A Hill in Korea (1956) – Film Review

AGAIN, it was time for me to search out something to watch last night because of the wife and her soaps so I took to YouTube always reliable to be there for me in my time of need and it came up trumps again. It is rare I come across a British war film I cannot remember seeing and ‘A Hill in Korea’ was one of them.

From memory, I cannot remember many British films based in Korea. After an internet search, I could not find another British film about the Korean War it was called the forgotten war and it looks like it was true for British filmmakers.

It is 1951, and the Allies are on the retreat from the Yalu River, with massive Chinese forces pursuing them south. A small unit of British troops reconnoitre a Korean village that look deserted but for two Chinese soldiers who they push on their way. But it looks like they left a present behind, a booby-trap bomb, which kills one of the British soldiers one of his mates chases after the Chinese and kills them.

The patrol plan to spend the night in the village and return to base in the morning. At daybreak, they see Chinese troops moving towards their position the British officer commanding the patrol decides to split into two groups with him taking three men to hold up the advancing Chinese and the others get away. The others soon run into trouble and both groups return to the village with the Chinese closely behind them and has the Chinese begin to burn them out of the village the only place left is up a winding path towards an isolated Buddhist temple at the top of the hill behind the village.

Now the problem is with a steep cliff and the Chinese surrounding them their predicament is made worse, when the radio operator dumps their radio so they cannot call for help. They fight off the Chinese troops and we see tension within the group. At one point, they have to contend with an enemy tank and successfully knock it out of action with a bazooka. They are also caught up in a friendly fire situation when American jets bomb the temple, no surprise there.

It is a good solid film along the line of many a British War film of the time. Nevertheless, the cast is first-rate. Look for future British stars and sturdy character actors, among them Michael Caine in his film debut, Robert Shaw, Stanley Baker, Stephen Boyd, Robert Brown, George Baker, Percy Herbert, and Harry Andrews. . The plot emphasizes the plight of the National Service men short-term soldiers who in many cases just didn’t want to be there or in the army.