A Place in Hell (1969) starring Guy Madison, Maurice Poli, Hélène Chanel, Sandro Korso, Claudio Biava, Fabio Testi, Maurizio Tocchi directed by Giuseppe Vari Movie Review

A Place in Hell (1969)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Hélène Chanel and Guy Madison in A Place in Hell (1969) (aka: Un posto all'inferno)

Madison Crosses a Chanel

As the sky over Manila is lit up in a bombing attack, drunk war correspondent Mac Graves (Guy Madison - Bullwhip), prostitute Betsy (Hélène Chanel) and easy going GI Mario (Maurice Poli) escape to a nearby island except they discover that it has been captured by the Japanese and they are still in danger. As an honorary Major Mac finds himself in charge although not use to leading especially when they discovers some allied troops also on the island who also need rescuing. But whilst everyone wants to escape they discover the island is being used by the Japanese as a radio base to guide their Japanese fleet into the Philippines.

I believe that if you wanted you could find something commendable about any movie you watched, you can read into it something which isn't there and if you wished sell it to someone as something great. If I wanted I could do that with "A Place in Hell", also known as "Un posto all'inferno", if I wanted I could tell you about the unique set up of a GI, a journalist and a prostitute ending up on an island run by the Japanese where they end up joined by other nations in the war and as an honorary major Mac Graves finds leadership tough whilst the conflict between the men causes a tangible tension. But trust me "A Place in Hell" is not that unique and not that atmospheric, just another war movie which came out of Italy during the late 60s.

So in truth "A Place in Hell" is just a typical war time adventure where we end up with a small group of good guys sneaking around an island which has lots of bad guys on and whilst trying to escape also causing the bad guys as much trouble as possible. What it means is that every few scenes is a moment of action with director Giuseppe Vari keeping it simple but nicely paced with action and just some typical tension between the men. In truth about the only thing which is memorable about "A Place in Hell" are the scenes of Betsy running through the woods as you wonder how the slashed to the navel dress which actress Hélène Chanel wears stays up.

What this all boils down to is that "A Place in Hell" is just a typical war movie which came out of Italy in the late 60s with a familiar sort of storyline and array of characters. But in a limited way it is entertaining enough, just never spectacular unless you read more in to it than there is.


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