U.S. Marines battle to take control of a Japanese held island in the Pacific…Directed by Lewis Milestone, Halls of Montezuma is unabashed in its flag waving paean to the U.S. Marines. With a strong ensemble cast to act out the play, Milestone inter-cuts real war footage with skilled recreations of the guts and glory mission undertaken by the men.Film is very keen to let us know what sort of men are fighting this war, keeping the characterisations intimate, it's a roll call of the brave, the stupid, the scared and the insane. Flashbacks help fill in the gaps of the men's psychological make ups, and the futility of war message is deftly handled by the astute director.Colour photography is glossy and impressive, even if it strips away some of the grittiness the story needs to thrive on, and the musical score is kept to a minimum and suitably deals in plays on army anthems. All told it's a thoroughly engrossing and potent war movie and highly recommended to fans of such fare. 7.5/10

Halls of Montezuma takes a look at the lives and phscye of the individual soldiers trying to locate a missile battery on a Japanese held island in the south pacific in WWII. The technicolor footage is lush and the special effect are great for a movie of this era.It shows how the men become to depend on each other and their leader to help save the next landing of troops. While the acting is not as up to par as the rest of the film there are a few surprises in store. Jack Palance gives a good performance as a prize fighter looking out for a kid from the wrong side of the tracks. The shock is the rough and tumble Jack of later years comes off here as effeminate, soft-spoken and possibly gay (not that there is anything wrong with that), with his love for pretty boy. A real shock for those used to his later films.This film takes the tradition set forth in "All Quite On The Western Front" and updates it for WWII. If you are a fan of war films you must see this one.

A very good war drama from director Lewis Milestone. The bonding relationships formed in combat is one part of the movie. The main plot finds US Marines searching for the source of Japanese rocket fire. Very spirited and Gung Ho. Ensemble cast provides the usual stereotypical men at war; fine performances from Richard Widmark, Reginald Gardiner, Richard Boone and Karl Malden. Lesser roles for Jack Webb, Neville Brand, Martin Milner and Robert Wagner.If you liked BATTLE CRY or just war movies in general; you will be pleased with this film.

My husband and I were particularly impressed by the camera technique used to transition from foxhole (or ship deck) to a scene in an earlier part of each soldier's life. We were so taken by Milestone's excellent direction and the film's incredible cinematography that the first time we saw it we just had to rewind and watch it over from the very beginning.Our only regret was that we did not watch the wide screen version.