Hell to Eternity

Hell to Eternity (1960)

The Marines' Battle Cry of the South Pacific!

Based on the story about Guy Gabaldon, a Los Angeles Hispanic boy raised in the 1930s by a Japanese-American foster family. After Pearl Harbor, his foster family is interned at the Manzanar camp for Japanese Americans, while he enlists in the Marines, where his ability to speak Japanese becomes a vital asset. During the Battle of Saipan, he convinces 800 Japanese to surrender after their general commits suicide.

Date of release
1960-08-01
TMDB
6.3 / 10 (21)
Runtime
2h 11m
Genres
Drama, War
Director
Phil Karlson

Casting

Interesting facts

Hell to Eternity is a 1960 American World War II film starring Jeffrey Hunter, David Janssen, Vic Damone and Patricia Owens, directed by Phil Karlson. This film biopic is about the experiences of Marine hero Pfc. Guy Gabaldon, a Los Angeles Hispanic boy raised in the 1930s by a Japanese American foster family, and his heroic actions during the Battle of Saipan. Sessue Hayakawa played the role of Japanese commander at Saipan.

Production

Gramercy Pictures bought the screen rights of Gabaldon's story in June 1957. Previously, it had been featured on the TV show This Is Your Life.

The bulk of fiancing for the film – $650,000 – came from American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres, a theatre chain. They noted the success of To Hell and Back (1955) with Audie Murphy, and sought out another true life World War Two story that might make a good film. They came across the story of Guy Gabaldon and decided to invest in it. Jeffrey Hunter had just been in the popular war film In Love and War.

Phil Karlson called it "one of the most important pictures that I may ever make because it was the true story of the Nisei, what happened in this country. But Allied Artists, even at that point, looked at it as a great war story that you could make for a price. They had no idea what I was doing."

The film was shot on location in Okinawa.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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