Review: “Back From Eternity” – Robert Ryan (Summer Under the Stars #7)

Schedule:

• The Woman on the Beach
• Act of Violence
• Best of the Badmen
• The Naked Spur
• Flying Leathernecks
• Captain Nemo and the Underwater City
• Back From Eternity
• Billy Budd
• Berlin Express
• The Set-Up
• On Dangerous Ground
• Executive Action
• Lolly Madonna XXX
• The Secret Fury

Film Review

When a plane crashes in a remote location in South America, the passengers must find a way to return to civilization.

Robert Ryan is one of my favorite actors, I absolutely love his performances in every film of his I’ve seen and also appreciate how wonderful a person he was in real life. He’s one the only actors I think can convincely pull off horrendous villains in a believable manner, but also had a very tender side. One of the most talented actors of all time, in my eyes.

Unfortunately, I unintentionally chose to watch a film he was not really in and also probably one of his most generic performances. I think he thrives best in films with a smaller cast and Back From Eternity boasts an ensemble of 12 characters, who all receive varying degrees of focus.

Ryan gets the short end of the stick, playing an alcoholic pilot with maybe only one or two stand-out scenes. Rod Steiger (doing his best Brando impression) actually ended up being the most memorable part of the movie as a murderer struggling with mortality.

Despite featuring prominent appearances in all of the marketing materials, Anita Ekberg was not given much of a chance to shine as an actor. I’m not familiar with her work outside of this, but it seemed like she was just there as eye candy. Much of the focus was on a love triangle between Ekberg, Phyllis Kirk, and Keith Andes that was pointless – at least in how haphazardly the movie handled it.

For me, the film’s issues were due to the weak script and pacing of the film; I expected it to almost entirely be set on the island, but it takes 50 minutes for the plane to finally crash. Even though the story is rather character-based, I never felt like I knew the people well. It was hard to stay invested because there was hardly a hint of tension or conflict that most definitely should have been present.

The last 15 minutes were the most engrossing parts and the rest of the film should have been somewhere in that territory. I was honestly really surprised at how dark it got all of a sudden, and then grew disappointed that it was able to imply/show something so intense without having a hint of that earlier on. Back From Eternity‘s downfall was choosing to focus on mundane things that ate up the runtime rather than adding to it and then saving the best parts for the very end.

Wasn’t very interesting as a survival thriller nor study of the lengths people will go to stay alive, leaving me scratching my head as to why it was even made. Stranger still, it’s a remake of the 1939 film Five Came Back (also directed by John Farrow) and from reviews I’ve read, Back From Eternity doesn’t really expand upon the story in a new way. Stay tuned on my thoughts on the original, as I’ll be watching and reviewing it for John Carradine’s day.

Final Thoughts

Ryan’s Performance: Definitely wanted him to be in the film more but I felt he brought a seriousness and prestige that it needed. Would have been interesting to see the relationship between him and Anita Ekberg developed more, as I found the scenes they shared to be the most engaging.

Would I Recommend? You’d be better off watching one of Ryan’s many other films! Or if you want to see another Ryan/Steiger pairing, watch Lolly Madonna XXX for a weird ’70s experience that comments on the Vietnam War.

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Comment below what you’re planning on watching today for Robert Ryan!