Back from Eternity (1956)

Truly Dreadful Film

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

The premise has inbuilt suspense—a passenger plane crash lands in a head-hunter infested jungle, leading to who will survive and how. This version, however, fails to generate the suspense of the 1939 original. For one, the 100-minute screenplay here is not as tight as the 75-minute Five Came Back (1939). The extra 25-minutes flattens out in too many places. Plus, the many relationship threads do not coordinate well. At the same time, the jungle photography is muddy in the extreme, probably to disguise the sets. Then there's a significant lapse in the narrative when the boy wanders off into the jungle and we're shown a headhunter observing him. Yet the boy returns to camp unharmed, without explanation. That's not to say this version is without merits. The lightning storm, for one, including Adele Mara's quick exit without a ladder, for another. It's also thought provoking to see how conditions affect character. Specifically, the outcasts from larger society (Ekberg & Steiger) redeem themselves in crisis, while establishment types (Clark & Barry) diminish without their usual supporting conditions. There seems to be a societal allegory here of some significance, (check my review of Five Came Back for an extended discussion).Anyway, thanks reviewer bkoganbing for the background info. Too bad this remake doesn't improve on the original. But then the original didn't have to compete with TV by offering a longer run time, two girls mud wrestling, and a top-heavy non-actress.

John Farrow had converted to catholicism and it shows in his later works,particularly in this remake of "five came back" and even more in the follow-up "the unholy wife" (check the title) .He obviously believes in Providence , a Christian one,not that pagan one he once used in his overlooked "the night has a thousand eyes" .One of the characters plays the part of God Allmighty,deciding who's to live and who's to die.And this character is the less morally irreproachable of the lot,at least on the surface.The Thief on the Calvary."Back from Eternity" is built on the pattern which will be used ad nausea in the disaster movies of the seventies and even today: first we meet the characters (Robert Ryan is a long time coming),then the disaster(here a plane wreck) ,then the attitude of the heroes :as far Anita Ekberg is concerned,it's predictable.Farrow's main quality had always been his sense of mystery:here he excels in NOT showing the menace,headhunters Indians ,just in making us feel it.

This tale was previously filmed in 1939 ,by the same director ,John Farrow and in that version it was a lean,mean and exciting B-movie.Here it lasts 20 minutes or so longer and this additional running time consists mainly of padding ,which serves to dilute the impact of the movie.It means that the minor classic of an earlier era has become a solid and enjoyable movie from the era in which it was made . The story revolves around a plane crash in the remote jungles of South America. The pilot declares he is able to repair the plane and it will fly some of them back to safety ,the problem being there is only room for 5 people on board the repaired vessel ,which means some will have to stay behind and take their chances with the inhospitable terrain and the hostile natives who are unhappy about this incursion into their domain . The survivors are a disparate group-there is the hard drinking pilot (Robert Ryan) ,a Vegas performer (Anita Ekberg),a criminal en route to execution (Rod Steiger) and the sadistic cop accompanying him (Fred Clark),a socialite and her milquetoast fiancé (Phyllis Kirk and Gene Barry),the co-pilot (Keith Andes),a distinguished elderly academic and his wife of many years (Cameron Proudhomme and Beulah Bondi).The party is rounded out by a 4 year old boy(Jon Provost) The movie sees the party disintegrate under the strain as tensions erupt and violence breaks out before the final decision is a made The movie is well acted -,especially by Steiger ,Barry and Ryan ,has a crisp Franz Waxman score and delivers solid entertainment all round .It would ,in my view have benefited from being a tad leaner and more economical but there is still a good time to be had from watching it

I am fortunate enough to have seen both this movie and the original version (FIVE CAME BACK)--both of which were directed by John Farrow. So it was in light of this that I felt pretty disappointed in this film--even though it stars Robert Ryan (one of my favorite actors). Most of it is because there just didn't seem to be a reason for the remake--in no way did it really seem like an improvement over the old material. Instead, it was actually worse and by the mid-1950s, it hardly seemed very original (coming just after John Wayne's THE HIGH AND THE MIGHTY). I think that a lot of the problem is that the ensemble cast just didn't seem all that good and there was no gimmick to hook the viewer (other than Anita Ekberg's breasts--which feature quite prominently in this film).