Earns its stripes by painting the Japanese-Americans during World War II in a positive light and for its relentless attack against racism.

One of the first films to address the injustice of the WWII internment camps for Japanese Americans. Poorly named Hell To Eternity is a Hollywoodized version of the true story of Guy Gabaldon, a Hispanic boy who was adopted and raised by a Japanese family during the Great Depression. Gabaldon served as an interpreter in the U.S. Marine Corps, ultimately saving many American lives. This film struggles to find it's identity. It seems as though it can't decide whether it wants to be a socio-political drama or an action-packed war picture. The two concepts never effectively merge. They just seem stacked, one on top of the other. The result is a film that sometimes flows, sometimes flounders.