Back from Eternity (1955)

[Mr. Arkadin]

Coming up this week.

Although this is a remake of 1939's Five Came Back, I actually prefer it to the original because of the players: Robert Ryan, Rod Stieger, & Anita Ekberg. Any other fans of this one?

[cmvgor]

Mr. A;
Agreed. I saw BFT about age 14. Was especially impressed with
Steiger. The character got control of the pistol and then made a case for
himself as the one who should decide the fate of all the others. He made
decisions the audience could agree with. He made the man a sympathetic
character.

[mongoII]

Although I like the look of the 1939 film better, I tend to gear toward the remake. It's ironic that both films were directed by John Farrow.

Here you have Robert Ryan instead of Chester Morris, Rod Steiger instead of Joseph Calleia, and Gene Barry instead of Patric Knowles. Ryan and Steiger especially, in the main roles, display more screen presence and acting talent in this film than their predecessors were able to conjure up.
The underrated Keith Andes (as the co-pilot, instead of forgettable Kent Taylor) gives a hint of the star he could have become, and the equally underrated Phyllis Kirk is good in her role.
Anita Ekberg, frequently dismissed as an actress, may not have been as talented as Lucille Ball (who played the part in the original), but at least proved that she could indeed act, and is certainly more convincing in this type of role than Lucy was.
Of course the elderly couple in both films are equally effective.
The movie is well-directed and one that is underrated and I suggest worth watching.

[sugarpuss]

I saw this version yesterday for the first time, although I've seen the original many times before. I've been on a Robert Ryan kick as of late, so that was a big plus as well.

And I have to say that I enjoyed it more mainly because of the longer opening sequences. In the original, I always felt the beginning was rushed. Like, people arrive at the airport, they take off and two seconds later, the plane crashes. Maybe it's just me, but in order for me to fully enjoy a disaster movie, I like to know the backstory of each character. It makes you root for them more in the end.

And oI've never really cared for Chester Morris in the original. I never was too sure what Lucy saw in him, but hey, that's the script for you. With Robert Ryan, I got more of a "hero" type vibe from him that made the whole thing more believable. Plus, I just like him more. I don't think I've seen any movie where Robert Ryan has disappointed me.

I enjoyed both Joseph Calleia in the original and Rod Steiger in the remake (although he's an actor I've never cared much for) and I really can't compare them. I thought they were both excellent in their roles.

But that ending--the elderly couple and their decision. It gets me everytime and I wind up crying like a little girl. It's just so heartwrenching to watch.

It was great of TCM to show both of these back-to-back last night. Quite an enjoyable way to spend the evening.

[traceyk]

I watched the two movies back to back also. I'd seen "Five Came Back" a long time ago, but never the remake. One thing I found interesting was contrasting and comparing the way the characters reacted to each other in the two versions. For example, the folks on the plane are harsher to Lucille Ball's woman with a past (hereafter known as "wwp") in the beginning than Anita Eckberg's wwp. It's like they can just tell what sort of woman she is by her clothes or something. Or maybe the fact that she's heading alone for South America? She doesn't do anything to anybody except offer to help with the kid and mildly hit on the pilot and they treat her like trash. Then Eckberg's wwp, who is much more obviously trashy--she hits on the young rich guy and the pilot and tells him she's going to work at a clip joint and that she's ok with it--and nobody seems to think twice about it. (Well except the rich guy's fiancee, who distrusts her with reason).
The "criminal" (he shot a ruthless dictator--not so criminal in my mind) seemed to be accepted more easily in the later version too. He seems to be the source of information insteead of the professor.

[MissGoddess]

I really like both versions---and I find it always interesting to watch a movie about a group of people thrown together by circumstance, who ordinarily would not cross paths. The old movies do this best because they focus on character and not action/special effects. I believe both versions served the story well. I love Robert Ryan so he gives the remake a big edge, but I prefer Lucille Ball in the earlier version. In each film the elderly couple were very touching.[/b]

[Mr. Arkadin]

It's on again tonight--a friendly bump.

[MissGoddess]

It's on again tonight--a friendly bump.

And I'll be recording it!

[moira finnie]

I'm partial to the '39 version overall, perhaps because of my enjoyment of almost everything Chester Morris appears in, Lucille Ball's tenderness beneath the toughness, and due to Allen Jenkins' unsentimental character turn as the gunsel turned benevolent watchdog for the child, and since it has particularly touching, well-played roles for C. Aubrey Smith and Elizabeth Risdon.

In the later version, Back From Eternity (1956), Cameron Prud'Homme and Beulah Bondi are very good, but seem not quite as effective as Smith and Risdon, perhaps because the pacing of the '50s version is brisker, and more efficient, but somewhat coarsened in the character development of less central actors, as seen in the sharper peevishness that passes between Prud'Homme and Bondi in BFE. Prud'Homme, who was largely a stage actor who shone very brightly on screen once in The Rainmaker (1956), as Katharine Hepburn's concerned father, is not as memorable here in his portrayal as Beulah Bondi, who creates one more well-drawn character sketch as Prud'Homme's wife.

The earlier pair of character actors are given time, it seems, to really look at one another, and make this viewer see the years fall away, and their bond seems more real to me.

Joseph Calleia is good at conveying the bitter determination of the condemned man in the '30s version, but Rod Steiger is phenomenal in the same part, outshining one and all in the later movie. We see the gradations of bitterness, despair and rediscovered humanity in Steiger's character in three dimensions in the '50s version. It's funny, but I find Steiger outstanding in ensemble pieces such as this, On the Waterfront, The Big Knife, The Harder They Fall, and Doctor Zhivago, but--other than The Pawnbroker--not an actor whose work appeals to me when he is the star of a movie. Steiger made the later version worth watching.

[MissGoddess]

I'm a Robert Ryan fan and I always relish the opportunity to see him in a non-villainous role, but I agree about the casting of the original being more engaging.

I didn't care much for Steiger, though, and have only liked him in one movie, Doctor Zhivago. He always makes me sooooo conscious he's an "Actor" (capital A). However in Zhivago, as base and awful as his character was, he was really the only one with any common sense.