{"id":27913,"date":"2024-02-03T02:41:10","date_gmt":"2024-02-03T10:41:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=27913"},"modified":"2024-02-03T02:41:10","modified_gmt":"2024-02-03T10:41:10","slug":"blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review-murphys-war-1971","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=27913","title":{"rendered":"Blasts from the Past! Blu-ray Review: MURPHY\u2019S WAR (1971)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This \u201cLimited Edition\u201d Blu-ray from Arrow Video is\ncurrently available for purchase.   <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It\u2019s always a delight when a distributor brings attention to\na long-forgotten film with an unexpected release on disc. This reviewer has\nseen many titles from the 1970s onward, but the big-budget UK\/US production of Murphy\u2019s\nWar<\/em> somehow escaped him for all these years. The movie was released by\nParamount Pictures and wasn\u2019t able to find an audience upon its initial\nrelease. As a result, it became something of an obscurity, but after all this\ntime Arrow Video are now reviving the film on Blu-ray. Thank goodness that more\npeople can find and discover this remarkable effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Set at the very close of World War II, the story begins in\nVenezuela, with a British ship and its crew being sunk and viciously gunned\ndown by a hidden Nazi U-boat. Irish crewman Murphy (Peter O\u2019Toole) barely\nsurvives the violent ordeal. He is discovered near the ruins by Frenchman Louis\nBrezon (Phillipe Noiret), who takes him to a mission where he receives\ntreatment by Dr. Hayden (Si\u00e2n Phillips). Traumatized by the incident, he\nbecomes determined to get revenge. His obsession pulls in Brezon, who helps the\nlead recover and rearm a damaged plane for a bombing run on the sub. Indeed,\nMurphy makes good on his plans, but doesn\u2019t manage to sink the boat. U-boat\nCommander Lauchs (Horst Janson) sets out to find Murphy and the confrontations\nescalate, leaving collateral damage in the process. The war soon ends, but\nMurphy continues in his quest, despite protests from Dr. Hayden and Brezon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Venezuela did eventually declare war on Germany\ntowards the very end of the conflict, one does have to suspend disbelief that\nthis type of skirmish would have actually occurred in the area. Regardless, the\nsettings are completely unique and engrossing to watch. Murphy has nothing to\nfight with and ultimately has to use a banged-up plane, before later borrowing\nhis friend\u2019s barge in order to continue the battle. The climactic skirmish\nbetween the rickety ship and U-boat on a shallow river is quite unlike anything\nI have seen before on film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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All of the action is tense thanks to the great sense of\nstyle from director Peter Yates (Bullitt, The Deep, Krull<\/em>), as is the\nwork of co-editors Frank P. Keller (Bullitt<\/em>) and John Glen (who would\nlater direct several James Bond films). Simply put, the visuals are dynamic to\nwitness. There are incredibly dangerous looking flying stunts and much of the\naction is harrowing. Three-time Oscar nominee Douglas Slocombe (Dead of\nNight, King Hearts and Coronets, The Man in the White Suit, The Fearless\nVampire Killers, The Italian Job, Jesus Christ Superstar, Rollerball, Raiders\nof the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Indiana Jones and the\nLast Crusade<\/em>) shot the movie in widescreen and there are remote Venezuelan\nvistas that haven\u2019t been seen before on film. The shots are complex too and\nmany stand out. For instance, there is a remarkable low-angle image of Murphy\npeering over the edge of the barge with a live torpedo hanging above from his\nship\u2019s rickety crane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Of course, while the cinematography and editing are\nexcellent, the performances are just as strong. O\u2019Toole is compelling as\nMurphy, who has a charming sense of humor, but an increasingly obsessive streak\nthat takes the character to a dark place. His initial fury is relatable and\nit\u2019s interesting to see it all turn into an unnecessary quest for vengeance.\nEveryone in the movie makes a lasting impression, including Phillips as the\ndoctor. She is the voice of reason who has to deal with all of the bloodshed\nthat follows these conflicts. And Noiret is very likable as the Frenchman. This\ncharacter has great admiration for Murphy at the beginning of the film and an\nidealized idea of war, which changes as he becomes personally involved.\nOverall, the movie does a great job noting that spiteful acts of violence don\u2019t\nsolve anything and only lead to more death and tragedy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As mentioned, the Blu-ray transfer is excellent. It may not\nbe a 4K restoration, but the picture still wows. The movie retains its\nfilm-like appearance, but is extremely clean and surprisingly sharp. It\u2019s a\nmovie that likely looked gorgeous in the cinema, but hasn\u2019t ever since. The\nfilm now looks just as impressive as it would have on the big screen so many\nyears ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The extras are also helpful in providing some background\ninformation. There is a visual essay on the movie by film critic David Caims\nand an archive interview with critic Sheldon Hall that detail how the picture\ngot made. It seems director Yates was coming off the success of the 1967 heist\nmovie Robbery<\/em>, the classic Steve McQueen picture Bullitt<\/em> and the\n1969 critical hit drama John and Mary<\/em>. He had some clout, so he and\nproducer Michael Deeley were able to buy the rights to the source material,\ncast O\u2019Toole and raise half of the large budget in the UK (with the other half\ncoming from Paramount).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Screenwriter Stirling Silliphant (Village of the Damned, In the Heat of the Night, The Poseidon Adventure, The Towering Inferno<\/em>) and Yates wanted to turn the source material into an antiwar war movie, but there were differences between the two and the producer about the final product. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shooting in Venezuela also presented many problems.\nApparently, there were difficulties in dealing with the government. The\nlocations were incredibly remote and the entire group were going to be housed\non an air-conditioned ship purchased specifically for the production. The boat\nwas rickety and smelled horrible. The water level was also too shallow and the\nship could not get to set, so the cast had to be taken by smaller boats each\nmorning to shoot. Naturally, the sets were made up of ships of questionable\nseaworthiness and shooting on the water was a challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Daily footage also had to be shipped to London for\nprocessing and then back to South America for editing. This and other issues\nresulted in cost overruns that almost led to the movie being shut down and then\nscrapped mid-shoot. Thankfully, when investors came down to visit the set and\nsaw some of the footage put together, they allowed the production to continue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apparently, the biggest concern going in for all was the\npotentially rambunctious behavior of star O\u2019Toole. According to reports, he was\nprofessional, kind, helpful and didn\u2019t cause a single problem during the\nproduction. Some speculate that the casting of Si\u00e2n Phillips (who was O\u2019Toole\u2019s\nwife) may have kept him happy and on his best behavior. No doubt he was also\nexcited about the interesting part and being able to stretch his acting chops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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While the final result was incredible and the movie opened\nwell in London, when the movie\u2019s release expanded it bombed at the box office,\nparticularly in the US. One of the critics suggests that World War II films had\nfallen out of fashion in the late 60s and early 70s and that it likely didn\u2019t\nhelp that the story is dark and tragic. You never know, the movie might also\nhave developed bad press and a notorious reputation as it was considered an\nout-of-control production. All of the stories and information about the movie\nis fascinating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, there is a lengthy interview with John Glen,\nwho was second unit director on the movie and co-edited it. He talks about his\ncareer and goes into working on Murphy\u2019s War.<\/em> He also has nice stories\nto tell about O\u201dToole and a funny anecdote about doing double-duty on this\npicture and other titles. Glen notes that it was great to do these two jobs at\nthe same time because he could go through his own footage and edit out the bad\nmaterial before anyone saw it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There is also a fun archive interview with focus puller\nRobin Vidgeon who worked with Slocombe on the movie. He talks about their\nprocess and believes that feature may have been a little stronger in the past\nbecause filmmakers knew exactly what they wanted and actors would hit their\nmarks perfectly (which focus pullers really like). He notes that the current\nprocess of using multiple cameras to shoot everything and then trying to piece\nit together afterward doesn\u2019t benefit the moviemaker or audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Murphy\u2019s War<\/em> is a fantastic and memorable anti-war\npicture that looks absolutely incredible on Blu-ray. This reviewer is delighted\nto have finally been introduced to the picture and heartily recommends it to\nall movie enthusiasts. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This \u201cLimited Edition\u201d Blu-ray from Arrow Video is currently available for purchase.    It\u2019s always a delight when a distributor brings attention to a long-forgotten film with an unexpected release on disc. This reviewer has seen many titles from the 1970s onward, but the big-budget UK\/US production of Murphy\u2019s War somehow escaped him for all these […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":27921,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[101,697,1832,1836,2928,2933,6251,14417,14418,14419,15991,16011,23959],"class_list":["post-27913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dvdblu-ray-reviews","tag-101","tag-action","tag-arrow","tag-arrow-video","tag-blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review","tag-blasts-from-the-past-2","tag-drama","tag-murphys-war","tag-murphys-war-blu-ray","tag-murphys-war-blu-ray-review","tag-peter-otoole","tag-peter-yates","tag-war"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27913\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}