The Rack

source: The Rack

There lies a great film hidden in the depths of 'The Rack', one that honestly and unflinchingly dares pronounce its indictment of the American way of life, of a people uninformed about the democratic traditions of their country as well as of the exact nature of Communism. But 'The Rack' is not quite that film, although in long stretches it is pretty good. Paul Newman in his second starring role plays Captain Ed Hall, being court martialed for betraying his country when he was a prisoner of war in Korea by collaborating with his captors. It turns out he was mentally tortured, brainwashed as it were, and there is an emotional forthrightness of the scenes concerning the captain's breakdown that are engaging, and the central between Newman and Walter Pidgeon as his staunch colonel father will draw tears, although Newman is not yet the acute and instinctively brilliant actor he would become. So, see it by all means next time it is aired on TCM, it's not half bad. Only, it ought to have been better.

(Some Spoilers) Arriving back home from Korea highly decorated US Army Captain Ed W.Hall Jr, Paul Newman, is broken in both mind and body from the two years he spent in a brutal Communist Chinese prison camp. What Captain Hall went through in Korea in combat and in a POW prison will be nothing to what's awaiting him back in the states. It's there where he'll soon be charged with high treason in collaborating with the enemy, that may have lead to the deaths and torture of a number of his fellow GI's. For selling out his country Capt. Hill got nothing more from his communist captors then a soiled and warm blanket and hot bowl of rice soup. Highly emotional motion picture adopted from a Rod Serling TV screenplay about collaboration with the enemy during wartime that goes into the mechanics of brainwashing by the Red Chinese that was far more effective then the torture and threats, as well as carrying them out, of death on captured allied POW's by both the Germans and Japanese during the Second World War. Capt. Hall not telling anyone of what he's to be accused of has his father Col. Edward W. Hall Sr, Walter Pidgeon, get the shocking story about his boy from a friend of his Col. Dudley "Smitty" Smith, Fay Roupe, at a party thrown in Ed Jr honor after he came back from Korea. Captain Hall doesn't at all try to avoid the issue of his collaboration with the Red Chinese when he's put on trial before a military court-martial. Capt. Hill tries through his court appointed lawyer Lt. Col. Frank Wesnick, Edmond O'Brien, to explain how his mind was manipulated and destroyed by the Reds, or Chinese Commies, who played on his alienation from his strict gong-ho military father, Col. Ed Hall Sr, when he was a boy growing up in San Francisco. If the Reds tried to torture or even kill Captain Hall like they did to his friend and now bitter enemy Captain Miller, Lee Marvin, it wouldn't have worked since he, like Capt. Miller, was conditioned by the US military for that type of treatment while in enemy hands. The mind is a very delicate instrument that can be easily twisted and shaped into what a maniacal bunch of scoundrels like the Red Chinese want it to be. By playing on Capt. Hall's loneliness and feelings of being deserted by his country and unloved and unwanted by his dad coupled with the shocking news, that he got while in captivity, that both his mother passed away and younger brother Pete was killed in action in Korea that in effect got the already zombie-like Capt. Hall to play right into their hands. At his trial Capt. Hall didn't at all try to defend his actions but only tried to explain them. Even Capt. Miller, who was brutally tortured by the Reds because of Capt. Hall's collaboration with them, came to fully realize what brainwashing can do and how the person whom it's preformed on has no will or mind left to even know what he's doing. The movie "The Rack" and its star Paul Newman as the guilt-ridden and mentally tortured Capt. Ed Hall Jr is very hard to like in it making a traitor to his country look sympathetic. Yet you begin to realize at the end of the film after a heart-wrenching speech to the court, as well as movie audience, by a tearful and utterly remorseful Capt. Hall that even the strongest and bravest of us do have our weak points. That's what the Chinese Reds counted on by getting captured GI's, and there was in the war in Korea hundreds of them, like Capt.Hall to go against everything that they loved and were willing to both fight and die for. The Communist Chinese achieved all that by putting US POW's in a cold and lonely cell and then after months of brainwashing having them do their bidding like a bunch of trained seals in a aquarium.

I had never even heard of this film when I caught it on TCM this morning. It is a well acted, well written drama that showcases the early, developing talent of Paul Newman in a very becoming light. Edmund O'Brien and Ann Francis are also particularly engaging, as is the conflicted prosecutor played by Wendell Corey. Probably the highlight of the movie is a fantastic scene between Newman and his father, played by Walter Pigeon. All in all, a very good movie dealing with the trauma of war and the dysfunction of family life. 7 stars may be a little low for this one. It is extremely entertaining and thought provoking.

Paul Newman (as Captain Edward W. Hall Jr.) returns home from the Korean War, on a stretcher, after being held in an enemy prison camp. At first, Mr. Newman is treated as a recovering war hero. After evidence surfaces to reveal he collaborated with the enemy, Wendell Corey (as Major Sam Moulton) serves Newman with court-martial papers. This doesn't sit well with military-minded father Walter Pidgeon (as Colonel Edward W. Hall Sr.). Newman's widowed sister-in-law, Anne Francis (as Aggie Hall) is more understanding... A re-make of the Rod Serling's television version "The Rack" (1955), with Mr. Corey reprising his thankless prosecutorial role; this is a very well-acted, thought-provoking drama. It is also one of Newman's best early feature film performances. Smaller parts, like those essayed by Cloris Leachman (as Caroline) and James Best (as Cassidy), provide an added incentive to watch. However, the ending, whatever the filmmakers' intentions, is not very well-handled. ****** The Rack (11/2/56) Arnold Laven ~ Paul Newman, Walter Pidgeon, Wendell Corey, Anne Francis

Rack, The (1956) *** (out of 4) Paul Newman, in his third film, plays Korean War vet who was a POW for three years. When he returns home he's brought up on treason charges and faces a court marshall. This film is based on a Rod Serling teleplay so the material makes for a good movie, although in the end I'm not sure what type of message it's sending out. The POW was tortured, not physically but mentally, and the film takes a look at this and what one's breaking point is. A lot of questions about loyalty to your country is brought up during the court scenes but some might be confused by what the ending tries to say or the complete turn around that seems to happen half way through the film. There's also the added plot of Newman's character not being able to connect with his hard boiled father (Walter Pidgeon) and connecting to his dead brother's girlfriend (Ann Francis). The film's screenplay has a lot of great sequences in it but it never really becomes clear on what it's trying to say. Is the film trying to claim that everyone has a breaking point? Is it trying to say that everyone should reach a breaking point but keep going for your country? The film seems to want to have its cake and eat it too as both sides are given credit yet neither takes the stage over the other. What works the best here are the performances with Newman stealing the film with his passionate character. The torture Newman displays is very striking and wonderfully done, which is rather amazing considering this was only his third film. Pidgeon has some equally impressive scenes as does Cloris Leachman. Lee Marvin, playing a tortured vet, also comes across very good in his few scenes. Wendell Corey and Edmond O'Brien are also very good. While the film's message might be someone confusing the film still works as a nice drama with plenty of good performances.

This is an early effort of Paul Newman's -- made after Silver Chalice but not released until after Somebody Up There Likes Me -- and it shows. Newman tries too hard and, indeed, most of the performances of the fine cast are below their usual levels, elementary and overspecific, done by the numbers, as if aimed at an audience of high school kids. Rod Serling's script isn't entirely to blame. There is less of his poetics, only the occasional "horizon of endurance limits" or whatever. But the plot is fully sketched in, with nothing left to the imagination. What is visualized and covert in Cool Hand Luke, is here overt and not visualized, the action being confined to a courtroom and one or two other sets. A major problem with The Rack is the direction. None of the performances is modulated. The witnesses speak rapidly and clearly and loudly, in a way no one does in life off the screen. When Newman's character is called upon to mumble part of his testimony because of its intimate and personally revealing nature, he does so with his hand in front of his mouth, as if the audience were too insensitive to otherwise realize he was mumbling. Worse, his defense counsel tells him openly that we can't hear him clearly because he is holding his hand in front of his mouth -- in case we missed the fact that he was holding his hand in front of his mouth before. All that's missing to drop the scenario down to an elementary school level is for Newman to look up and ask something like, "You mean they can't hear me because I'm holding my hand in front of my mouth?" And for defense counsel to reply, "That's right. You're holding your hand in front of your mouth, so they can't hear you." Yet, the issue dealt with -- should we hold an otherwise brave man responsible for finally giving up in the face of nearly hopeless odds -- is treated with some maturity. The ending doesn't leave us with the kinds of easy answers we might expect. None of the cast or crew are at their best here, but it's not a boring film either.

Caught this rarity on TCM. Much heavy duty talent is involved in this production - Rod Serling as writer, and the acting talents of Paul Newman (his second screen appearance), Edmund O'Brien, Walter Pigeon, and Anne Francis, with bits by Lee Marvin and Chloris Leachman, even! The effort must be marked as a success, with an even-handed treatment of the issue of "breaking point" in a war when the Koreans openly sought to crush their POW's thru "brainwashing", a term that came into currency at that particular time. The cut and dried atmosphere of the courtroom proceedings are balanced by portrayals of the personal effects of the tragedy on the principals, especially the searing scenes between Newman/Hall and his father. A thoughtful film dealing with a major issue of the day, that is well worth seeing.

Newman is an Army captain who returns to the U. S. after having been a POW for over two years in Korea, and is promptly charged with collaboration… Most of the film centers on his court-martial, which reveals that he did indeed cooperate with his captors after intensive psychological torture… Since he admits that he never reached the breaking point, he is found guilty, but the film suggests that society is responsible in not better preparing soldiers for the new methods of torture From the moment he first appears in a wheelchair to be interviewed by a psychiatrist (evoking memories of Brando in "The Men"), through intense scenes with his father (Walter Pigeon), a cold, stern career officer, to the climactic confession, Newman projects the brooding, nervous, introverted quality of a man still in a state of emotional shock Method mannerisms that Newman carries from film to film first appear here, and although sometimes overdone, they are generally effective: his glistening eyes, nervously moving lips and rapid blinking; his habits of rubbing his head, looking away from people and putting his hand over his mouth while speaking… All of these suggest a man burdened with guilt, withdrawn into his own world of shame and bitter memories Newman is at his best during the trial, when he describes the prison camp horrors… Staring straight ahead, he recites his experience in a cool, deliberate manner, to prevent himself from breaking down… But he finally cries when recounting the fear of loneliness that led him to give in—a fear that was born, in his childhood, when his mother died and his father never had time for him… He cries out: "My father never kissed me!" Thus ultimately the film's focus is the alienation between child and parent, which places it in the tradition of many mid-fifties movies, including Dean's "Rebel Without a Cause" and "East of Eden." That theme would continue in Newman's films: from "Somebody Up There Likes Me," through "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" and others, to "Hud," he plays men with serious problems in relating to a father or father-figure… In that context, "The Rack's" central scene, which follows the confession, has the father attempting a reconciliation… The two sit in a car, with Newman again staring straight ahead, maintaining the barrier between them… He stiffens as his father puts his arm around him, but finally gives in as the old man does kiss him… It's the film's most poignant moment—a personal victory for the soldier, who loses everywhere else

I'm always shocked that so few people know or have seen this film. This is an excellent movie by any standard: story by Rod Serling, cast with Ann Francis, Paul Newman, Lee Marvin, Wendell Corey, Walter Pigeon, Edmund O'Brian and others. The setting is the Korean and this a court martial trial of an officer that capitulated with the enemy while a prisoner-of-war. The drama is tense, the acting superb and the depth of feelings portrayed in a (then) controversial subject is intense. This film is one of my favorites of all time. I'm shocked there is no video or DVD and that it has appeared only rarely on the late shows.