I might give it a rating higher than 7, except that I have not seen it since 1964.
We had access to the USO in Nice, France when I was a Navy kid living in nearby Villefranche sur Mer, then the flagship port of the USS Springfield, the flagship of the Sixth Fleet.
I had found an English copy of "The Diary of Anne Frank" in the villa we rented for the early part of 1964, so I knew a little about some past massacres and atrocities. But I didn't know a lot, and I knew zero about Armenians and their history.
But this film, which I saw in a grainy print in an only slightly-dark theater (we kids saw movies during the day) had a lasting effect on me. FWIW, the other film in this theater which had a lasting memory on me was "Lawrence of Arabia." Such a treat to later see it in a widescreen, properly-dark, Dolby 70mm print (maybe even Cinerama, as it was shown at the Santa Clara, CA "Cineramadome," when it was re-released some years ago.)
For several decades I had vague memories along the lines of "What was that movie I saw at the USO that involved the killing of Armenians and a long trek to America?" But before our new era of search engines, it was nearly impossible to track down.
Some years ago I used Google and IMDb to narrow it down to this film. Sorry for the long delay in commenting here.
Why is it shown so rarely that I cannot find a copy? Why in all the years I knew the name Elia Kazan did I not see clear references to it?
I'd like to see it again.
--Tim May, California
We had access to the USO in Nice, France when I was a Navy kid living in nearby Villefranche sur Mer, then the flagship port of the USS Springfield, the flagship of the Sixth Fleet.
I had found an English copy of "The Diary of Anne Frank" in the villa we rented for the early part of 1964, so I knew a little about some past massacres and atrocities. But I didn't know a lot, and I knew zero about Armenians and their history.
But this film, which I saw in a grainy print in an only slightly-dark theater (we kids saw movies during the day) had a lasting effect on me. FWIW, the other film in this theater which had a lasting memory on me was "Lawrence of Arabia." Such a treat to later see it in a widescreen, properly-dark, Dolby 70mm print (maybe even Cinerama, as it was shown at the Santa Clara, CA "Cineramadome," when it was re-released some years ago.)
For several decades I had vague memories along the lines of "What was that movie I saw at the USO that involved the killing of Armenians and a long trek to America?" But before our new era of search engines, it was nearly impossible to track down.
Some years ago I used Google and IMDb to narrow it down to this film. Sorry for the long delay in commenting here.
Why is it shown so rarely that I cannot find a copy? Why in all the years I knew the name Elia Kazan did I not see clear references to it?
I'd like to see it again.
--Tim May, California