- Language: English
- Subtitles: English, Spanish
- Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
- Number of discs: 1
- MPAA Rating:
- Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B00158K0UQ
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #71,557 in DVD (See Top 100 in DVD)
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
A timeless classic of the time of Old China's awakening.,
By
This review is from: The Sand Pebbles (Widescreen) (DVD)
This film, along with The Great Escape, established Steve McQueen as a major star, but it is much more than a vehicle for McQueen. This is a wonderful story of the intersection between Western culture and Old China, in the period when China was seeking to emerge as a modern nation.This is the story of one Jake Holman, a sailor in the American gunboat navy in China. The Navy's mission is to protect American/Western missionaries, businessmen, their lives and property. Holman serves on the USS San Pablo, known to her crew as the "Sand Pebble." Holman has a passion for engines, and sought to serve on the Sand Pebble on the notion that his engineering expertise would make him valuable and autonomous aboard. Instead, he learns that each American sailor has a Chinese servant who actually performs all of that sailor's routine duties. Holman is thus effectively prevented from performing his engineering role. Nor are the Chinese, untrained in engineering and acting by wrote, able to safely handle the ship's power plant. An undercurrent to the story is Holman's struggle to get control of the management of the ship's antiquated but essential engines. Holman's struggles to establish his place on the ship take place against the panorama of a China seeking to throw off foreign domination and become a modern nation-state. This is the larger story, effectively presented in this excellent film. This film is a reasonably faithful adaptation of the bestselling novel of the same name. The cinamatography is superb, and the DVD appears to be a pretty good transfer from the original film. Recommended.
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Damn your flag, damn all flags!",
By
This review is from: The Sand Pebbles (Widescreen) (DVD)
Steve McQueen is the classic American loner, as one observer puts it, "As long as he obeys orders the Navy takes care of him, its a life that appeals to a certain kind of man." It is not so much the Navy that appeals to McQueen's character, Jake Holman, as it is the solitude of the ships engine room, where he is the master and commander. Upon arrival on his new ship, the San Paulo, nicknamed the "Sand Pebble", Holman is in for a surprise. In keeping with the traditions of the 1920's South China Seas US Navy, locals have been brought aboard to do all the work, including in the engine room (South China Sea vets say all with this film is accurate save that key point, the engine room would have been off limits in most cases). The world is changing in many ways. Jake tries to keep his personal world from crashing by helping a fellow sailor who has fallen for a local girl, even though he should know better, and by trying to resist his own temptations to a fresh faced young missionary in the person of Candace Bergen. Richard Crenna is excellent as a prima donna Captain who sees Holman as a threat to his system even before he comes aboard. The political world is also in flux. With the Russian Civil War at an end, revolution is spreading to China as Communists and Nationalists both try to wrest China out of the grip of warlords and foreign powers. The acting by even the most bit players is believable in every nuance and there are simply too many stand-out performances to mention, from Simon Oakland's bullying ship-board nemisis to McQueen to Larry Gates as a frustratingly idealistic missionary. From Action to Romance this movie hits the bullseye every time. This is simply a classic of movie-making regardless of genre, era, or actors. It is top-notch in every respect. Thank goodness for wide-screen DVD, the ONLY way to watch this film. Nowhere is the non wide-screen, "pan and scan" technique more strongly indicted than in "The Sand Pebbles", I've sat through numerous viewings in that format where characters engaged in conversations can't even be seen! Widescreen DVD is the only way to go on this one.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Awesome movie...,
By Ken Bailey "mikoyan" (Ypsilanti, MI United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Sand Pebbles (Widescreen) (DVD)
I don't care if it's a metaphor for Vietnam because it's a good movie and a good story. The acting is fantastic and the action keeps you going. This is a movie about an aspect of history that doesn't seem to get covered much, namely our presence in China before WWII. It was a very turbulent time for China with the emergence of the Communists and the Nationalists and the waning of the Emperor. Stuck in the middle were some of the ships of the US Navy.The best performance in the movie is Richard Krenna by far. He plays a straight laced ship Captain. He is trying to make the best of a bad situation. It's a shame this movie didn't get the recognition it deserves.
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