foran, Marilee Earle
Field of Honor (1986) Everett McGill, Ron Brandsteder, Bart Romer
Fixed Bayonets! (1951) Richard Basehart, Gene Evans, Michael O’Shea
Flight Nurse (1953) Joan Leslie, Forrest Tucker, Arthur Franz
For the Boys (1991) Bette Midler, James Caan, George Segal
Geisha Girl (1952) Steve Forrest, Martha Hyer, Archer MacDonald
Glory Alley (1952) Ralph Meeker, Leslie Caron, Kurt Kasznar
The Glory Brigade (1953) Victor Mature, Alexander Scourby, Lee Marvin
The Great Impostor (1960) Tony Curtis, Edmond O’Brien, Arthur O’Connell
Hell’s Horizon (1955) John Ireland, Marla English, Bill Williams, Chet Baker
A Hill in Korea (1956) George Baker, Stanley Baker, Harry Andrews
Hold Back the Night (1956) John Payne, Mona Freeman, Peter Graves
The Hook (1963) Kirk Douglas, Robert Walker, Jr., Nick Adams
The Hunters (1958) Robert Mitchum, Robert Wagner, Richard Egan
I Want You (1951) Dana Andrews, Dorothy McGuire, Farley Granger
Inchon (1982) Sir Laurence Olivier, Jacqueline Bisset, Ben Gazzara
Iron Angel (1964) Jim Davis, Don “Red” Barry, Margo Woode
Japanese War Bride (1952) Shirley Yamaguchi, Don Taylor
Jet Attack (1958) John Agar, Audrey Totter, Gregory Walcott
Korea Patrol (1951) Richard Emory, Benson Fong, Al Eben
Love is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955) William Holden, Jennifer Jones
MacArthur (1977) Gregory Peck, Ed Flanders, Dan O’Herlihy
The Manchurian Candidate (1962) Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey
Man-Trap (1961) Jeffrey Hunter, David Janssen, Stella Stevens
Marine Battleground (1966) Jock Mahoney, Pat Li
Marines, Let’s Go (1961) Tom Tryon, David Hedison, Tom Reese
MASH (1970) Donald Sutherland, Elliott Gould, Tom Skerritt
Mask of the Dragon (1951) Richard Travis, Sheila Ryan, Sid Melton
The McConnell Story (1955) Alan Ladd, June Allyson, James Whitmore
Men in War (1957) Robert Ryan, Aldo Ray, Robert Keith
Men of the Fighting Lady (1954) Van Johnson, Walter Pidgeon
Mission Over Korea (1953) John Hodiak, John Derek, Audrey Totter
Mr. Walkie Talkie (1952) William Tracy, Joe Sawyer, Robert Shayne
My Son John (1952) Helen Hayes, Van Heflin, Dean Jagger, Robert Walker
No Man’s Land (1964) Russ Harvey, Kim Lee, Lee Morgan
Not with My Wife, You Don’t! (1966) Tony Curtis, Virna Lisi, George C. Scott
The Nun and the Sergeant (1962) Robert Webber, Anna Sten
One Minute to Zero (1952) Robert Mitchum, Ann Blyth, William Talman
Operation Dames (1959) Eve Meyer, Chuck Henderson, Don Devlin
Pork Chop Hill (1959) Gregory Peck, Harry Guardino, Rip Torn
Prisoner of War (1954) Ronald Reagan, Steve Forrest, Dewey Martin
The Rack (1956) Paul Newman, Wendell Corey, Walter Pidgeon
The Reluctant Heroes (1971, TVM) Ken Berry, Jim Hutton, Trini Lopez
Retreat, Hell! (1952) Frank Lovejoy, Richard Carlson, Russ Tamblyn
Return from the Sea (1954) Jan Sterling, Neville Brand
Sabre Jet (1953) Robert Stack, Coleen Gray, Richard Arlen
Sayonara (1957) Marlon Brando, Patricia Owens, Red Buttons
Sergeant Ryker (1968) Lee Marvin, Bradford Dillman, Peter Graves
Sky Commando (1953) Dan Duryea, Frances Gifford, Mike Connors
Sniper’s Ridge (1961) Jack Ging, Stanley Clements, John Goddard
Starlift (1951) Dick Wesson, Janice Rule, Ron Hagerthy, Doris Day
The Steel Helmet (1951) Gene Evans, Robert Hutton, Steve Brodie
Strange Intruder (1956) Edmund Purdom, Ida Lupino, Ann Harding
A Stranger in My Arms (1959) June Allyson, Jeff Chandler, Sandra Dee
Submarine Command (1951) William Holden, Nancy Olson, William Bendix
Take the High Ground! (1953) Richard Widmark, Karl Malden, Elaine Stewart
Tank Battalion (1958) Don Kelly, Leslie Parrish, Edward G. Robinson, Jr.
Target Zero (1955) Richard Conte, Peggie Castle, Charles Bronson
Three Wishes (1995) Patrick Swayze, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio
Time Limit (1957) Richard Widmark, Richard Basehart, Dolores Michaels
Tokyo File 212 (1951) Florence Marly, Lee Frederick, Katsuhiko Haida
Top Secret Affair (1957) Susan Hayward, Kirk Douglas, Paul Stewart
Torpedo Alley (1952) Mark Stevens, Dorothy Malone, Charles Winninger
Toward the Unknown (1956) William Holden, Lloyd Nolan, Virginia Leith
Truman (1995, Cable Movie) Gary Sinise, Diana Scarwid, Richard Dysart
Twenty Plus Two (1961) David Janssen, Jeanne Crain, Dina Merrill
Underwater Warrior (1958) Dan Dailey, Claire Kelly, James Gregory
The Walking Major (1970) Dale Robertson, Yujiro Ishihara, Frank Sinatra, Jr.
War Hunt (1962) John Saxon, Robert Redford, Charles Aidman
War is Hell (1964) Tony Russel, Baynes Barron, Judy Dan, Burt Topper
A Yank in Korea (1951) Lon McCallister, Bill Phillips, Brett King
The Young and the Brave (1963) Rory Calhoun, William Bendix, Richard Jaeckel
Those are the titles discussed in detail in my book. Unfortunately, two of them, Marine Battleground and War is Hell, I have yet to actually locate and watch (they were summarized, but not thoroughly discussed). Any help finding them would be much appreciated. A third, No Man’s Land, was recently located for me and its entry will be completed when the book is updated.
Since 2003, when this book was published, several other titles have surfaced that should have been included, but of which I was unaware. They are, alphabetically:
The Amazing Colossal Man (1957) Glenn Langan, Cathy Downs, James Seay
Family Album (1994, TVM) Jaclyn Smith, Michael Ontkean, Joe Flanigan
The Forgotten (2003) Randy Ryan, Betty Ouyang, Malcolm Barrett
Here Come the Jets (1959) Steve Brodie, Lyn Thomas, Mark Dana, John Doucette
The Hot Angel (1958) Jackie Loughery, Ed Kemmer, Alan Dinehart III
Marry Me Again (1953) Robert Cummings, Marie Wilson, Mary Costa
The McCulloughs (1975) Forrest Tucker, Julie Adams, Max Baer, Jr.
Though None Go with Me (2006, TVM) Cheryl Ladd, David Norona, Brad Rowe.
A Thousand Men and a Baby (1997, TVM) Richard Thomas, Gerald McRaney
Three Stripes in the Sun (1955) Aldo Ray, Phil Carey, Dick York, Chuck Connors
The Young Philadelphians (1959) Paul Newman, Barbara Rush, Alexis Smith
There are probably other titles as well which would qualify for my book, and I am still looking for them. Among the possibilities that I have yet to locate and watch are King of Love (1987, TVM) and Down the Road (2006). Any help finding these titles would also be greatly appreciated.
Another group of films mentions Korea in context or has to do with Korean War veterans; these are what I term “incidental” Korean War titles, and I have made a separate listing of them in my book as well. That list will also be posted, but I have not done so as yet.
I hope this is of interest to film fans, and sparks some interest in this neglected genre of filmmaking, as well as my book about it. Feel free to let me know what you think. 16 May 2013.