Cease Fire! (1953) User Reviews

Unusual

[Homer900 · 6/10 · 26 November 2005]

I watch most war movies that come along (save for the retched Pearl Harbor and Windtalkers, but that is another review) when I caught this on the OLD American Movie Classics several years ago.

In many ways, it was like watching a train wreck; you can't keep your eyes off of it. However, when you realize that the filming was actually done in Korea, just shortly before and just after the cease fire and

in Korea, you find yourself mesmerized.

After the credits rolled, you found out that all the characters were the actual officers and men of this squad.

What stood out was the bad acting, very stiff "readings" (if you want to call it that) but at the same time, according to the host afterward, the actors ad-libbed a great deal of their dialog.

The other thing that stood out was the weapons firing. They were using LIVE ammunition and it shows. The sound of the guns and the recoils are something that cannot be faked.

It is not the greatest of war movies, but it is noteworthy in that it was filmed during war time as a production and not a straight documentary.

A vintage curio filmed during the Korean War - brilliant 3D

[Sevenmercury7 · 6/10 · 22 February 2020]

Cease Fire! is a noble experiment of a film that succeeds spectacularly on some levels and just flat-out doesn't work on others. Paradoxically, in terms of "authenticity", I'd say the 3-D (that so-called gimmick) is by far the strongest element, while the casting of real soldiers is the weakest. If it had been a documentary, those guys would have been riveting; for me, having them deliver scripted lines undermines the effect the filmmakers were striving for. Throw in a couple of stalwart professional Hollywood actors to anchor the drama and give the guys something to play off and, well, you might have had something. But this plays flat for the most part. The artificiality strangles the reality. On second viewing, I did find myself warming to the whole thing a little more, concentrating on the personalities rather than the script. I have a soft spot for it now, but I still don't think the casting experiment works.

The 3-D, though, really is superb as a window into this specific period, as is the sound. It's definitely worth watching for the gorgeous stereography and the sheer immersive power of that format unleashed on a real battlefield. In terms of bringing history to life, of evoking the visual feel of a time and place, I can't think of a better way to achieve it (photoreal VR is some way off). I feel like I've had an intimate glimpse of the Korean War, and that's not nothing.

Soldiers Play Themselves - Badly

[Theo Robertson · 5/10 · 16 July 2013]

The Korean War 1950-53 was one of the bloodiest conflicts of the 20th Century but quickly became known as " The Forgotten War " Much of this is down to the fact that it took place between the Second World War and The Vietnam War . In the 1950s everyone used the different theaters of conflict of the second world war to make both anti-war and pro-war statements . By the time Robert Altman sussed out black comedy could be used as a theme for the conflict in MASH and that film and its subsequent long running TV series were already seen as metaphors for Vietnam . Indeed it's a common mistake but a popular one that MASH is set during the Vietnam War of the 1960s . The Korean War remains the Forgotten War

This docudrama entitled CEASE FIRE sets out to show the war as it was and its realism is its selling point and casts real soldiers playing themselves . It's a noble effort but one that's doomed to failure . As my fellow IMDb members on this page who have taken the time and trouble to write a comment both are in agreement that in order to be so convincing it ends up becoming unconvincing . The problem is the actors who aren't actors at all but soldiers playing themselves are unable to put any dramatic emphasis in to their lines and this is a constant distraction to the movie . The war was categorized by if not outright victory being within sight then at least an armistice of sorts , only for another series of bloody battles being fought which became indicative of the conflict . CEASE FIRE tries to emphasise this cruel feature where hopes are quickly dashed but constant stilted and wooden delivery by the cast means much of the drama is lost as is audience involvement . It's a glorious defeat by the film makers but a defeat nevertheless

Unique but Disappointing

[daoldiges · 6/10 · 16 May 2018]

I was drawn to this film because of the combination 3-D and real life story/actors/war theme but was ultimately disappointed. It was kind of interesting and I do appreciate it for what is was going for but unless you have a specific interest in this type of project it is not required viewing.

This is the army, Korean style.

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 15 January 2024]

No Irving Berlin songs or rousing anthems, just supposed reality as seen through the eyes of the soldiers who were there and military documentary maker Owen Crump. The men are on a mission to get through the hills and survive, with two men leading the troops digging through the dirt and trying to expose the hidden mines.

Not really much of a story other than the struggle for survival. I question the reality of some of the situations, particularly how safe it would be to dig down without being blasted. Then one soldier suddenly goes over an embankment and is killed by a hillside mine. Later on, as if the plot involving the mines has been forgotten, another soldier runs down the hill, raises his gun to inform others he's reached his post as mines go off and bullets fly, and he's not hit. Enjoyable, but still filled with lots of queries over its reliability.

"Cease Fire" has third rate acting, misrepresents the last days of the Korean war and makes combat troops look like buffoons.

[mjb386 · 1/10 · 16 April 2006]

Warning: This is a bad review for "Cease Fire" from personal experiences.

I was in Chorwan Valley, Korea with the 7th Infantry Division Combat Signal Company in 1953. I was a radio repairman and My job was to help keep lines of communication open between combat units when the "Cease Fire" film crew was there to make the film. In the military the service creed is your a rifle man first and everything else is second. I don't mind telling you it enraged us tremendously that people in USA thought the Korean war was such a cake walk to make the first true to life combat film. Lots of G.I.'s were still getting killed and some from our unit.

The movie was not shot on the front lines ( MLR Main Line of resistance) as some people might have thought. Today it is the demilitarize zone between North Korea and South Korea. They wanted to shoot there but the North Koreans and Chinese were not a fan of theirs and threw some live rounds their way so they took themselves way back to the rear areas where there was no war.

The 7th division's military campaign at the end of the war was to keep the enemy out of Chorwan valley and the Chinese communist job was get into Chorwan valley in mass with their tanks that were rendered obsolete in mountain country.

They tried very hard but didn't make it but a few times they almost did. Pork Chop hill was one of the many hills that was smack dab in the way. Some of the famous hills along side were Old Baldy white horse, alligator, castle rock were near where a lot of major assaults took place before the war ended. Castle rock was the highest point so from the top a person could look down and scan the war zones for miles. Sometimes it was so quiet it was scary. It must have been the lull of the war at times and the ideal spot where the film crew reconnoitered but the war would flair up like a roman candle and people were getting killed near there.

A North Korea/Chinese assault usually came at night with loud speakers blaring, thousand of enemy screaming and careening across no mans land,artillery blasting each other, night flares lighting the skies like daytime, machine gun fire, search lights scanning, and all of us shooting at the onslaught that sometimes turned into hand to hand combat. I was spared some of the combat because if it got to hot we could take our communication repair truck back to a safer area.

The worst artillery exchange in the whole stale mate came hours before the cease fire agreement at ten o:clock. Both sides had to turn in all their ammo by noon time the next day. Nobody wanted to repackage loose artillery rounds so they shot them all off. That night was second to my longest night ever spent. My longest night ever spent was the next night when we didn't have any ammo and didn't trust the enemy. I could almost hear ants crawling all night. Those two nights were almost worse than combat themselves. We had our rifles but no ammo and we were so jumpy the next day after a sleepless night in a fox hole we were running into each other when the sun came up.

After the war we set up camp in Chorwan Valley about 30 miles south of what became the demilitarize war zone. Life was safer, easier, food was good and we were able to watch movies. One night some body got a hold of that "Cease Fire" film and decided to show it. I never laughed so hard in my whole life at something that was suppose to be serious. The acting was terrible, story line only scratched the surface of the whole cease fire episode, and I took a personal note of the whole thing. We started to boo the movie until they finally shut it down and put something else on.

I respect the actors but I criticize the producers for making real troops look like morons.The acting was below third rate the story line was not indicative of a squad patrol in the last days of the war. For one,we had patrols in no mans land only which was generally flat terrain. A patrol coming back through our lines had to worry more about trigger happy people than the enemy. We had outposts in no mans land that communicated with patrols, and the list goes on.The only reasons of patrols was to scout what the enemy was doing to reinforce their trenches or getting ready for an assault. Once in a while our patrol would meet an enemy patrol in no mans land and then look out. The location should have been something like world war one with trenches on forward slopes of hilly terrain facing no mans land that varied from 200 to 1000 yards of flat lands between military forces dug in on opposing hill sights. Their scenes missed the most important reasons why we were there by not showing the final desperate Chinese assaults on our trenches trying to get into Chorwan valley before the war ended. We were simply not going to let that happen and they finally got the message. The producers missed the whole point, and as as a matter of fact they were way off just before and after the end of the war.

A title something like, "Korean Combat Patrol" with real movie stars and not robot acting would have sufficed, and re-enacting scenes wouldn't be important. The producers wouldn't be obligated to show the whole scenario to back up a title "Cease Fire" with strong suggestions it was a real combat movie about the real cease fire conditions in Korea.

Stalemate.

[rmax304823 · 4/10 · 13 December 2016]

This movie follows "Pork Chop Hill" in its description of an undermanned unit trying to complete its mission during the last days of the Korean War. It follows it in every other sense too.

The actors are actual soldiers who are playing themselves, except for the KIAs. The writers have done their best to impose the usual stereotypes on the genuine guys but it's all kind of obvious -- the wisecracker, the jinx. No Texas braggarts or Brooklyn Jews. Probably not for lack of trying in the casting department but just because none were actually in the patrol. Or maybe one of the real troopers who had good taste simply refused to lie wounded on the ground and tell the others to forget about him and save themselves.

The special effects are nothing special, the tension minimal, like the acting. I found the story line a little confusing at time but maybe because I had periods of microsleep. The ending is customary. The platoon of volunteers discovers a horde of Chinese soldiers marching along, calls in air support, and F-84s blow the "Chinks" into so much dim sum.

I notice on the internet that the word "fail" is coming to be used to carry an unusual morphemic baggage -- a noun, as in "GREATEST WAR FAILS." This isn't the greatest fail but it's one of them.

Real Soldiers in an Acting Capacity

[Uriah43 · 5/10 · 10 May 2023]

This film begins in the waning days of the Korean War with a squad of American soldiers being told that they need to go on a reconnaissance patrol into possible hostile territory. Naturally, thinking that the war might be over soon, all of the soldiers would rather remain where it is relatively safe--and this is especially true for a Korean soldier named "Kim" (Cheong Yul Bak) who has a wife living nearby and she is due to give birth quite soon. The problem is that his skills as an interpreter are extremely important and, because of that, he realizes that his skills are extremely important to the mission at hand. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that what separated this film from similar pictures of this times, was the fact that actual soldiers were used in key roles. Additionally, it was also filmed where actual battles took place as well. So, in that respect it was quite unique. Unfortunately, the acting abilities of these soldiers was limited to a certain degree and for that reason some of the scenes suffered somewhat as a result. Be that as it may, while this certainly wasn't one of the better films depicting the Korean War, it still managed to pass the time fairly well and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Average.

An interesting semi documentary

[mmcgee282 · 10/10 · 21 November 2017]

It's finally out the 3D, wide screen and three channel restored stereo version of the semi documentary.The 3D was great too.Like Fort Ti,the beginning of the film ,after it was introduced by Mark W, Clark,shows a cannon right in front of the camera and explosion.About real soldiers on their way to Porkchop hill.It was played by real soldiers.I made a mistake .I had thought that Roy Thompson j.r.was the one that died in battle,but, I was wrong.It was private Carrasco actually died in the real battle,as he portrayed his character in the film,who dies.Some of these solder,now ex, are still alive.Roy could have gotten into acting business and became a lead .He had strong chemistry,but,he stayed in the military till 67,then went to college.The Asian solider,played by real soldier Cheon Yul Bak .if he still alive he should be 86,portrays soldier ,who wife is expecting .He ends up getting killed in the film too near the end of the war.Then you got this fat soldier,not real fat ,who makes jokes.The best acting comes from Roy.There is a real actor,who plays a corespondent,John Maxwell,with another one ,who might have been an actor or a talented real soldier,in the tent scene ,during 100th attempt at peace talks.Was that suppose to be Kim Jongs grand father you saw at the distance or father going to the peace talks?Obviously there was some break downs of the 3D camera,cause the were some false 3d scene,where there was depth only and no pop out,but, it was not that bothersome.The 3d was breath taking .The hilly areas to the military tanks with their long nose almost coming out of the screen.The sound.Now remember this was three channel stereo,which was behind the screen.Although we can say that Fantasia had a surround affect on it's three channels ,with surround speakers,the three channel of 53 did not.Warner phonic was a surround channel for 4 tracks.The recreated stereo was almost as if it was never lost.The Dimitri Tiomkin score with it's chorus was as real as the 7 channel score from Return to Paradise and the 4 channel guns of Naverone score.The affects of voices going off the camera left and right was good too.The war noises,like the bombs, were so real.I think it was stereo dubbed rather than directional,may be.It's presented 1.66.1 also.If you cannot see it in 3d there is the flat version in the menu .Great.11/21/17