Review – The Rack

As POWs returned from the Korean War, the military began to notice strange behavior in some of the repatriated soldiers. They soon figured out that the prisoners had been psychologically tortured by their captors. The most famous movie about this is of course The Manchurian Candidate, but this grim little drama is an earlier and more historically accurate depiction of the problem. Paul Newman plays a soldier who returns from captivity in Korea with some obvious problems. The Army charges him with collaboration with the enemy, much to the chagrin of his career-military father (Walter Pidgeon). Turns out that he faked some cooperation with the guards, and they used it as an “in” to put him in solitary until he cracked under the strain. The script is based on a teleplay by Rod Serling, and much of the stiff dialogue and jerky plot flow reflect his tin ear for the way people relate to one another. That notwithstanding, this is an interesting little movie that doesn’t shy away from moral ambiguities. Mildly amusing