''Jump into Hell'' is a 1955

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about navy, naval, air force, air, or army, land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle s ...

directed by David Butler. The film stars

Jacques Sernas Jokūbas Bernardas Šernas (30 July 1925 – 3 July 2015), commonly known as Jacques Sernas and sometimes credited as Jack Sernas, was a Lithuanian-born French actor with an international film career. Biography He was born in Kaunas, Lithuania, ...

and

Kurt Kasznar Kurt Kasznar (born Kurt Servischer; August 13, 1913 – August 6, 1979) was an Austrian-American stage, film and television actor who played roles on Broadway, appearing in the original Broadway productions of '' Waiting for Godot'', ''The ...

. As the first Hollywood film based on the war in

French Indochina French Indochina (previously spelled as French Indo-China),; vi, Đông Dương thuộc Pháp, , lit. 'East Ocean under French Control; km, ឥណ្ឌូចិនបារាំង, ; th, อินโดจีนฝรั่งเศส, ...

, the story is a fictionalized account of the Battle of Dien Bien Phu.

Plot

In 1954, Dien Bien Phu, a French-controlled fortress in Indochina, is under siege by

Viet Minh The Việt Minh (; abbreviated from , chữ Nôm and Hán tự: ; french: Ligue pour l'indépendance du Viêt Nam, ) was a national independence coalition formed at Pác Bó by Hồ Chí Minh on 19 May 1941. Also known as the Việt Minh Fro ...

rebels. Commanding officer De Castries discovers a Red Chinese officer among his Viet Minh prisoners. The general is desperate for new leadership for his men. He radios the French high command at

Hanoi Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi is ...

for help to send volunteer officers. At French headquarters in Paris, Captain Guy Bertrand, a former prisoner of war for three years during World War II, volunteers to join. He wants to see action as well as rendezvous with his former love Gisele, who is unhappily married to Bonet, a major at the fort. Also on their way are Captain Callaux, who has been goaded into participating by his nagging, social-climbing wife, Lieutenant Heldman, a former

Afrika Korps The Afrika Korps or German Africa Corps (, }; DAK) was the German expeditionary force in Africa during the North African Campaign of World War II. First sent as a holding force to shore up the Italian defense of its African colonies, the ...

soldier who is now a

legionnaire The French Foreign Legion (french: Légion étrangère) is a corps of the French Army which comprises several specialties: infantry, Armoured Cavalry Arm, cavalry, Military engineering, engineers, Airborne forces, airborne troops. It was created ...

and the naïve but eager Lieutenant Maupin. The men parachute down to the area and, with great difficulty, reach the fort. A

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal osci ...

rages and the fight drags on for weeks. Heldman heroically staves off enemy soldiers armed with explosives and kills them with a grenade before dying. 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, who is despondent after having learned in a letter that his wife has been unfaithful, volunteers to fetch water from a nearby river. He changes his will, leaving his wife nothing, and dispatches it 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 ammunition, 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.

Cast

as Captain Guy Bertrand (credited as Jack Sernas) *

as Captain Jean Calluox *

Arnold Moss Arnold Moss (January 28, 1910 – December 15, 1989) was an American character actor. His son was songwriter Jeff Moss. Early years Born in Flatbush, Moss was a third-generation Brooklyn native. He attended Brooklyn's Boys High School. ...

as General Christian De Castries * Peter van Eyck as Lieutenant Heinrich Heldman * Marcel Dalio as Sergeant Taite * Norman Dupont as Lieutenant André Maupin *

Lawrence Dobkin Lawrence Dobkin (September 16, 1919 – October 28, 2002) was an American television director, character actor and screenwriter whose career spanned seven decades. Dobkin was a prolific performer during the Golden Age of Radio. He narrate ...

as Major Maurice Bonet * Patricia Blair as Gisele Bonet (credited as Pat Blake) * Lisa Janti as Jacqueline (credited as Irene Montwill) * Alberto Morin as Major Riviere *

Maurice Marsac Maurice Marsac (23 March 1915 – 6 May 2007) was a French actor who had a long career, with over 150 appearances in American films and television. He was also a nationally ranked croquet player. Born in La Croix-Valmer, France, he was a mem ...

as Captain Leroy * Louis Mercier as Captain Darbley * Peter Bourne as Lieutenant Robert * Roger Valmy as Major Lamoreaux * Leon Lontok as Lieutenant Pham * George Chan as Thai tribesman * Jacques Scott as Lieutenant De Jean (credited as Jack Scott) * Harold Dyrenforth as Major Flandrin *

Philip Ahn Philip Ahn (born Pillip Ahn (), March 29, 1905 – February 28, 1978) was an American actor and activist of Korean descent. With over 180 film and television credits between 1935 and 1978, he was one of the most recognizable and prolific Asi ...

as Chinese lieutenant (uncredited) *

Gregory Gaye Gregory Gaye (born Grigoriy Grigoryevich Ge; October 10, 1900 – August 23, 1993) was a Russian-American character actor. The son of an actor, he was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. He was the uncle of actor George Gaynes. He was a cade ...

as Lieutenant Colonel Cartier (uncredited) *

Victor Sen Yung Sen Yung, later known professionally as Victor Sen Young (born Sen Yew Cheung; October 18, 1914 – c. November 9, 1980); one source lists his given name as Victor Cheung Young with the birth year 1915)) was an American character actor, best kn ...

as Lieutenant John Smith Thatch (uncredited)

Production

Principal photography for ''Jump into Hell'' began on September 23, 1954 and lasted until late October. Battle scenes were shot at the Janes Ranch in

Conejo, California Conejo (Spanish for "Rabbit") is an unincorporated community in Fresno County, California. It is located west-southwest of Selma, at an elevation of 262 feet (80 m). A post office operated at Conejo from 1898 to 1920. The San Francisco and S ...

. Additional battle scenes combined Warner-Pathé newsreel footage of the fall of Dien Bien Phu with live-action scenes.Miller, Frank
"Articles:'Jump into Hell' (1955)."
''Turner Classic Movies''. Retrieved: December 20, 2015.

Reception

In a contemporary review for the Los Angeles '' Mirror-News'', critic Margaret Harford wrote: "At the fort, action picks up considerably, but the script remains the toughest battle of all. It's full of trite touches, labored humor and hardly skims the surface of what this picture might have been." Reviewer Frank Miller of the

Turner Classic Movies 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 At ...

website wrote that ''Jump into Hell'' is typical of the period in which films exhibited Cold War jingoism: "The spoken prologue compares the Battle of Dienbienphu to fall of the Alamo and the British evacuation at Dunkirk. An early confrontation between French general Arnold Moss and captured Chinese officer Philip Ahn clearly identifies the enemy not as the Viet Minh, but international mmunism. Little is said of the fact that the French defeat, with massive casualties before and after the surrender, helped inspire the nation to withdraw from its former colony. For all its jingoism, the film has its charms, particularly in the performances of an international cast."

Leonard Maltin Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives. He is perhaps best known for his book of fi ...

called ''Jump into Hell'' a " atly paced actioner of paratroopers involved in Indochina war."Maltin, Leonard
"Leonard Matin Movie Review:'Jump into Hell' (1955)."
''Turner Classic Movies''. Retrieved: December 20, 2015.

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Evans, Alun. ''Brassey's Guide to War Films''. Dulles, Virginia: Potomac Books, 2000. . * Maltin, Leonard. ''Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide 2009''. New York: New American Library, 2009 (originally published as ''TV Movies'', then ''Leonard Maltin’s Movie & Video Guide''), First edition 1969, published annually since 1988. .

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jump Into Hell 1955 films 1955 war films American war films American black-and-white films Films directed by David Butler Films scored by David Buttolph First Indochina War films Siege films Warner Bros. films 1950s English-language films 1950s American films