Lost Battalion | |
---|---|
Directed by | Eddie Romero |
Written by |
|
Produced by |
|
Starring |
|
Cinematography | Felipe Sacdalan [2] |
Edited by | Joven Calub |
Music by | Les Baxter |
Production companies |
|
Distributed by |
|
Release dates |
|
Running time | 83 minutes |
Country | Philippines |
Languages | Filipino English |
Lost Battalion (aka Escape to Paradise) is a 1960 black-and-white Filipino romantic war film produced and directed by Eddie Romero, and co-produced by Romero and Kane W. Lynn. [3] Set during World War II, it stars Leopoldo Salcedo, Johnny Monteiro and Diane Jergens. It was later released in the US by American International Pictures as Lost Battalion, on a double feature with Guns of the Black Witch in 1962. The film's ad line read "200 Men and One Girl Trapped in a Ring of Steel!" [4]
In the Philippines during World War II, an American major tries to move a guerrilla unit and group of American refugees to the coast, so they can be rescued by submarine, all the while trying to avoid capture by the occupying Japanese forces. Leopoldo Salcedo played the handsome Filipino guerrilla leader who is in love with a stranded American girl Kathy (Diane Jergens).
The Philippines were overrun by the Japanese during WW2, and had to resort to guerilla fighting until General Douglas MacArthur made his famous return. The Philippines was liberated in 1945.
This movie also features the main character, Ramon, with Mr. Hughes and his daughter Katherine, both Americans, hiding in a cave and discovered by a primitive band of locals. These are presumed to be the Aeta people, thought to be the original people of the islands. The Aeta are smaller and darker than most Filipinos, and possess dark curly hair that made the Spanish, when they invaded in the 1500s, label them as "negritos".
Fred Olen Ray is an American film producer, director, and screenwriter of more than 200 low-to-medium-budget feature films in many genres, including horror, science fiction, action/adventure, erotic thrillers, crime dramas, and holiday films.
Edgar Sinco Romero,, commonly known as Eddie Romero, was a Filipino film director, film producer and screenwriter.
Blood of Ghastly Horror is a 1971 horror film directed by Al Adamson and starring John Carradine, Tommy Kirk, Kent Taylor, and Regina Carrol.
Beast of the Yellow Night is a 1971 Filipino/American horror film, directed by Eddie Romero and starring John Ashley, who co-produced the film with Romero. It was the first release for Roger Corman's distribution company New World Pictures.
Jerry Warren was an American film director, producer, editor, screenwriter, cinematographer, and actor. Warren grew up wanting to get into the film business in Los Angeles, California. He appeared in small parts in a few 1940s films such as Ghost Catchers, Anchors Aweigh, and Unconquered.
Terror Is a Man is a 1959 black-and-white Filipino/American horror film directed by Gerardo de Leon.
Brain of Blood is a 1971 American horror film directed by Al Adamson and starring Grant Williams, Kent Taylor and Reed Hadley. Angelo Rossitto and John Bloom also appeared in it. It was also Hadley's last film appearance before his death in 1974.
Creature of the Walking Dead is a 1965 horror film re-edited by Jerry Warren from a 1961 Mexican horror film La Marca del Muerto, which translates as Mark of the Dead Man. The original Mexican film was directed by Fernando Cortés, written by Alfredo Varela Jr., and released in Mexico on October 12, 1961. The special effects was handled by Nicholas Reye.
Terror of the Bloodhunters is a 1962 independently made American black-and-white low budget jungle survival horror film, produced, directed, written, and edited by Jerry Warren, that stars Robert Clarke, Dorothy Haney, and Steve Conte.
The Mad Doctor of Blood Island is a 1969 Filipino horror film, co-directed by Eddie Romero and Gerardo de Leon, and starring John Ashley, Angelique Pettyjohn, Eddie Garcia and Ronald Remy.
Brides of Blood is a 1968 Filipino horror film, co-directed by Eddie Romero and Gerardo de Leon, and starring John Ashley, Kent Taylor, Beverly Hills, Eva Darren and Mario Montenegro. It was the first movie that Ashley made in the Philippines, beginning a long association between Ashley and that country. Brides of Blood was the second in a series of four horror films produced by Romero and Kane W. Lynn known as the "Blood Island" series, which also included Terror Is a Man, The Mad Doctor of Blood Island and Beast of Blood. Brides of Blood was later released to television syndication in some areas as Island of Living Horror.
Beast of Blood, released in the UK as Blood Devils, is a 1970 Filipino horror film. A sequel to The Mad Doctor of Blood Island, it was directed by Eddie Romero. It was the fourth in a series of four Filipino horror films, produced by Romero and Kane W. Lynn, known as the "Blood Island" series, which also included Terror Is a Man, Brides of Blood and The Mad Doctor of Blood Island. It was also Romero's last film for Lynn's Hemisphere Pictures, as the two went their separate ways after this film was completed.
Hemisphere Pictures was a film production and distribution company that specialised in movies from the Philippines. More information is available at Kane W. Lynn.
The Brain Leeches is a 1978 American low-budget science fiction exploitation film directed by Fred Olen Ray and starring Paul Jones, Marcia Scott, and Ray Starr. It has a running time of 55 minutes, and was completed on a budget of $298.00. The film was shown publicly only once, although it has since become available through distributors. The project proved to be a turning point in the careers of two of the principals.
House of the Black Death is a 1965 American horror film directed by Harold Daniels, Reginald LeBorg and Jerry Warren. The film was written by Richard Mahoney, based on a novel titled The Widderburn Horror by Lora Crozetti. The film is about two elderly brothers who are warlocks, Belial and Andre, who have been feuding with each other for years over the family estate. Belial, who sports small goat's horns on his forehead, has been using his black magic to bewitch members of the family, while Andre spends the entire film bedridden. The two actors did not share any scenes in the film.
The Aztec Mummy is a 1957 Mexican horror film produced by Guillermo Calderon from his own story idea, scripted by Alfredo Salazar, and directed by Rafael Portillo.
The Fiend with the Electronic Brain was a 1969 low-budget science fiction film directed by Al Adamson and starring John Carradine. In 1971, this film was re-edited, with newly filmed footage added, into a very different version that was re-released to theaters as Blood of Ghastly Horror.
Kane W. Lynn (1919-1975) was an American film producer who made a number of movies in the Philippines with producer Irwin Pizor and Filipino director Eddie Romero as Hemisphere Pictures, or the House of Horror as they often referred to themselves. Later Pizor quit the company after an argument, and when Romero left to form a production company with actor John Ashley, Lynn tired of making movies and his Hemisphere Pictures became just a movie distributor, mainly handling adult films and low budget B-movies. It was his guidance that kept Hemisphere Pictures solvent and constantly moving forward, releasing a diverse product line of low-budget independent movies from the early 1960s through the mid-1970s.
The Walls of Hell, also known as Intramuros is a 1964 Philippine-American film directed by Eddie Romero and Gerardo de Leon and starring Jock Mahoney. The film was made back-to-back with Moro Witch Doctor (1964). It was produced by Hemisphere Pictures.
The Raiders of Leyte Gulf is a 1963 Philippine-American war film directed by Eddie Romero. It was the first film produced by the newly-formed Hemisphere Pictures, a three-way partnership involving Filipino director Eddie Romero, American producers Kane W. Lynn and Irwin Pizor. It was written by Eddie Romero and Carl Kuntze