Hell Hath No Fury

[Michael Scott]

Hell Hath No Fury



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras: :
Final Score:


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Movie
Judging by the end credits scrawl about the “real life” Marie Dujardin living out her days this was one of those “take from history” stories. However, I can’t really find any information online about whether Marie Dujardin ever existed, or any other similar tales, so I’m going to have trust the film makers that this was at least adapted from something real in history as I can’t just rely on google searches. Still, it would have been nice to have a small special feature talking about the real life person behind the movie and see if we could tie some history to the film, but aw well.

Hell Hath No Fury sort of redefines our sort of gilded view of American soldiers being undeniable heroes in every situation. Much of our views on World War II was told through the lens of a heroes going in and freeing the world from Hitler’s tyranny, but reality is that our soldiers were just men. Many of them fought for patriotic reasons, others were just men trying to live in a draft, and others were human beings with all of the greed and avarice of a thief. This story tells the tale of 3 different factions all searching for one thing, gold and blood. The story starts out with Marie Dujardin (Nina Bergman) escaping from the aftermath of World War II with her SS lover Colonel Von Bruckner (Daniel Bernhardt) and a stash of Nazi gold when they’re ambushed by French resistance fighters. Barely escaping with their lives, Marie turns out to be one of the freedom fighters and puts Von Bruckner in a grave with a bullet in his head along with their gold.

Unfortunately for her, with Von Bruckner dead, she has no one to protect her from the other Nazi forces and they end up putting her in jail for 3 years as a French traitor. 3 Years later though, and she’s freed by a rogue group of American soldiers who spare her life when she plies them with the tale of the gold. With a Nazi regiment coming up on their position, the French freedom fighters that stuck around, Marie, and the uncouth set of American soldiers have to figure out where the gold is buried before they’re discovered. That is, if they don’t end up killing each other before that.

Hell Hath No Fury is one of those “no one really wins” stories. Greed and betrayal are rife throughout the film, with the American soldiers being the most cruel and vicious of them. The Freedom fighters want that gold as much as the Americans do, and will kill and lie and betray to get it, just like the Americans (shocking, I know). However, Marie has her own secrets and it’s not long before everyone realizes that she’s holding out on them.

Nina Bergman is actually quite solid as the duplicitous Marie, but Daniel Bernhardt (who originally came to fame as a DTV martial artist playing in the Bloodsport sequels) actually steals every scene he’s in as the psychotic SS officer. The movie has an issue with jumping back and forth with time, but after you get used to the jumps in story telling, it’s actually a rather solid war drama. I’m not going to say that this is the best war drama I’ve ever seen, but I was rather shocked at how well done it was. The story flows effortlessly, and the dramatic tension is high. Not to mention an incredible amount of vicious war violence that would put it into a hefty R rated category if it was rated by the MPAA.




Rating:

Not Rated By the MPAA




Video:

Shot with Arriflex digital cameras (one of the oldest brands of digital cameras out there, dating back to actual film stock days) Hell Hath No Fury is a dreary and dusty brown looking film meant to implied a time gone by. However, it is a well detailed affair that is rife with up close and personal intimated details, ranging from the scarring on the Colonel’s face, to the curves and folds of the Nazi garments. Blood does look a little bit fake, but I take that to be a consequence of the low budget and use of practical wound effects. The blacks are rather nice though, with only some VERY minor banding to mar it. Colors to pop a good deal outside of the dusty brown veneer of the color grading. All in all, quite a nice looking disc.









Audio:

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA track in English is quite good as well, though not AS perfect as the video score is. It’s a very atmospheric and tightly done mix, with a good sense of immersion from the bullets flying all around. The score is quiet and subdued, but adds some tension when needed, and the dialog is above reproach. My only real complaint with the track stems from the fact that it feels a bit thin on the action. The bass is tight and punchy, but never very hefty except in a couple of explosions near the end, and the mix really felt like it could have used a bit more weight to it. Solid mix though, and checks off all the war time drama check boxes.











Extras:

• Previews for Well Go USA titles
• Theatrical trailers

Final Score: ​

Hell Hath No Fury was rather enjoyable, and it’s nice to see Well Go USA go out of it’s way to pick up other movies besides your typical Asian fare (or Russian flicks that has been part of their kick lately). The film is more of a slow burn drama than it is a full on action war flick like the trailer seems to imply, but the movie delivers rather solidly in my opinion. The Audio and Video are quite nice though, but once again the extras are pretty much non existant. A solid watch at the end of the day.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Nina Bergman, Daniel Bernhardt, Timothy V. Murphy, Louis Mandylor, Dominique Vandenberg, Charles FAthy
Directed by: Jesse V. Johnson
Written by: Katharine Lee McEwan, Romain Serir
Aspect Ratio: 2.39 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, English DD 2.0
Subtitles: English SDH
Studio: Well Go USA
Rated: NR
Runtime: 94 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: December 21st, 2021

Recommendation: Solid Watch