| The Last Valley | | Cast : | Michael Caine, Omar Sharif | | Director : | James Clavell | | Studio : | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | | Format : | Color | | Released Date : | January 28, 1971 | | DVD Released Date : | May 25, 2004 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), French (Subtitled), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), English (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | April 06, 2005 | | Summary | Lost & great the first time around, but pales after the 2nd | Content
 | `The Last Valley', written, produced, and directed by novelist, James Clavell was, in my mind, a viable candidate for being an underappreciated gem of a movie. Before I bought the DVD, I had seen the movie but once on commercial TV in the 1970's and the memory of the movie has stayed with me ever since. The most distinctive aspect of the story is that it deals with an historical period that is almost totally unknown to most Americans who are neither professional historians nor history buffs. Even many events in the history of ancient Greece and Rome are probably better known to many than the story of the 30 years war which by some accounts could be counted as a `world war', running from 1618 through 1648 and creating, in the process, some of the most memorable figures of modern European history such as the French king Louis XIV (the Sun king), Cardinal Richilieu, Swedish king Gustavus Adolphus, and general Wallenstein, the subject of a Schiller dramatic trilogy in the 19th century. As told by a brief introductory blurb at the beginning of the movie, this war began as a religious war between Protestant and Catholic, but devolved into a purely political struggle between France, Sweden, the Holy Roman Empire, and the larger German states such as Bavaria. This was so destructive that some history books I have read have said that Germany did not recover from the effects until its unification by Bismarck in the 19th century.
In it's broadest terms, the outline of the plot is very similar to other movies such as `The Magnificent Seven / The Seven Samurai' and `The Thirteenth Warrior' where a band of trained soldiers comes to the aid of a village. Since these three movies are so good, one tends to set high expectations for `The Last Valley' with a similar plot. The fact that there are some differences in setting are irrelevant to the quality of the movie. In `The Last Valley', the soldiers are not invited or contracted to come into the village. This company of about thirty mercenaries, lead by captain Michael Caine stumble upon this isolated, hidden village in a remote valley somewhere near the headwaters of the Rhine in southern Germany where the winter snows blocks the passes into the village for half the year.
The company is foraging for food as an advance or detachment from a larger army that may or may not be nearby. Expectations on what the mercenaries will do to the village are set by the PG rated violence seen behind as the movie opens as other villagers are robbed, raped, and killed out of hand, if they have not already fallen victim to the plague. By coincidence, the village is also found at the same time by a wandering scholar, Vogel, played by Omar Sharif, who ends up being the mediator between the captain and the town leader, Gruber. In the course of just a few minutes, Vogel convinces the captain to `move in' on the valley rather than carrying off all its goods. The speed with which the captain agrees to this is a sign of how week was the allegiance of soldiers to the causes for which they fought. In this war, it was much more profitable, and probably even a bit safer to be a soldier than to be a farmer. The captain and his loyal lieutenants summarily kill the very few members of this company who object. I was just slightly annoyed at this as one of those killed off after about 3 minutes on the screen is a mercenary played by Brian Blessed who was featured as Caesar Augustus in the PBS series `I, Claudius'.
While the southern German village was naturally Catholic, the band of mercenaries was a gemish of Catholics and Protestants and only a few of the Protestant soldiers had strong feelings about the existence of the Catholic church and a minority of soldiers showed Catholic leanings when the captain moves a shrine from the path leading to the village.
All of this setup is the platform upon which Clavell presents his primary idea that this war has killed God, primarily at the especially bloody (historically accurate) battle of Magdeburg that occurred ten years before the time of the movie. The captain states that Magdeburg was razed in retaliation to the siege of some other city which was attacked to pay for the distruction of some other town which was destroyed to avenge the sack of some village and on and on and on, and God has done nothing to stop it. This speech is the linchpin of the whole movie, as it resonates all the way back to Greek tragedy where a vendetta between two families is only stopped by judges who claim the authority of the gods, so their decision cannot be avenged by further violence. All this is boiled down to the simple quote from the Bible of `Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord'. But at Magdeburg, the Lord seems to have disappeared from its role in human life.
All this is great stuff and everything connected to this worldview in the movie makes some sense. The only problem is that moviemaker Clavell does not give us much on which to develop an interest in whether these characters live or die. A simple comparison between our feelings for these villagers and the Mexican peasants in `The Magnificent Seven' shows us that the characters in `The Last Valley' have about as little soul as the missing God whose lack of attention has created these scenes of distruction straight out of a painting by Breughel. The only interest is in the chess game of force and allegiances played out between the captain, Vogel, Gruber, and the captain's troops.
The DVD has no extras to speak of. Unlike `The 13th Warrior', I think this movie deserves the obscurity into which it has fallen.
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| Rating | | | Date | January 31, 2005 | | Summary | Never Forgotten | Content
| During the Vietnam War I was a draftee who opted for a 4-year enlistment in the Air Force. I ended-up on a microwave site at the Brenner Pass on the frontier between Italy and Austria in 1972, where we received a steady diet of "B" movies for our projector, among those that made the greatest impression was "The Last Valley".
I cannot overestimate its impact on this conscripted soldier in the middle of a senseless war, living on the actual frontier of the Thirty Years War! The scenery in the movie was scenery I could look down on from that mountaintop every day, the senselessness and futility of the Thirty Years War was all-too-familiar to those of us sucked-into the VietNam debacle as conscripts, my own ancestors and the the people I encountered in the streets of the Alpine villages were the very people portrayed facing the horrors of war and plague...
Though I am sure this is not a "5-Star" movie based on the criteria a Movie Critic would apply, I can tell you it is a powerful story, convincingly presented, that made a 5-star impact on one lonesome GI in the heart of Europe in 1972.
Maybe in a different time and place present-day viewers will find it less compelling, but I have never forgotten it over the 33 years since I first saw it! |
| Rating | | | Date | January 03, 2005 | | Summary | Both timeless & timely | Content
| Given the current state of the world, this wonderful, neglected film is all too relevant. A thoughtful, penetrating depiction of the madness & horror that are unleashed by religious fanaticism & unrestrained greed, this story is all too sadly familiar. Self-righteousness, invincible ignorance, and blind ideology trump reason once again. If it commented on Vietnam at the time of its release, it comments with equal precision on the newest quagmire of Iraq & the fundamentalist mindset of every rigid stripe.
Both Caine & Sharif give superb performances, with Caine's cold but haunted Captain lingering in the memory. It's telling that even in the Eden of the valley, the serpent rears its head in the form of religious intolerance. When Sharif & his new love leave the valley, it's with the awareness that there is no truly safe place in a world governed by such madness. The struggle to create a sane world continues. Highly recommended! |
| Rating | | | Date | September 25, 2004 | | Summary | WHOA! (4.5 Stars) | Content
| I was at the store and spied this unknown 1971 flick amongst the DVDs; it looked like my kind of movie, especially with Michael Caine and Omar Sharif, so I naturally wondered why I had never heard of it. I made a mental note to later check out some reviews on Amazon and IMDb. The across-the-board high ratings piqued my interest, so I decided to pick it up the next time I saw it.
First of all, the opening credits sequence blew me away! Many reviewers mention John Barry's magnificent score as a powerful highlight and they're right. The credits sequence innovatingly depicts the theme of the Thirty Years War -- members of essentially the same religion at eachother's throats.
THE STORY: During the horrible Thirty Years War in Europe (1618-1648) a band of mercenaries led by the merciless Michael Caine (the Captain) and a drifter attempting to flee the horrors of the war discover a hidden vale -- the last valley untouched by the war. The drifter talks the Captain into wintering in the peaceful valley rather than pillaging it and killing/raping the villagers. (This setup itself is a strong hint that this is no ordinary war flick).
WHAT WORKS: Parts of the film have a dreamy, surreal atmosphere, particularly the beginning and ending; this is reminiscent of the incomparable "Apocalypse Now." Michael Caine is outstanding as the Captain; he would perform a similar role in the underrated "The Eagle Has Landed" in 1977 (a stunning performance); the captain's answer to everything in the past was to simply kill, but now, in the valley, he has found peace and love. Omar Sharif also perfectly depicts the disillusioned drifter, his reaction to the horrors of war has always been to run, but in the valley he also finds peace and love, and even a family.
The depth and ultra-seriousness of the story, including the dialogue of the characters touching on issues of war, loss, God, religion, ignorance, superstitions, love, hope, loyalty, duty, etc. truly separate this pic from an ordinary adventure yarn.
It's also very interesting to observe how people lived in a regular hamlet 400 years ago in Europe. Back then it was not unusual for people to live their entire lives within 20 miles or so from where they were born. Such people would likely be under-educated, superstitious, innocent, ignorant and narrow-minded and the film realistically portrays this.
WHAT DOESN'T WORK: There are quite a few parts of the film that aren't pulled off very well. Some of the dramatic stagings and dialogue come off awkward here and there; they simply don't ring true. These aspects of the film needed more fine-tuning and this explains why critics originally panned the movie and why it fell into obscurity for thirty years (a fitting curse for being the only movie to ever address the Thirty Years War, huh?).
FINAL ANALYSIS: Despite the obvious flaws the film gets a huge 'A' for effort in my book. The originality of the story and its inherent profundities, not to mention the fine cast, performances and surreal aspects, lift this film above a simple adventure yarn. It's enlightening, educational and thought-provoking. If you enjoy films like "Apocalypse Now" and "Runaway Train," films that boldly attempt to go far deeper than the run-of-the-mill action/adventure flick, then be sure to pick up "The Last Valley." You won't be disappointed.
THE DVD is strictly bare bones; there's not even a trailer. I didn't like the fact that I could hardly make out the credits, but the picture quality of the rest of the film is fine. I personally don't buy DVDs for extras, so I'm not disappointed.
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| Rating | | | Date | September 08, 2004 | | Summary | Very Pleasurable Discovery | Content
| I thought I had seen all of the films in this venue. I was very pleasantly surprised to view The Last Valley for the 1ST time, just a few days ago (Sunday, September 5, 2004). Imagine my delight to see James Clavell's masterpiece without introduction or review.
The film is exciting, dramatic, and even poignant in places. The cinematography is reminiscent of films like The Magnificent Seven, and the Rogers and Hammerstein films. There has been criticism of the fighting scenes, but they blended well with the story, much as the fighting scenes in "Flesh and Blood" look poorly done, but add to the flavour of that film.
If you have not seen this film, you are at a loss. Your life will be enriched by the experience. Here is an opportunity to see Michael Caine and Omar Sharif at their theatrical best.
I cannot express my joy and delight at finally having seen this film. I now own the DVD of course and would recommend the purchase for all videophiles of note. |
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