ALL SCI-FI

[Brent Gair]

Time for something other than my fluffy musicals.

Sam Fuller's 1957 CHINA GATE is suprisingly little known these days.

The movie may suffer from the fact that it was a movie about Vietnam that came out at a time when most people didn't care about Vietnam. And, by the time that they did care, China Gate no longer seemed relevant. Being released a few years after the French screwed-up at Dien Bien Phu, this was not exactly a hot topic among American movie goers.

Nevertheless, one cannot dismiss a movie with Gene Barry, Angie Dickinson, Lee Van Cleef and Nat King Cole (he's no Kanye West but he can sorta' carry a tune). Here, Cole sings CHINA GATE:

https://youtu.be/otsznlqKm1k



The basic story is not particularly original. It's the tale of a disparate group of soldiers of fortune on a mission deep inside North Vietnam to find and destroy an arms cache. It's the intertwining human subplots which give China Gate it's special signature.

Here's the trailer:

https://youtu.be/dNcNd4cCOvs

And I'm a sucker for B&W CinemaScope

[Bud Brewster]

First of all, Brent, you certainly create the kind of posts I like. Info + pictures + links + personal connections is what I love to see.

Thanks.

Second, I've never seen nor heard of this movie, so I'll be on the lookout for it on TCM. I'll check Netflix, too — and on the off chance that I could get lucky, I check YouTube and Stagevu (although those have both become dwindling sources for this kind of thing).

Keep the good stuff comin', Mr. Gair!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)