I can't give good reasons, maybe that Five Came Back was darker, but I liked Five Came Back better. I would rate it an excellent movie, while Back From Eternity was simply a movie with a plot. There were more pregnant pauses, more thought provoking non-communication in FCB than in the later movie.
"We're going to need a bigger boat..."
I liked the latter better. I think the overall actors were just slightly better.I don't know, I like both, but I'm just partial to Back From Eternity.
shareI liked Five Came Back much more.
I'm not sure why - I enjoyed the change in the old woman very much in the first one; that wasn't really done in the second one. I enjoyed the older versions of gangster and the little boy more in the first as well.
I like Robert Ryan and Rod Steiger, but neither did much for me in this one.
I'm sure it's at least partly due to the fact that I saw Five Came Back first. the title gave us a lot of fun when we watched it the first time, as we tried to figure out which five would return. (no one got 'em all right)
As I said before, the answer is not as easy as it appears. Plotwise, both stories are highly improbable and so we have to stick to comparing the two movies for what they are - MOVIES meant to be enjoyed. FCB is undoubtedly better acted and directed, but I will always maintain that the script is way too rushed and everything happens too quickly to the point of artificiality. BFE has a better script with a proper build-up but is let down by wooden acting and slightly blander handling by the same director.
On the whole, I'll give FCB the edge, but certainly not by the margin some critics and reviewers make out. I suspect that Farrow and the others might have been coping with budgetary constraints in the 30s and so had to make FCB shorter than they perhaps would have liked. That explains why Farrow went onto direct a remake only 17 years later but it did not turn out as well as he had hoped.
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The natives cared more in Five Came Back.
shareI liked Five Came Back better. Although, Anita Ekberg really did have alot of freedom with her role, than wasn't allowed in the 1930's for Lucy. Anita did stand out in this movie.
shareI have to say....Five Came Back. (Which I first watched while half asleep some time ago, and it woke me right up, believe it.) One of my favorites movies... Back From Eternity has the 50's stamp all over it, and the 50's were not my favorite era.
shareSince no one else will do the honors for Back From Eternity, it falls to me. The reason is simple enough. Rod Steiger. That's all, although the older couple is very compelling, too.
They are both great, though.
Five Came Back because it had the one and only Capelis XC-12 in it rather than the one of millions DC-3 airliner.
KS
thats as good a reason as any....
"To know who rules you, find who you are not allowed to criticize." Voltaire
It's on TCM right now and it is a general critical consensus that Five Came Back is better, more suspenseful. I like the original more but I saw it first, which may have something to do with it. Mia's dad directed both versions, this one with a bigger budget. I enjoyed Lucille Ball, a very good dramatic actress when allowed to be, but Robert Ryan easily outshone Chester Morris. I also like the old couple slightly more in the original, but very much liked both Calleia and Steiger. Plus, it's hard to top John Carradine. I may be wrong but it seems the original got off the ground sooner, pardon the pun.
American voters will destroy the economy by 2016. Whoopsy-daisy!