TV Cream

Films: I is for...

Inchon

Whether or not the Reverend Sun Myung Moon was told by Jesus to fund an epic retelling of this pivotal moment in the Korean War is a moot point. Whoever told Laurence Olivier to accept the lead role as General MacArthur, wearing truly bizarre prosthetic make-up and getting paid in briefcases full of cash flown to the film set by helicopter, must have been working for the other side. The film looks fine, but with acres of long, expository speeches by main characters telling other main characters what they must surely already know, it’s a crashing two-and-a-half-hour bore. Meteorological destruction of outdoor sets and language barriers amongst the crew ensured the price inflated well beyond what was visible on-screen. The Moonies saw a return of about – yes – one tenth of their $46 million outlay, scuppering the Rev’s plans for a billion-dollar series of Biblical epics. So it wasn’t all bad news.

2 Comments

2 Comments

  1. Tom Ronson

    March 31, 2022 at 11:52 pm

    Still not available on DVD, after all these years, which is quite astonishing, given the starry cast. Wobbly off-air recordings sometimes turn up on YouTube.

  2. Richardpd

    April 1, 2022 at 10:23 pm

    Very much a case of Money Dear Boy, with no pun intended!

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