THE STEEL HELMET

US, 1951, 85 minutes, Black and white.
Gene Evans, Robert Hutton, Steve Brodie, James Edwards, Richard Loo, Sid Melton, William Chun.
Directed by Samuel Fuller.

The Steel Helmet is one of the more interesting films made in the early 1950s about the Korean War. It was written and directed by Samuel Fuller at the beginning of his career, making films like Pick up on South Street at this time. From the 1950s to the 1970s, he made a striking number of small-budget, tough films on a range of subjects from westerns to World War II.

It was in 1980 that his masterpiece on World War I and World War II with Lee Marvin, The Big Red One was released – and an interesting similarity of motif between that film and The Steel Helmet. In Korea, a sniper hides behind a statue of Buddha to pick off the enemy. In The Big Red One, snipers in both wars use a statue of the crucified Jesus as a picking off point and a shield.

Gene Evans is particularly good as the hard Zack, the character of contradictions, hard-boiled yet with some feelings – and an anticipation of Lee Marvin with the young soldiers in The Big Red One.

1. The films made about the Korean war in the early 1950s? This film among the first, an early perspective on American involvement in the war? But harking back to the films of World War II?

2. The director, his hard-hitting films, social comment? In the light of The Big Red One of 1980?

3. Black-and-white photography, musical score? The focus on the small group?

4. The British, the Americans? Working together?

5. The action sequences, the battles?

6. The Koreans as enemy, executions, Zack and his survival, the bodies lying in the snow? The encounter with Short Rround? His becoming something of a mascot?

7. Zack, his personality, tough? The encounter with the British? The tank, the personalities, interactions?

8. The Americans, the range of men, the platoon? Zack and the other soldiers, hard, the response to him? Tactics, decisions?

9. The religious dimension of Korea, the statue of the Buddha, its symbolism, image of peace? Its being used as a cover for the sniper?

10. The attacks, the wounded, deaths? The doctor, black, education, working with the men, his motivation, in battle?

11. The refuge in the shrine, the Americans under attack, the sniper?

12. The Communist prisoner, declarations, propaganda, fearlessness, his death?

13. The effect of the war on Zack, the effect of Short Round with the group, his survival, his death?

14. A satisfactory, small-budget war film?