Main Cast: Sean Connery, Harry Andrews, Ian Bannen, Alfred Lynch, Ossie Davis
Release Year: 1965
Country: US/UK
Run Time: 123 minutes
MPAA Rating: NR
Plot
The Hill was unfairly subjected to ridicule by the more obtuse "critics" of 1965 who harped on the fact that it starred Sean Connery and, unlike Connery's Bond pictures, had no women in it. Bypassing these cretinous comments, it must be noted that The Hill is an above-the-norm entry in the "military prison" genre. The film takes place during World War II, in a Libyan stockade for incorrigible British soldiers. The camp's brutal Sergeant Major (Harry Andrews) puts his charges to work on grueling, monotonous and pointless projects to break their spirits. When one rebellious inmate dies due to this treatment, the Sergeant Major is reprimanded by Joe Roberts (Connery), who has been appointed as the prisoners' spokesman. The result is that Roberts is likewise subjected to the most demeaning and humiliating of prison chores -- but his spirit, and that of his comrades, is not so easily crushed. Based on a TV play by Ray Rigby, The Hill should never be seen in any form other than its dusty, parched original black-and-white; the currently available colorized version is a crime against humanity. One problem: The British dialects in the first 20 minutes are so thick that an American viewer practically needs subtitles (British critics chalked this problem up not to elocution but to poor sound recording). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Roy Kinnear - Monty Bartlett; Michael Redgrave - Medical Officer; Jack Watson - Jock McGrath; Ian Hendry - Staff Sergeant Williams; Norman Bird - Commandant; Howard Goorney - Walters; Neil McCallum - Sgt. Burton; Neil McCarthy - Sergeant Burton; Tony Caunter - Martin
Credit
Herbert Smith - Art Director, Elsa Fennell - Costume Designer, Pedro Vidal - First Assistant Director, Frank Ernst - First Assistant Director, Sidney Lumet - Director, Thelma Connell - Editor, Art Noel - Composer (Music Score), Don Pelosi - Composer (Music Score), Art Noel - Songwriter, Don Pelosi - Songwriter, George Partleton - Makeup, Oswald Morris - Cinematographer, Clifton Brandon - Production Manager, Kenneth Hyman - Producer, Gerry Crampton - Stunts, R.S. Allen - Screenwriter, Ray Rigby - Screenwriter, R.S. Allen - Play Author, Ray Rigby - Play Author
