''Five Gates to Hell'' is a 1959 American adventure film written and directed by James Clavell in CinemaScope. The film stars Dolores Michaels, Patricia Owens,

Neville Brand Lawrence Neville Brand (August 13, 1920 – April 16, 1992) was an American soldier and actor. He was known for playing villainous or antagonistic character roles in Westerns, crime dramas, and ''films noir'', and was nominated for a BAFTA Awa ...

Ken Scott Ken Scott (born 20 April 1947) is a British record producer and engineer known for being one of the five main engineers for the Beatles, as well as engineering Elton John, Pink Floyd, Procol Harum, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Duran Duran, the Jeff B ...

, Nobu McCarthy and

Benson Fong Benson Fong ( Chinese: ; October 10, 1916 – August 1, 1987) was an American character actor. Born in Sacramento, California, Fong was from a mercantile family of Chinese extraction. After graduating from high school in Sacramento, he studied ...

. It was Clavell's directorial debut. The film was released on September 23, 1959, by

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

Plot

Several nurses including Athena Roberts, Joy Brooks and a Catholic nun, Sister Marie, and a surgeon, Dr. Richter, are taken captive in

Indochina Mainland Southeast Asia, also known as the Indochinese Peninsula or Indochina, is the continental portion of Southeast Asia. It lies east of the Indian subcontinent and south of Mainland China and is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the west an ...

by a band of marauders led by Chen Pamok. He leads them to a jungle fortress guarded by five gates and heavily armed men and demands Dr. Richter treat the gravely ill Gung Sa, a warlord. Chen becomes infatuated with Athena and, after she resists, she is raped. Richter diagnoses a malignant brain tumor and is told that, if his surgery does not save Gung Sa, he and the other prisoners will be put to death. When the patient survives, Richter is told the women will be kept as sex slaves but, as a reward, the doctor may choose one woman as his own. Although he is in love with Athena, he chooses Sister Marie, to spare her virtue. Athena uses her wiles to lead a revolt, mowing down guerrillas with machine guns and leading an escape into the wild, Richter sacrificing his own life to help save theirs. Chen's men pursue and many from both sides are killed. Sister Marie, appreciating how protective the others have been of her, ultimately picks up a weapon to fight back. Athena is able to shoot Chen, who dies pledging his love for her.

Cast

* Dolores Michaels as Athena Roberts * Patricia Owens as Joy Brooks *

as Chen Pamok *

as Dr. John Richter * Nobu McCarthy as Chioko *

as Gung Sa *

Nancy Kulp Nancy Jane Kulp (August 28, 1921 – February 3, 1991) was an American character actress and comedienne best known as Miss Jane Hathaway on the CBS television series ''The Beverly Hillbillies''. Early life Kulp was born to Robert Tilden and M ...

as Susette * John Morley as Dr. Jacques Minelle * Gerry Gaylor as Greta *

Shirley Knight Shirley Knight Hopkins (July 5, 1936 – April 22, 2020) was an American actress who appeared in more than 50 feature films, television films, television series, and Broadway and Off-Broadway productions in her career, playing leading and charac ...

as Sister Marie * Greta Chi as Yoette * Linda Wong as Ming Cha * Irish McCalla as Sister Magdalena

Production

The film was made by the production company of Robert L. Lippert who produced low budget films for distribution by

. Lippert wanted to make a modern-day war film set in Asia. Clavell had just written the very successful '' The Fly'' (1958) for Lippert was hired to write the script. Lippert was struggling to find a director and Harry Spalding, who was Lippert's story editor, suggested Clavell. Lippert had enjoyed success with first time directors before, such as

Sam Fuller Samuel Michael Fuller (August 12, 1912 – October 30, 1997) was an American film director, screenwriter, novelist, journalist, and World War II veteran known for directing low-budget genre movies with controversial themes, often made ou ...

, and agreed. Spalding said Clavell's first draft "was practically perfect". Irish McCalla was originally announced for the female lead. The role went to Gerri Gaylor."FILMLAND EVENTS"
(1959, Jun 26). ''Los Angeles Times''

Reception

Robert L. Lippert described the film as a "sleeper".

References

External links

* *
''Five Gates to Hell''
at

TCMDB Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of A ...

* * {{James Clavell 1959 films 20th Century Fox films American adventure films 1959 adventure films Films directed by James Clavell Films with screenplays by James Clavell First Indochina War films Films scored by Paul Dunlap 1950s English-language films 1950s American films