I love this movie so much

Too much of everything

A lot of fun.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

"Cry of Battle" was released in 1963--the same year that "Spencer's Mountain" hit the big screen. Both star James MacArthur in a coming of age story, but it would be difficult to find two films so different from each other. Where "Spencer's Mountain" is filled to the brim with scenes about the virtues of family bonds and living in harmony with the land, "Cry of Battle" is nearly morally bankrupt. In fact, I am surprised the novel was chosen for filming.Set during World War II, the film features MacArthur as the son (David McVey) of a wealthy businessman, trapped on a remote island of the Philippines. He is befriended by a creepy opportunist named Joe Trent (Van Heflin)--a man for whom he feels both revulsion and loyalty.In refreshing contrast to the script, which is distasteful, is the performance of Rita Moreno as Sisa, a Filipina who is caught up in the tragedy of the war and the stormy relationship between the two men.The final scenes try to resolve the moral ambiguity of the film, but end up being abrupt, unsatisfying and enigmatic.

I thought that Rita Moreno wanted to break out and have someone sing for her as was done two years before in her supporting Oscar win for "West Side Story."This picture, as far as I was concerned, was a first-class stinker. You don't feel a World War 11 atmosphere in the Philippines. The Japanese enemy is rarely seen and you begin to wonder who the good and bad guys are in the film.The Van Heflin role as Joe is so complex and complicated; you don't really know where he is coming from. Rita Moreno is not exactly Pilar (Katina Paxinou) in 1943's "For Whom the Bell Tolls."James MacArthur, as the spoiled son of a wealthy American businessman stranded in the area, is about the only bright spot in this rather dull film.

I normally review films with a positive bent, but make exceptions from time to time. This is one of them. Only a few people have commented on "Cry of Battle," and I wonder if any of them saw the same movie I did. I don't see how it can be considered a war movie at all. There are two short scenes with any shooting between the "good" guys and the Japanese. There isn't much intensity about evading capture. And the one supposed mission to knock out a Japanese warehouse never comes to pass on film. So, most of this film is about crime. Van Heflin, one of the stars, is a rapist, a racist and a murderer. Most of the "good" guys that he and James MacArthur tag along with are bandits taking advantage of the war. They rob, pillage and kill their own people. Some may argue that this shows a part of reality that is seldom shown about war, especially in the Philippines. Was there really such a situation with all bad eggs doing no good? There have been a number of good films made about resistance fighting in the Philippines during WWII. They show the struggles, the persecution of the Filipinos by the Japanese, and the heroic efforts of the people. This film shows none of that, and only alludes to one true resistance group fighting the enemy. The plot is weak to start with, and the characters and acting for the most part are all quite bad. MacArthur is fighting mad about Van Heflin's rape of a young Filipina. In the next scene he's almost forgotten about it. Van Heflin spends much of his time getting drunk on the local coconut liquor. In the movies based on true stories about the Philippines, the few Americans and the Filipinos themselves were rightly scared, wary of the Japanese and too alert to go on frequent drunks. And, just think of all those other war movies we have seen that show Americans getting drunk while trying to elude the enemy and save their lives. Is it any wonder why there aren't any? The only way I can see that this film relates to a war movie is that it bombs out. Or, maybe the filmmakers just wanted to make a movie about ugly and dumb Americans.

I was the producer of "Cry of Battle". The production name, Petramonte,is Stein(stone)berg(mountain) in Spanish. The rape scene was with Van Heflin trying to rape Pinang, played by the Phillipina actress, Marilou Munoz, not Rita Morena. For Trivia: I shot around Rita Morena so that she could fly back to LA for the Acedemy Award. She got an Oscar that year, returned and continued shooting. The working title was "To be a man". The book called for an young adult. Making the David McVey character younger with James MacArthur, it was better contrast as a much younger man. We shot a number of days using jitneys (old cars used as buses) horse drawn carts in crowded streets. This was that start of the Japanese attack. All of that work and footage went into the trash can and we ended up with a simple line about the date.