In austere black & white 'scope Hammer Films demonstrated how much nastier than the most lurid horror film in colour a realistic war film could be. Despite the presence of familiar faces like Marne Maitland, Ronald Radd & Lee Montague under heavy 'Japanese' makeup that renders it slightly comical sixty years later, it neverthleless still packs a punch wholly lacking in 'The Bridge on the River Kwai'. (The plot device that the news of Japan's surrender has to be kept from the commandant or he will kill all the prisoners is an ingenious one; although one would have thought that channels existed through which the news would have reached him other than just one defective radio receiver.)

In place of Sessue Hayakawa's noble commandant in Lean's film, the Japanese are here portrayed as utter, brutalised sadists (with their own men as well as the prisoners),which caused controversy when this film originally came out but didn't hurt it at the box office.

Thrilling and stirring film about the prisoners of a Japanese Concentration Camp in which they are submitted to severe tortures , punishments and grisly executions by beheading. It is set in August 1945 , taking place at a concentration camp located in Blood Island. The war has ended.. now the slaughter begins !

A strong film about the prolific sub-genre of Concentration Camps with usual ingredients as sadistic commandant , ominous wardens , heinous soldiers carrying out barbaric orders and inmates suffering savage punishments . A cruel film dealing with the ruthless , brutal truth about the most barbaric prison camp in the annals of warfare . Being allegedly based on facts , authenticated by the very few who survived the massacre in this terrible camp .Although in the opening credits explains : all characters and the names used are fictitious . The film boasts of a good plethora of Britsh actors , Hammer's regular , giving decent acting as Andrew Keir as Colonel Lambert who commands the group of prisoners , Michael Goodliffe as the Camp's Chaplain , Michael Gwynn as Shields, Carl Mohner as Dutchman Van Elst , Philip Brown as pilot Bellamy and a known Hammer Screen Girl : Barbara Shelley .

The motion picture was well directed by Val Guest . He was a prolific and uneven craftsman , and outstanding in Science Fiction and Fanfasy films as The Quatermass Experiment, Quatermass II, The Abominable Snowman , The Day the Earth Caught Fire and When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth , Hammer's failure follow up to One Million Years B. C. Rating : 6.5/10 acceptable and passable .

A good ensemble cast depicting a story of a detachment led by a determined, honourable officer trying to hold out in a Japanese WWII POW camp against an oppressive regime. Ring any bells? Yes, it has shades of David Lean's "Bridge on the River Kwai" about it; indeed it is pretty much identical - except that André Morrell and his gang don't really have a focus for their resistance - no bridge or road to build. They have to endure the motions of day-to-day life at the hands of their inhumane captors; each day bringing new tortures and degradation. It seems, to me at any rate, that this film is more of a tale showcasing the atrocities carried out in the far eastern theatre of war. The writing is actually quite weak, the characterisations are not really developed - many are not alive long enough - and the overall message is that of the cruelty of the Japanese and of the stoic, frequently futile, courage and determination of the squaddies not to give in. Unlike the Lean film, there is little, if any, honour amongst their jailers - they are the epitome of evil plain and simple - and that makes the film less effective. It's brutal, but for the sake of it, and that robs the plot of any sophistication which is shame. It is well worth watching, but tends just a little too much to propaganda to be really good.