China Gate - BLU-RAY

Samuel Fuller (THE BIG RED ONE) wrote, produced and directed this raw-boned action-packed war film. Near the end of the French phase of the Vietnam War, a group of mercenaries are recruited to travel through enemy territory to the Chinese border, to blow up an arms depot. A Eurasian smuggler, Lucky Legs (Angie Dickinson), agrees to use her connections to help them, in return they agree to take her illegitimate son to America. The racist father of the boy, Sergeant Brock (Gene Barry), is also part of the multinational group. Lucky Legs must use the love of a Eurasian guerilla leader, Major Cham (Lee Van Cleef), to get access to the base. The other members of the patrol are also haunted by past memories - Goldie (Nat King Cole) is a veteran of Korea and World war II who hates war and wants to see peace at all costs; Corporal Pigalle (George Givot) is an ex-French gendarme who doesn't like taking orders; Captain Gaumont (Paul Dubov) is the mercenary leader; Charlie (James Hong) is an Vietnamese-American private; and Private Andreades (Gerald Milton), is a hard-nosed Greek expatriate.

Set in China during pre-Pearl Harbor World War II, this rousing action tale stars Alan Ladd as David Jones, a mercenary trader who deals with both Chinese natives and the Japanese invaders with an equal lack of conscience, until he comes to the aid of a teacher (Loretta Young) and a group of refugee schoolgirls. With William Bendix, Philip Ahn; directed by John Farrow. 79 min. Standard; Soundtrack English Dolby Digital mono; Subtitles English; audio commentary; theatrical trailer.

From internationally celebrated director Zhang Yimou (Ju Dou, Raise the Red Lantern, Hero, House of Flying Daggers) comes a story of love and war. The dangerous streets of Nanjing throw together a group of opposites - a flock of shell-shocked schoolchildren, a dozen seductive courtesans, and a renegade American (Academy Award winner Christian Bale, the Fighter, the Dark Knight) posing as a priest to save his own skin, or so he thinks - all seeking safety behind a walled cathedral. Trapped by marauding soldiers, over the next few days the prejudices and divides between them will fall away as they unite around a last-ditch plan to protect the children from impending catastrophe.