The people who are responsible for the fact that this great film is rated 5,4 should be put in a loony bin, for they are definitely not in their right minds!
This is such an underrated film with a compelling story line and a superb cast. I'm glad to own it on DVD. This deserves at least a 7-, if not 8-something rating. All the people who submitted comments on the film gave it really high ratings, so I'm quite puzzled as to why this film is rated so low.
Master, it's a GREAT film, a masterpiece and I concur, it's both unappreciated and underrated. Whether it was due to poor marketing/release, I don't know. Personally I would give it at least an 8 but this film really stands alone. I can't compare it to any other, it being so unique. The fact that it's a true story is incredible not to mention shocking. I discovered it one day years ago on the shelf of a video rental shop. Being a fan of Peter Sellers, I was intrigued to see him in a drama based on an actual WW2 incident. It's unforgettable, I wish I owned a copy, in fact I'll probably purchase one. Do you have any insight/information of the actual event, the true story and what occurred? I've had no luck finding anything except for the reference to the book, but it's in French. I'd really like to read the facts about this terrible ordeal.
shareI'm glad you enjoyed it. I found it slow and tedious; the sound quality was horrible; I could barely understand them half the time; and I don't understand why they didn't have at least another half an hour of watching them get drunk since they writer/director seemed to think it was endlessly fascinating.
The production values were terrible; it wasn't well-written or directed; and Peter Sellers so underplayed his role that he phoned it in. Most of the "acting" was done with the makeup. My wild guess is that's why it's rated so low. I'm going to get off this board and give it a 2.
When it was really in danger of getting interesting -- I mean, how do you survive with your brains intact in the dark for that long? -- is when they had to quit filming. To have shown them being rescued would have been fantastic -- but not worth recording to that genius writer/director, apparently.
As Buster Keaton once said about filmic storytelling, "You can't promise something for seven reels and not deliver." Obviously you all didn't feel this way, but I expected a rescue scene -- not just words on a screen saying it did happen but, sorry, you won't get to see it 'cuz we're just going to be running the credits now, if you don't mind. They'd probably bored themselves to death by that time.
What a waste of Peter Sellers' talent!
You will probably disagree. That's the nature of discussions -- they have two sides.
It's a strange, unfocused film, with muddy cinematographer and poor audio that fails to pick up the various characters' tendency to mutter or snarl their dialogue. The actors are inspired in their own way, and although they are some of the very best around each one seems devoted to some intense inner journey I don't feel we're privy to. And under the 70s rock star style lank hair and beards it's difficult, with obvious exceptions, to identify one from another (if someone told me anyone of three characters had been played by the uncredited Alfred Lynch I would have probably believed them). Refreshing as it is to see Peter Sellers in straight roles, he gives a thinking actor's performance that is right at home in earnest European films, his is not only character whose philosophical insights are buried amongst the implosive mutterings.
Clearly the Blockhouse was made with large measures of suffering, sacrifice and dogged devotion and it wants to say something about enforced situations where men have to confront and consider their natures, individually and collectively. Bur after what felt like an inordinately length of time straining my ears to catch the dialogue and squinting to see who was doing what in a dimly lit chamber I eventually abandoned this potentially interesting story through sheer physical fatigue.
But then again it could have been because I'm a claustrophobic.