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Invasion of the Bee Girls

Denis Sanders

1973

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Movie Review | War Hunt (Sanders, 1962)

As the commanding officer explains the terms of engagement as a war of attrition and the boy who hangs around the base tries to stab another boy within the first few minutes, the movie has already dispelled any notion of war as a noble endeavour.

Other war movies depict the war experience as one of bonding with those from other walks of life. Here men come together in an uneasy coexistence and turn a blind eye to the possible serial killer among their ranks, who uses war as an excuse to carry out his desires.

There is a stagey minimalism in the production, its depiction of combat stripped down to men and their environment. The visual style is most interesting in presenting the fog of war, as silhouettes against the hills, glimpsed under the searchlights, sometimes against actual fog.

And this is an interesting early showcase for a number of actors, among them Robert Redford and John Saxon. Redford brings a certain open faced naïveté without putting too fine a point on it. Saxon’s intense features contrast with his soft spoken presence and the thousand yard stare given to him by his aviators. I used to think the movie would be more interesting if they had switched characters, but they are undeniably effective in their roles.

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