An appeal to the Uni-Mind

[StrayLamb]

I've been trying to track down a comic story and a movie from my youth, and have had no success with either, so i thought i'd put it out there to the community at large, to see if anyone can help.

Firstly, the comic story. It's about a man who somehow achieves immortality, only to land in prison with a life sentence. After many decades, he finds himself alone, and digging his way out, he finds that civilization has been devasted in a nuclear war. I think. This may have been a story in an anthology comic. In my memory, i see this in black and white, which means it may been printed in a b&w Australian Federal Comic, which reprinted many early (1950's and early 60's) DC comics stories. So, yeah, i'm on the wrong forum if that's the case, but you never know. I would have read this no later that 1972.

Now for the movie. This was a war movie, or rather an anti-war movie, that played before Escape from the Planet of the Apes at the drive-in in Australia, so it couldn't have been released any later than 1971. The film is about the storming of a Japanese-held beachhead in the Pacific during WW2 by a group of commandos. They battle it out throughout the night until only one soldier remains alive on each side. They each throw down their weapons and lay out the dead along the beach, with combatants from each side layed out side by side. I've searched thru numerous film reference books, including books on Australian films, but i haven't found anything that resembles this.

One glossy unsigned and unsealed No-Prize awaits anyone who can point me to either of these elusive items.

[Col_Fury]

Beach Red from 1967, maybe?

""BEACH RED" It's not just a war movie"

Here's the IMDB page for it.

Probably not Combat Killers (1968) or Battle of Blood Island (1960).

This reminds me that I've been meaning to watch Castle Keep (1969) for YEARS.

[StrayLamb]

I've got Beach Red and Battle of Blood Island on DVD, and it's neither of those. I don't have Combat Killers, but that one doesn't sound right. Good try, though!

[Col_Fury]

I worked in a movie store (Suncoast Motion Picture Company) for 12 years, and for 8 of those years it was as a store manager. It was my job to figure out movies based on descriptions exactly like this. I once had a guy come in and say "I'm looking for the movie with the guy in a hat, a trans am, and a truck with a dog." I said "Smokey and the Bandit?" "YES!"

I don't have the resources I once had, but I AM LOOKING INTO THIS.

[StrayLamb]

Thanks Daron. I have a lot of film reference books, and of course the interweb, but i've drawn a blank so far. Knowing your interest in WW2, i thought you might have some ideas. Also, thanks for reminding me of Castle Keep. I haven't seen that one in years, and funny enough, i've been having a Burt Lancaster marathon recently, so i'll have to add that to my list.

[Beifica]

Hello.

I have no knowledge whatsoever on this matter, but I thought about searching wikipedia on the list of WWII movies.

I dunno if you've already done that...and I'm sorry if you have, anyway, here a few movies that may fit your description, especially the last one.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Man_Is ... and_(film)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/None_but_the_Brave

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell_in_the_Pacific

Good luck!

[StrayLamb]

It's not any of those either, Beifica, but nice try!

Daron, i don't know if you've seen Yesterday's Hero, a 1959 Hammer Film out of Britain. I picked it up from Network DVD, and it's a little cracker. Highly recommended.

I've been trying to pick up a few movies that i saw in my youth and that left a lasting impression on me. One that i picked up recently was Billy Budd with Terence Stamp, which has been one of my favorite films for nearly my entire life. The dvd release i have has a commentary by Terence Stamp. Another was an obscure little film called Sammy Going South. Both worth a look if you haven't seen them.

[Col_Fury]

I'm a sucker for anything from Hammer. I love their horror stuff.

Some more possibilities of varying degrees:

The Secret of Blood Island (1965)
Back Door to Hell (1964)
Ambush Bay (1966)
Warkill (1968)

Speaking of Terence Stamp, while it's not a WWII movie The Limey (1999) is pretty great. The flashback scenes don't use a younger actor to portray Stamp, but rather they used footage from Poor Cow (1967) so a younger Stamp could portray himself without special effects. Super damn clever.

[StrayLamb]

Nope - it's none of those. It must be very obscure. I'm thinking it may have been an Australian of NZ film, or maybe even South African, since i can't find it in any lists. I know i didn't imagine it, as the ending remains vivid in my memory. I'm also 99% sure i saw it as a double feature at the drive-in with Escape from the Planet of the Apes. I've tried to look for it from that angle, but i can't find any info on films that were doing the circuit back in 1971-72. I might have to try the newspaper archives one time when i can get back down to Perth. Problem is that's very time-consuming, and i never really have that kind of time to spare when i get down there. Thanks for trying!

[StrayLamb]

I ended up getting Buddy Saunders to put the comic part of this poser out in his news letter. Turned out my muddle-headed memory had amalgamated two different stories, which turned out to be "Nobody Lives Forever... Or Do They?," from DC's Challengers of the Unknown #72 (March 70), by Dave Wood and Lee Elias, combined with "Death and Doctor Parker" from Suspense #14 (Dec 52), pencilled by Russ Heath.

Still haven't tracked down that film..