Jump Into Hell
| Jump into Hell | |
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Original film poster
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| Directed by | David Butler |
| Produced by | David Weisbart |
| Written by | Irving Wallace |
| Starring |
Jack Sernas Kurt Kasznar Arnold Moss |
| Music by | David Buttolph |
| Cinematography | J. Peverell Marley |
| Edited by | Irene Morra |
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Production
company |
Warner Brothers Pictures, Inc.
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| Distributed by | Warner Brothers Pictures, Inc. |
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Release date
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Running time
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93 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Jump into Hell is a 1955 war film directed by David Butler. The film stars Jacques Sernas (billed as "Jack Sernas") and Kurt Kasznar. The first contemporary Hollywood war film of the war in Indochina, the story is a fictionalized account of the Battle of Dien Bien Phu.
In 1954, Dien Bien Phu, a French-controlled fortress in Indochina, is under siege by Viet Minh rebels. Commanding officer De Castries (Arnold Moss) has been betrayed by a formerly loyal Chinese officer (Philip Ahn) and is desperate for new leadership for his men. He radios Hanoi for help.
At French headquarters in Paris, Captain Guy Bertrand (Jacques Sernas), a prisoner of war for three years during World War II, volunteers to join the fray. He wants to see action as well as rendezvous with a former love, Gisele (Patricia Blair), who is unhappily married to Bonet, a major at the fort. Also on their way are Captain Callaux (Kurt Kasznar), goaded into it by a nagging, social-climbing wife; Lieutenant Heldman (Peter van Eyck), a former Nazi fighter who is now a legionnaire; and the naive but eager Lieutenant Maupin (Norman Dupont).
The men parachute in and, with great difficulty, get to the fort. A monsoon rages and the fight drags on for weeks. Heldman heroically staves off enemy soldiers armed with explosives and kills them with a grenade before meeting his own fate. Bonet attempts to stop the Viet Minh attack by approaching enemy lines under a white flag, but is gunned down. Bertrand tries in vain to rescue him.
Low on ammunition, water and other supplies, Callaux, despondent after having learned in a letter that his wife has been unfaithful, volunteers to get water from a nearby river. He changes his will, leaving her nothing, and has it sent off via helicopter. He returns to the fort with the water, but dies just as he delivers it.
The situation is hopeless. The enemy is tunneling in and, now without ammo, the Frenchmen must resort to hand-to-hand combat. In his final act, de Castries orders Bertrand and Maupin to try to escape. De Castries takes a last look around, realizing that the end for him is near.
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Wikipedia