THEIR FINEST HOUR: FIVE BRITISH WWII CLASSICS -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 Originally posted on 3/28/2020

 

Film Movement Classics' five-disc Blu-ray collection THEIR FINEST HOUR: 5 BRITISH WWII CLASSICS brings together some of the absolute best British war films of the 40s and 50s, all beautifully restored (fans of rich old-style black and white photography should find them a visual treat) and augmented with plenty of bonus features.

Here are our impressions of each film:


DUNKIRK (1958)

While I loved Christopher Nolan's recent version of this particular WWII historical event, many criticized it for not supplying viewers with a more substantial backstory leading up to it.

The 1958 film, DUNKIRK, does just that, giving us much more of a lead-up to what happened and why, detailing the collapse of the British military's defense of France from the overwhelming German invasion and their subsequent retreat to the beaches at Dunkirk where a rescue effort descended into carnage and chaos.

In traditional Ealing Studios fashion, this is filmed in beautiful, no-frills black and white which gives everything more of a gritty realism.

It also reflects that studio's fondness for depicting the basic goodness and integrity of the British people when faced with a unifying adversity that threatened to strike at the very heart of their entire existence.

The first half of the story follows a ragtag group of soldiers separated from the rest of their unit and wandering about rural France under the reluctant command of a callow corporal (John Mills) who suddenly finds himself the highest ranking officer.

We get to know this likable bunch as they march through pastoral settings that suddenly turn into blazing life and death situations where even civilian refugees are slaughtered by strafing planes and missile shells.

Meanwhile, British civilians back home are gearing up to launch their small seagoing craft to aid in the rescue effort across the channel at Dunkirk.  Bernard Lee, who played "M" to Sean Connery's James Bond, willingly lends his own boat to the cause, while a young Richard Attenborough (THE GREAT ESCAPE) initially finds himself lacking the necessary courage for such a perilous venture.

The spectacular cinematic depictions of these events include countless extras in explosive battle action, ships filled with escapees being bombed and sunk, and other cinematic wonders.  Ultimately, however, it's the heroism of both soldiers and civilians that is honored by the makers of DUNKIRK. 


THE DAM BUSTERS (1955)

Back in the early days of WWII a man named Dr. Wallis (Michael Redgrave) comes up with a way for a squadron of bomber planes, led by Wing Commander Guy Gibson (Richard Todd), to cause chaos to German industry by blowing up some of that country's biggest dams.

THE DAM BUSTERS (1955) is the story of that incredible real-life mission which, despite a heavy death toll among its valiant participants, was a spectacular success.

It doesn't seem so at first, however, and much of the story tells of Dr. Wallis' difficulty in selling the idea--which involves releasing huge bombs over the water at extremely low altitudes and under heavy fire so that they skip across the surface of the water like stones until they collide with the dam--to the military brass.

Directed by Michael Anderson, the film proceeds slowly, methodically, almost like a detective yarn in which the mystery to be solved is how to make Dr. Wallis' seemingly fantastic idea come to pass in practical terms amidst skepticism and technical glitches.

During the slow buildup we get to know Commander Gibson and the men of his ace flying squadron as they prepare themselves for what may be a suicidal and ultimately fruitless mission.

Low-key and utterly lacking in flash and sensationalism, this is a quietly engrossing, impeccably rendered story which finally evolves into one of the most thrilling, nailbiting war thrillers to come out of the British film industry.

So exciting and well-mounted is the sustained final dam-busting sequence, in fact, that George Lucas used much of it as the inspiration for the Death Star attack in STAR WARS. 

Here, the cinematic potential of the event is fully and brilliantly explored, with special effects that are amazing for the time. This includes some beautiful miniatures, matte shots, and even cel animation to augment the live action footage. In addition, the crisp black and white photography is consistently good throughout the film.

The cast features some familiar faces in minor roles (including a young Robert Shaw of JAWS) as well as lead stars Michael Redgrave, whose Dr. Wallis is likably mild-mannered and earnest, and Richard Todd, a fearless yet human hero whose love for his ever-present canine companion (in a heart-tugging subplot) humanizes him.

From a book by Paul Brickhill (THE GREAT ESCAPE), adapted by R.C. Sherriff (BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, OLD DARK HOUSE, THE INVISIBLE MAN), THE DAM BUSTERS is a literate, satisfying film that brings these thrilling true events to life without sensationalism but with a subtle, human touch.


ICE COLD IN ALEX (1958)

A ragtag group of British army soldiers and nurses in a beat-up ambulance must undertake a hazardous desert crossing in Northern Africa to escape a beseiged Tobruk in this WWII thriller, ICE COLD IN ALEX (1958).

The group is led by a battle-weary alcoholic named Captain Anson (John Mills in fine form) and also includes stalwart Sergeant Major Pugh (an equally good Harry Andrews), dedicated nurse Sister Diana Murdoch (the lovely Sylvia Syms) and her nerve-wracked companion Sister Denise Norton (Diane Clare).

Along the way they pick up stranded South African officer Captain van der Poel (Anthony Quayle), a brawny, overbearing fellow who never lets his backpack out of his sight. This arouses the suspicion of the others, who suspect him of being a German spy.

What follows is one of those grueling, tensely-absorbing cinematic ordeals that manages to keep us on edge even in the story's quieter moments.  The harsh, arid desert not only drains them physically but also contains such perils as a deadly minefield, a bog of quicksand, and the occasional unit of German soldiers. 

We're also constantly worried about the dire condition of their vehicle, which threatens to give out on them at any moment. This is especially daunting when the group is forced to make their way into the worst stretch of desert imaginable with little hope of reaching the other side.

Character interactions are nicely done, with fine performances by all. (Familiar faces in minor roles include Liam Redmond and Walter Gotell.) The film also boasts fine black and white photography and a rousing musical score.

Direction is by J. Lee Thompson, whose career included such widely-varied films as THE GUNS OF NAVARONE, MACKENNA'S GOLD, CONQUEST OF THE PLANET OF THE APES, and DEATH WISH 4: THE CRACKDOWN.

The human element of the story (including an unlikely hint of romance) comes to a satisfying end during a final reckoning with Captain van der Poel. After all the action, adventure, and suspense that has come before, this memorable resolution is ultimately what makes ICE COLD IN ALEX such a rewarding experience.


THE COLDITZ STORY (1955)

Stalwart British screen mainstay John Mills leads the cast once again in THE COLDITZ STORY (1955), based on the true account of Colditz Castle escapee Major Pat Reid.

This medieval fortress in the frosty wilderness of Saxony, with its high stone walls and ancient parapets, provides a unique backdrop for a WWII Allied prisoner-of-war drama in comparison to the familiar setting of big wooden barracks in the middle of a forest.

With the exquisite black and white photography common to such 1950s-era British war films, director Guy Hamilton--who would later helm such James Bond films as GOLDFINGER and LIVE AND LET DIE--has fashioned a gripping tale of men from various countries such as England, Poland, and France all banding together to constantly try and escape the clutches of their ever-wary German captors.

Where the later prison-camp epic THE GREAT ESCAPE spent much time following the progress of its heroes as they tunnelled their way to freedom, THE COLDITZ STORY opens with its characters already in the midst of tunneling, to the point where two competing tunnels, each unaware of the other, inadvertently merge with each other beneath the floorboards of the castle.

The rest of the film recounts several different escape attempts in episodic fashion, even down to individual men scrambling over the barbed wire for a mad dash toward the surrounding woods, until finally there's a unified plan to get several men out dressed as German officers.

This takes up much of the film's latter half and keeps the viewer on edge as the attempt plays out under the cover of a variety performance in the prisoners' theater hall which is attended by German officers and guards.

Despite some grim elements, much of the story is in a rather lighthearted vein, especially when the Allies manage to get the better of their captors in small ways that usually end with some stuffy German officer suffering the derisive laughter of the prisoners.

The more dramatic scenes involve such confrontations as the Allied commander ordering a man not to attempt an escape disguised as a German officer because his unusual height, the discovery of an informant whose family has been threatened if he doesn't cooperate, and other more sobering developments.

The cast is superb, with John Mills giving his usual fine performance along with such familiar faces as Theodore Bikel, a likable and startlingly young Lionel Jeffries, and the great Anton Diffring, who was practically born to play WWII German officers.

A bit unfocused at first with its various subplots and detours into humor, as well as a musical score so bombastic it makes Albert Glasser sound subtle, THE COLDITZ STORY eventually comes together into a gripping suspense tale which stands as one of the superior WWII prisoner-of-war films of the 1950s.



WENT THE DAY WELL? (1942)

I've seen several classic British WWII films of the 40s and 50s recently, but Ealing Studios, known mainly for such dryly amusing post-WWII British comedies as WHISKY GALORE!, THE TITFIELD THUNDERBOLT, and PASSPORT TO PIMLICO, surprises by delivering what may be the most entertaining and gripping war thriller of the bunch.

WENT THE DAY WELL? (1942) is utterly novel in that it begins just like one of Ealing's easygoing pastoral comedies, taking us to the secluded English village of Bramley End and introducing us to its tightly-knit community of endearingly eccentric inhabitants.

Here, they're getting on with their leisurely-paced lives even as the war in Europe rages across the channel, always mindful of their own loved ones fighting in it (as well as those in the local guard) and ready to defend their own shores if the need arise.

This comes sooner than expected when the garrison of Royal Engineers entering their village and warmly welcomed by its people turn out to be undercover German paratroopers paving the way for an invasion.

Their takeover is sudden and brutal, their rule backed by violence and terror while the first escape attempt is punished by having five of their children condemned to be shot.

The idea of the usual Ealing comedy suddenly taking a sharp turn into gritty, savage realism is, to say the least, jarring, especially when we see certain warmly endearing characters shot or bayoneted for standing up to their captors in the defense of their country and their fellow villagers.

Suspense builds as the Germans' harsh methods drive the people to take decisive action while a company of British soldiers is still en route to rescue them, resulting in a sustained battle sequence which, taking place in ordinary settings and involving the most ordinary of country folk, is unique in the annals of war thrillers.

The cast is superb, including Hitchcock veteran Leslie Banks as a trusted villager who turns out to be a German spy and is thus one of the film's most despicable villains.  Alberto Cavalcanti's direction of the story by Graham Greene is unerringly precise, with Ealing's usual impeccable black and white photography.

It may be the fact that I'm still flush with excitement after having just watched it, but I'm moved to proclaim WENT THE DAY WELL? as one of the finest and most edge-of-the-seat thrilling war films I've ever seen. It's certainly unique in my experience, as well as deeply resonant on a purely emotional level.



Buy it from Film Movement Classics


Blu-ray Features

The Colditz Story:
Colditz Revealed documentary
Restoration Comparison
The Dam Busters:
The Making of The Dam Busters
Sir Barnes Wallis Documentary
617 Squadron Remembers
Footage of the Bomb Tests
The Dam Busters Royal Premiere
Restoration of a Classic
The Dam Busters TrailerDunkirk:
Dunkirk Operation Dynamo Newsreel
Young Veteran Ealing Short
Interview with actor Sean Barrett
John Mills home movie footageIce Cold In Alex:
Extended Clip from A Very British War Movie Documentary
John Mills Home Video Footage
Interview with Melanie Williams
Steve Chibnall on J. Lee Thompson
Interview with Sylvia Syms

24-page booklet with essay by film writer and curator Cullen Gallagher

Sound: Mono
Discs: 5
Available 3/31/20

THEIR FINEST HOUR: FIVE BRITISH WWII CLASSICS -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

THE SOUND OF MUSIC LIVE -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 11/5/18

 

If you find yourself watching Shout! Factory's new Blu-ray release of THE SOUND OF MUSIC LIVE, chances are you either (1) love the Julie Andrews movie and are curious to compare them, or (2) simply like musical theater, or (3) are fascinated by elaborate live television productions.

And if, as in my case, all three apply, you're liable to have as great a time watching this incredible ensemble performance as I did.

Once it got underway, this 2015 version of the classic Rodgers & Hammerstein musical (book by Russel Crouse and Howard Lindsay) quickly began to prove that it could stand beside the beloved film version as its own entity, with its own style and unique appeal.

The first thing I noticed is how great it looks.  Shot on three soundstages, this live show boasts some exquisite sets for the abbey in which young Maria is studying to become a nun, the mansion of the lonely widower Captain Georg von Trapp and his children, for whom Maria is sent to serve as temporary governess, and, finally, the concert hall where the Von Trapp Family will eventually perform for their fellow Austrians on the eve of World War Two.

The second thing I noticed is that this cast is marvelous, especially a radiant Kara Tointon (MR. SELFRIDGE, EASTENDERS) as free-spirited Maria and Maria Friedman as Mother Abess, Maria's wise and encouraging mentor who realizes that the young woman's future path may lie outside the abbey. Julian Ovenden as the Captain takes a bit longer to warm up to, but then so does his stern, joyless character (into whom Maria breathes new life and love).

The juvenile castmembers are marvelous as well, as are the exhilarating song and dance performances which make all the familiar tunes sound brand new and freshly exciting.  The only ones that didn't move me were sung by Katherine Kelly as Baroness Elsa Shraeder, Georg's (poorly-chosen) intended bride whom we know is totally wrong for him, and Alexander Armstrong as Georg's amusingly craven friend Max.  But this is appropriate since their songs are meant to express more selfish, worldly interests.

We know that Maria will gradually melt Georg's cold heart and use the healing power of song to bring him closer to his children again, and that they'll fall in love.  But seeing it presented in such a delightfully imaginative new interpretation, with such heart and emotion, had me tearing up with the first chords of each familiar song.

For indeed this is a deeply emotional tale (based on a true story) of love--not just romantic love, but love of family, country, and God--with songs that go straight to the heart to evoke a wealth of feeling.  Even the suspenseful finale in which the Von Trapp family attempt to escape from an Austria trembling under the oppressive weight of encroaching Nazism (as frighteningly depicted here) is ingeniously interwoven with song.

The production itself is a technical marvel that I found endlessly fascinating.  How they pulled off something so incredibly elaborate for live television with nary a hitch is an utter marvel.  Even when one of the children stumbles over a suitcase, Tointon makes it a part of the scene.

Director Coky Giedroyc, using 17 cameras, gives it all just the perfect balance between stagey theatricality and cinematic fluidity and style.  The presentation never feels static or stagebound, while Giedroyc infuses it all with a pleasing simplicity and a sharp focus on both character and performance.

The Blu-ray from Shout! Factory looks great and features a behind-the-scenes featurette and a commentary track by Kara Tointon and Julian Ovenden.

As someone who fell in love with the original film version way back in the 70s, I can say without reservation that THE SOUND OF MUSIC LIVE is a wonderful new incarnation of the story which I found profoundly moving.  Both as entertainment and as a technical achievement, it's a dazzling, exciting experience.

THE SOUND OF MUSIC LIVE -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

THE GREAT ESCAPE -- Movie Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 7/19/12

 

When I was a kid, there were some movies that I looked forward to seeing on TV with the same keen anticipation I felt for an impending holiday.  The annual airing of THE WIZARD OF OZ was one, of course.  But equal to that perennial favorite in my mind was John Sturges' World War II blockbuster THE GREAT ESCAPE (1963), which, for awhile back in the 60s, would also show up on the tube about once a year.  CBS would usually show the 172-minute film in two parts on Thursday and Friday nights, meaning that after the first half I was forced to suffer an excruciating 24 hours waiting for the payoff.  But it was worth it.  And now that I have it on DVD and can watch it anytime I want, the old magic remains undiminished.

Based on a true story recounted in the book by former WWII POW Paul Brickhill, with a screenplay by James Clavell (SHOGUN, KING RAT), the film takes place mainly in a German prisoner-of-war camp that has been designed to contain those Allied captives who are continually trying to escape.  As the commandant, Luftwaffe Colonel von Luger (Hans Messmer) tells Group Captain Ramsey (a solid, dignified James Donald): "We are, in effect, placing all our rotten eggs into one basket.  And we intend to watch that basket very carefully."  Such a plan is doomed to backfire, of course, as this congregation of escape-happy soldiers immediately begins plotting the biggest, most elaborate POW escape ever. 

Richard Attenborough (JURASSIC PARK) plays "Big X", the leader and mastermind, who coordinates the digging of three separate tunnels.  His objective is to get so many men out of the camp--as many as 250--that the Nazis will be forced to devote thousands of soldiers to tracking them down.  It's fascinating to see the lengths our heroes must go to in order to obtain tools for digging and wood for shoring up the tunnels, and how they manage to disperse all those tons of dirt, without the guards detecting anything.  And as amazing and improbable as it all may seem, every pertinent detail of the escape is based on fact, while the film's characters are composites of actual people.  One of them, "Tunnel King" Wally Floody, served as a technical adviser during filming.

David McCallum ("The Man From U.N.C.L.E.") is Ashley-Pitt, the "Dispersal" expert.  Donald Pleasence, a real-life WWII POW, plays Blythe, a mild-mannered birdwatcher who serves as "The Forger" of false identity papers and such, while his roommate, American flyer Hendley (James Garner) is "The Scrounger" who can be counted on to obtain whatever is needed, chiefly through blackmailing the guards.  The odd-couple friendship of Blythe and Hendley is one of the most emotionally compelling elements of the story, especially when Blythe later loses his eyesight and is told he must stay behind until Hendley insists on taking him out of the tunnel with him.

Charles Bronson and John Leyton play "Tunnel Kings" Danny and Willy, without whose tireless efforts and expertise the escape would be impossible.  Danny, it turns out, suffers from claustrophia, though he forces himself to dig because he "must get out."  This malady will prove very inconvenient on the night of the escape when panic overtakes him at last.  Another prisoner on the verge of the breaking point is the "wire-happy" Ives (Angus Lennie), a diminutive Scotsman whose prolonged confinement keeps him a hair's breadth away from making a desperate attempt to climb the fence.  And James Coburn is Sedgwick, a droll Aussie pilot whose knack for building something out of nothing makes him the indispensible "Manufacturer."

These rich characterizations, along with a wealth of suspenseful situations and some great comedy relief, keep things rolling along until the night of the big breakout, which is one of the most gripping sequences ever filmed.  Everything that could go wrong does, yet seventy-six men manage to escape before the guards finally get wise and come down on them with guns blazing. 

For the final third of the film we see the escapees desperately trying to make their way out of the country via trains, planes, automobiles, or on foot.  Since we've had so much time to get to know and care about these characters, and empathize with their desire to get back home, their skillfully cross-edited stories pack a substantial emotional payoff--especially when we see them recaptured, killed during flight, or coldbloodedly executed as "spies." 

The post-escape part of the story is the most fictionalized element of THE GREAT ESCAPE, but that's fine with me--the actual events have been augmented with more action and thrills, while maintaining the spirit of what these men went through.  And I can't imagine a sequence in any movie that is more engrossing or involving, for so long, as this one. 

Which brings me to the best part of the film, for me anyway--Steve McQueen's iconic Capt. Virgil Hilts, dubbed "The Cooler King" since his attempted escapes and disrespect for authority keep him locked up in a cell more than anyone else in camp.  At first he's a loner trying to escape independently, whether through the wire or via a wild "human mole" scheme he almost pulls off with his pal Ives, but eventually he comes around and becomes one of the most important participants in Big X's escape plan.  (In actuality, all of the American prisoners were moved to a different part of the camp shortly before the escape, but that's a quibble I'm willing to overlook.)

By the time the escape occurs, we feel almost as confined as the characters themselves and are in need of a catharsis that can only be provided by some good old freewheeling action.  So when Hilts steals a motorcycle and makes a mad, cross-country dash for Switzerland with the Nazis hot on his heels, charging through checkpoints and hurtling airborn over barricades, with Elmer Bernstein's soul-stirring musical score soaring triumphantly in the background, we can feel the delirious rush of freedom.

THE GREAT ESCAPE -- Movie Review by Porfle

COMBAT! FAN FAVORITES 50TH ANNIVERSARY -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 9/30/12

 

During the initial TV run of the World War II drama series "Combat!" (1962-67) I couldn't get into it because it was too grown-up.  During its syndicated reruns, I was going through my "pacifist" phase and couldn't stand to watch anything war-related unless it was blatantly, even stridently anti-war.  Now, however, I'm blazing my way through Image Entertainment's 5-disc DVD set COMBAT! FAN FAVORITES 50th ANNIVERSARY like Patton making a beeline to Berlin.

Without a doubt, this is some of the best stuff ever done for series television.  Gritty, realistic (as far as I know, anyway), and unflinchingly adult, the adventures of Sgt. Saunders (Vic Morrow), Lt. Hanley (Rick Jason), and their battle-weary squad of American infantry veterans in post-Normandy Europe puts us right in the middle of all the action and lets us share some of the emotional and existential turmoil that haunts these soldiers every perilous step of the way.

No flag-waving here--these are simply stories about hot, tired, and, most of all, scared soldiers doing a grueling job and trying to stay alive on the front lines.  The streetwise Kirby (Jack Hogan), Lousiana bayou denizen Caje (Pierre Jalbert), gentle giant Littlejohn (Dick Peabody), and compassionate medic Doc (Conlan Carter) wade into the fray with guns blazing yet struggle to retain their humanity, always coming across as three-dimensional human beings and never simple action figures.

Moral quandaries and crises of the soul get just as much play in these well-written stories as gunfights and explosions.  The dialogue snaps, crackles, and pops, and so do the performances.  Method actor Morrow is terrific as the gruff but sensitive Sgt. Saunders, who always does the right thing no matter how painful it may be, and doesn't hesitate, when necessary, to bark out a speech such as the following: "Kirby, I'm only gonna say this once, and I'll say it to all of you.  Keep your mouths shut, your heads down, and your ears open.  Follow my orders and don't ask why.  Is that clear?" 

Saunders sometimes questions orders himself, but his commanding officer Lt. Hanley is equally terse: "Because we were told to."  Rick Jason's seldom-seen character may seem like weak stuff at first, but his depth comes through in less flamboyant but equally dramatic sequences such as in the flashback episode "A Day in June" which, on a TV budget and with generous amounts of stock footage, depicts the D-Day landing at Normandy.  Jason also gets to show his stuff in "The Enemy", a tense two-man conflict between him and a cunning German demolitions expert played by Robert Duvall.  (Anna Lee guest stars as a nun.)

These taut, riveting dramas are punctuated by explosive battle sequences blazing with some of the most thundrous and thrilling action ever filmed for television, often of feature film quality but without the big-money effects.  The beautiful black-and-white photography sometimes approximates the texture of a Joe Kubert-drawn war comic, and many episodes boast skillful direction by the likes of Robert Altman, Ted Post, Bernard McEveety, and Burt Kennedy.  (Morrow himself directs three titles in this set.)  Editing and other production elements are also first-rate.

A two part episode, "Hills Are for Heroes", holds its own with "Saving Private Ryan" or "Band of Brothers" for fierce non-stop battle action that's realistic, harrowing, and emotionally devastating.  Written by "Star Trek: The Original Series" veteran Gene L. Coon and directed by Morrow, it's the story of the squad's seemingly doomed effort to capture a hilltop bunker that's practically impregnable. 

Mutiny looms as the body count rises, with Kirby and the others threatening to disobey the relentless orders that a heartbroken Lt. Hanley is forced to convey from the top.  The awful burden of command is depicted in scenes of almost unbearable intensity, with Hanley privately lamenting to Saunders that the brass "with their maps and their lines...forget they're talking about flesh and blood...and men who die when bullets hit them."
 
Attack after harrowing attack is doomed to bloody failure as Vic Morrow's sometimes impressionistic direction puts us right in the middle of the action (the handheld camerawork of the series is outstanding for its time), even capturing the POV of a dying soldier whose world has just been shot out from under him. 

If you took the first twenty minutes of "Saving Private Ryan" and extended the sequence to feature length (albeit on a much smaller scale), you'd have something approximating "Hills Are for Heroes."  In my opinion this incredible two-part episode, taken as a whole, constitutes one of the finest low-budget war films ever made.  By any standard, it's absolutely phenomenal television.

Each of the five discs in this DVD set follows a specific theme illustrated by four well-chosen episodes.  The first three themes are "Espionage", "New Replacements", and "The Squad", followed by "The Best of Hanley" and "The Best of Saunders."  "Espionage" begins the set with James Coburn as a German spy pretending to be an American G.I. in "Masquerade."  James Whitmore portrays a German officer trapped into impersonating a priest in "The Cassock", an episode that achieves a genuine kind of dramatic fascination when one of Saunders' men prevails upon the faux priest to hear his confession. 

"New Replacements" tells the stories of raw recruits--some fearful, some arrogant, and some just pitifully out of place--who, for better or worse, become attached to Saunders' squad.  Among the guest stars are John Cassavetes ("S.I.W."), Nick Adams, John Considine, Tab Hunter, and Buck Taylor.  "The Squad" shows us the day to day struggles, heartbreaks, and occasional victories experienced by the men under Saunders' command, with Lee Marvin giving his usual hardbitten performance as an abrasively uncompromising demolitions expert in "The Leader." 

"The Best of Saunders" begins with the Robert Altman-directed "Survival", probably my least favorite episode in the bunch, and steadily improves with the aid of some great stories and guest stars such as Rip Torn ("A Gift of Hope") and James Caan as a young German officer ("Anatomy of a Patrol").  "The Best of Hanley" contains some of the set's finest episodes with "A Day in June", "The Enemy", and "Hills Are for Heroes" parts 1 and 2.  Guest stars include Harry Dean Stanton, Sheckey Greene, a blink-and-you'll-miss-him Tom Skerritt (unbilled), and the aformentioned Robert Duvall and Anna Lee.

Other episodes not previously mentioned are "The Little Jewel", "The Long Walk", "Bridgehead", "Bridge at Chalons", "The Glory Among Men", "Rear Echelon Commandos", "The Celebrity", "The First Day", and "The Little Carousel."

The DVD set from Image Entertainment is in full frame (1.33:1) with Dolby Digital mono sound.  No subtitles or closed-captioning.  No bonus features.  Picture quality looks great to me, but my copy seemed to have a problem with occasionally jittery-sounding audio, particularly in the background music.  Not a dealbreaker for me, but audiophiles may want to give the set a test-drive before buying.

Perfect for Veteran's Day or any other day, COMBAT! FAN FAVORITES 50th ANNIVERSARY is solid entertainment all the way.  If you're into war movies or you just like first-rate, hard-hitting action and drama, television rarely gets any better than this. 

COMBAT! FAN FAVORITES 50TH ANNIVERSARY -- DVD Review by Porfle

THE RETURN OF THE VAMPIRE -- Movie Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 1/18/14

 

In THE RETURN OF THE VAMPIRE (1944), it's great to see Bela Lugosi playing Dracula again (his name,  technically, is Armand Tesla, but I choose to pretty much disregard that particular detail), and he obviously relishes the chance to don the old cape once more.

The wartime England setting is effective in this relatively fast-paced film, and there's a lot of spooky atmosphere. Frieda Inescort makes a strong impression as a female Van Helsing equivalent, doing her best to track down the vampire before he ruins the lives of her son and his fiancee, played by a cute young Nina Foch.  Matt Willis is Tesla's werewolf slave, Andreas, who gets a couple of cool Chaney-like transformation scenes.

[spoiler] It's a little strange to see Tesla knocked cold by a bomb blast in the final scenes, but when Andreas drags him out into the sunlight soon afterward he decomposes rather nicely. [/spoiler]

While Tesla no doubt lacks some of the class of the original Dracula character, I like to think of him as Dracula gone to seed, as though time and trevails have finally started wearing away his immortality and suave veneer, and made him a little more desperate -- not unlike the state of Lugosi's career at that point.

The story is dead serious (barring a strangely whimsical, fourth-wall-breaking ending) and filled with atmospheric sets (the cemetery is outstanding) and spooky situations.  A scene between Inescort and Lugosi's characters about midway through the film is one of the most startling and excitingly staged encounters in any classic vampire film.

THE RETURN OF THE VAMPIRE is also considered by many to be as close to a "Dracula vs. the Wolf Man" movie as we ever got except for the climax of "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein" which briefly pits the two Universal monsters against each other.

Matt Willis' Andreas gains audience sympathy as the unwilling werewolf slave to Tesla, while the lovely Nina Foch is quite endearing as the object of the vampire's perverse lust.  A young Jeanne Bates is seen briefly as Tesla's first victim.

Although a comparatively minor production released by Columbia, THE RETURN OF THE VAMPIRE is a good companion to the Universal "Dracula" films and should prove to be a very satisfying viewing experience for any fan of classic horror.  What's more, it's really fun to see Lugosi hamming it up once again in a part that's as close to a genuine sequel to DRACULA as he was ever allowed to play.

THE RETURN OF THE VAMPIRE -- Movie Review by Porfle

Classic Kirk Douglas Scene: 3 Slaps, You're Out (IN HARM'S WAY, 1965) (video)

 Here's a powerful scene from Kirk Douglas' performance in the WWII classic IN HARM'S WAY.

Commander Owynn (Patrick O'Neal) and his aide Lt. Jere Torrey (Brandon De Wilde)...

...are sneaky undercover informants for an inept admiral (Dana Andrews).

Capt. Eddington (Kirk Douglas) is determined to get rid of them.


I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it.  Thanks for watching!

Classic Kirk Douglas Scene: 3 Slaps, You're Out (IN HARM'S WAY, 1965) (video)

Funny Extra Blooper in "IN HARM'S WAY" (John Wayne, 1965)(video)

In Otto Preminger's classic WWII epic "In Harm's Way", John Wayne is Admiral "Rock" Torrey.

He arrives aboard his former battleship to give a briefing on the Pacific situation.

But one of the extras is a step ahead of him.

Anticipating another actor's line, he'll mouth the words "Attention, gentlemen" along with him as Wayne enters the room.

Maybe he wants to get paid extra for a "speaking part"!



I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it.  Thanks for watching!

Funny Extra Blooper in "IN HARM'S WAY" (John Wayne, 1965)(video)

3 Stooges Mocked Hitler Before Chaplin ("You Nazty Spy!", 1940) (video)

Charlie Chaplin's famous anti-war film "The Great Dictator" was released in October 1940.

In it, he plays a ridiculous caricature of Adolf Hitler.

But in January of that same year, the Three Stooges released "You Nazty Spy!"

In it, Moe became the first screen actor to lampoon Adolf Hitler...
...almost two years before America's entry into World War II.

In 1941, the Stooges followed this up with "I'll Never Heil Again."


I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it.  Thanks for watching!

3 Stooges Mocked Hitler Before Chaplin ("You Nazty Spy!", 1940) (video)

THE BEAST IN HEAT -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 6/23/19

 

I guess somebody had to try and outdo ILSA, SHE-WOLF OF THE SS, and director Luigi Batzella does his darndest with the horrendous Nazisploitation shocker THE BEAST IN HEAT (Severin Films, 1977), a film so irredeemably vile at times that some scenes might even make Dyanne Thorne's legendary blonde torture tart drop her jaw on the floor with a hollow thud.

Macha Magall (THE EROTIC ADVENTURES OF ROBINSON CRUSOE, CASA PRIVITA PER LA SS) plays Dr. Ellen Kratsch, a Nazi scientist whose inhuman gene experiments have turned a once-human test subject into a big, hairy, slobbering troll monster (Sal Boris) who loves it when a beautiful naked woman is tossed into his cage so that he can rape her to death in the most horrific and savagely animalistic manner imaginable (and yes, that includes cannibalism).

I forgot exactly what scientific purpose this serves, but we're talking about the Nazis here so anything goes. Which it does, with all manner of other atrocities going on in Dr. Ellen's laboratory involving captured members of the Italian anti-Nazi underground and their hapless loved ones in an effort to dissuade the group from its disruptive activities. 

If you've seen ILSA, just imagine it as a warm-up for what happens in this super-sordid nightmare of depravity which, if you're like me, will have you on edge waiting for the director to cut away to something else, which he doesn't do.

Meanwhile, the deceptively sweet-looking SS sadist (the delicately-featured Macha Magall as the inhuman torturess is a striking study in contrast) presides gleefully over it all and even takes an active part in the sexual torment of various male prisoners.  Giving what is probably the best performance in the movie, Magall's supremely evil villainess is a real piece of work.

While all this goes on, there's actually an attempt to put on a somewhat normal war movie elsewhere in a nearby Italian village where the underground rebels are trying to rescue their innocent women and children from the clutches of the Nazis. 

It's a rather pedestrian narrative that's directed, as is most of the movie, in an entirely no-frills fashion (but with lovely rustic Italian settings) and, despite overripe acting and some comically bad dubbing, features some fairly exciting and well-staged battle sequences that I found pretty entertaining.

Even here, however, there's the occasional overlap with the other half of the movie, meaning that when the Nazis move into town to round up the women and children, we're treated to more horrors (babies used as target practice, young girls molested and executed) while our main good-guy underground hero is hauled into Dr. Ellen's lab to be subjected to her most perversely sadistic seduction. 

And thus we see the schizophrenic nature of the film, with Nazisploitation at its most extreme (it truly wallows in the deep end of depravity) rubbing shoulders with a rather earnest little war movie that even has its cloyingly sentimental moments. 

But it's that incredible, gibbering human warthog of a rape monster that will really separate those who run screaming from THE BEAST IN HEAT and those who settle in to see if they can endure it.




Buy it from Severin Films

Release date: June 25, 2019
Scanned from 35mm negative elements

Special Features:

    Fascism On A Thread – The Strange Story of Nazisploitation Cinema: A new feature length documentary featuring interviews with Dyanne ‘Ilsa’ Thorne, Malissa ‘Elsa’ Longo, Filmmakers Sergio Garrone, Mariano Caiano, Rino Di Silvestro, Liliana Cavani, Bruno Mattei and many more.
    Nazi Nasty: Interview with Stephen Thrower, Author of MURDEROUS PASSIONS
    Trailer

THE BEAST IN HEAT -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

"SECRET WEAPON" Arrives on VOD/Digital HD July 7 and DVD July 21 -- Watch The Trailer HERE!

4DIGITAL MEDIA INVITES HOME AUDIENCES TO JOIN THE FIGHT WITH THE HISTORICAL ACTION FILM

"SECRET WEAPON"

 Based On A Remarkable True Story
SECRET WEAPON Arrives On VOD And Digital HD
On Leading Digital Platforms July 7 And DVD On July 21


In the midst of World War II, when a powerful secret Soviet rocket launcher is accidentally left behind during a retreat of Russian troops, a special opps team is sent into the heart of Nazi Germany to rescue the weapon. Against all odds, the unit must retrieve the launcher or ultimately risk the Germans finding it first.

WATCH THE TRAILER:

 
SYNOPSIS
In the depths of World War 2, a powerful secret Soviet rocket launcher is accidentally left during an unexpected retreat of Russian troops. Lethal in the hands of the Germans, a special operations unit is sent to rescue the launcher, to ensure Germans can never find and use it to win the war. Against all odds, the unit must fight to retrieve the secret weapon, no matter what it takes.

PROGRAM INFORMATION
Release: July 7, 2020 (VOD & Digital HD On Leading Digital Platforms), July 21,2020 (DVD)
Written/Directed By: Konstantin Statskiy
Produced By: Ruben Dishdishyan, Aram Movsesyan, Elena Denisevich
Starring: Alexander Ustyugov, Timofey Tribuntsev, Anatoly Gushin, Polina Polyakova
Distributor: 4Digital Media
Production Company: Mars Media Entertainment
Genre: Historical Action
Runtime: 99 minutes
Rating: NR
Aspect Ratio: 16x9 (1.78.1)
Audio: 2.0 Stereo and 5.1 Surround
Language: Russian (English subtitles) and English

"SECRET WEAPON" Arrives on VOD/Digital HD July 7 and DVD July 21 -- Watch The Trailer HERE!

Porfle's Trivia Quiz: Steve McQueen In "THE GREAT ESCAPE" (1963) (video)

John Sturges' WWII epic THE GREAT ESCAPE is one of the finest war movies ever made...

...with one of the best casts ever assembled.

Steve McQueen has one of his greatest roles as American pilot Virgil Hilts.

How much do you remember about his character?


Question: Hilts tells the Kommandant he plans to see _____ before the war is over.

A. Dresden
B. Berlin
C. Normandy
D. Paris
E. Vienna

Question: Hilts is known as The _____ King.

A. Tunnel
B. Cooler
C. Moonshine
D. Salvage
E. Cycle

Question: Hilts and friends make moonshine to celebrate...what?

A. Christmas Day
B. New Year's Day
C. Fourth of July
D. Veterans Day
E. Columbus Day

Question: Which one of Hilts' friends is killed during the celebration?

A. Ives
B. Blythe
C. Hendley
D. Willie
E. Danny

Question: How does Hilts pass the time in the cooler?

A. Cards
B. Harmonica
C. Baseball
D. Origami
E. Guitar

Question: Hilts' escape attempt ends how?

A. He is recaptured
B. He is shot while fleeing
C. He makes it to Switzerland
D. He is executed as a spy
E. He goes into hiding


I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it.  Thanks for watching!

Porfle's Trivia Quiz: Steve McQueen In "THE GREAT ESCAPE" (1963) (video)

PASSPORT TO PIMLICO -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

In the post-World War II years the small English studio Ealing Films was known for its popular comedies extolling the virtues of British nationalism and community spirit, qualities still strong after the solidarity and hardships experienced throughout their prolonged resistance to Germany's attacks.

It's that spirit which infuses the folksy Ealing comedy PASSPORT TO PIMLICO (Film Movement Classics, 1949), in which a heretofore unexploded bomb goes off under the streets of the small titular community and unearths a treasure as well as some very old documents proving that the surrounding land is actually the property of the Duke of Burgundy.

Being citizens of a foreign land suddenly exempts the Pimlicans from British rule including oppressive rationing, bringing on a chaotic onslaught of black market selling in the streets as well as the disregard of all British laws governing alcohol consumption, business hours, various civic ordinances, and the like.

The script by T.E.B. Clarke (THE TITFIELD THUNDERBOLT, THE LAVENDER HILL MOB) is alternately breezy and dry, with a likable cast of characters including a young (!) Hermione Badderly as local dress shop owner Edie Randall, Margaret Rutherford (the "Miss Marple" films) as learned historian Professor Hatton-Jones, and Stanley Holloway (IN HARM'S WAY) as the dry goods merchant Arthur Pemberton, who will become the tiny territory's prime minister when the current Duke of Burgundy shows up to serve as its benign leader.

A welcome sense of liberation ensues in which viewers of the time could vicariously cast off the shackles of post-war austerity and imagine the freedom of drinking and dancing all night and indulging in whatever material luxuries they could afford, which were suddenly available for easy purchase. 

Much is also made of the conflicts that naturally occur between the Pimlicans and the British government involving customs, border issues, and other concerns which come to a head when the underground railway is stopped at the border and anyone not carrying a passport is denied further progress. 

More solidarity and cheerful rebelliousness ensue when supplies and even water are cut off from the already drought-stricken town, forcing them to resort to desperate schemes even as the British public, sympathetic to their plight, begins to offer material aid as well.

This leads to a rousing scene in which the Brits happily toss foodstuffs over a barbed-wire barrier surrounding the town into their waiting arms.  The sequence brings home the film's feelgood atmosphere and sense of national spirit prevailing over bureaucratic entanglements.

Meanwhile, the story finds time to dwell on the endearing qualities of its main characters, simple folk just making the best of things and looking out for one another despite occasional differences. Romance also sneaks into the story as the Duke finds himself smitten with one of the town's young ladies who is already the object of a local boy's affections.

As you might guess, all is well by the time PASSPORT TO PIMLICO reaches its celebratory ending, and although I myself never got that drawn into it on a personal level, I found it quite pleasant and uplifting in its own homely sort of way. 


Buy it from Film Movement


Film Movement Classics

1949
84 Minutes
United Kingdom
English
Classics, Comedy
Not Rated
Sound: Mono
Discs: 1

Blu-ray Features

Interview with BFI Curator Mark Duguid
Locations Featurette with Film Historian Richard Dacre
Restoration comparison
Stills gallery

PASSPORT TO PIMLICO -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

"BACK TO THE FATHERLAND" -- Opening Theatrically June 14 in NYC/Opening in LA June 28 -- See Trailer HERE!

BACK TO THE FATHERLAND

DIRECTED & PRODUCED BY: KAT ROHRER AND GIL LEVANON

Award-winning documentary BACK TO THE FATHERLAND will open theatrically in New York on Friday, June 14 (Cinema Village) and Los Angeles (Laemmle Music Hall) on Friday, June 28 with a national release to follow.


WATCH THE TRAILER




Gil and Kat, both filmmakers, struck up a friendship during their time at college in New York City ten years ago. Gil comes from Israel, Kat from Austria. Their families' history is strikingly different. Gil is the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor, Kat is one of a Nazi officer.

The exodus of many young secular Israelis to Germany and Austria prompt Gil and Kat to embark on a journey: to find other grandchildren of Holocaust survivors who had moved to Germany and Austria and learn how their grandparents reacted to that decision. Could returning to the site of their pain decades ago create reconciliation between generations?

BACK TO THE FATHERLAND follows the journey of three families in transition; Israeli grandchildren from the “Third Generation” and their respective grandparents.The film deals with both sides of the historic tragedy and the attempt to build their own future, without ignoring the past.

KAT ROHRER (DIRECTOR, PRODUCER, AUSTRIA)
In 2002, Kat Rohrer founded her New York based production company, GreenKat Productions. Since then Kat has directed and produced more the ten short films, music videos, documentaries, and a wide variety of industrials and commercials. Kat acted as DP on the feature length documentary “Larry Flint: The Right to Be Left Alone”, which screened worldwide and has been aired on IFC. Her last documentary “Fatal Promises,” which deals with Human Trafficking, has been shown across the US and Europe in film festivals, anti-trafficking and fundraising events and college campuses.

GIL LEVANON (CO-DIRECTOR, CO- PRODUCER, ISRAEL)
Gil Levanon has been writing, producing and directing award winning commercials, industrial and short films for over fifteen years. After completing her BFA in directing and graduating with honors from the School of Visual Arts in New York City, she associate produced in The Rolling Stones Showfor MTV and later associate produced promos for USA Network ,NBC. Her short film “Manfred” won second place in the Israeli Documentary Challenge Competition and screened in Cinematheques around Israel.

ABOUT FIRST RUN FEATURES
First Run Features was founded in 1979 by a group of filmmakers to advance the distribution of independent film. First Run quickly gained a reputation for its controversial catalog of daring documentaries and fiction films. Today First Run remains one of the largest independent distributors in North America, releasing in theaters nationwide; to schools, libraries and other educational institutions; on home video on DVD and Blu-Ray; to television broadcasters; and online through a diverse group of innovative digital partners.

Recent releases include "Moynihan," "Stefan Zweig: Farewell to Europe," "Chasing Portraits," and "Germans & Jews." 

Check out our website: www.firstrunfeatures.com
 
Official film website: www.backtothefatherland.com

Feature Documentary, 77 mins, In English, German and Hebrew (with English subtitles)

"BACK TO THE FATHERLAND" -- Opening Theatrically June 14 in NYC/Opening in LA June 28 -- See Trailer HERE!

SURVIVING BIRKENAU: THE SUSAN SPATZ STORY -- DVD Review by Porfle

When you have a Holocaust survivor with a vivid memory and a desire to tell her story, you don't need any more than that. SURVIVING BIRKENAU: THE SUSAN SPATZ STORY (2019) is augmented by a wealth of period photographs and film clips, but it's the words of Susan Spatz herself that keep us mesmerized.

At 96, she is a prime example of going through hell and back again, having come out of her three-year ordeal with a burning desire to make the most of the remainder of her life.

As she says, her survival wasn't a happily-ever-after ending, but only the start of her struggle to find her place in the universe again.

 

Her story begins with her privileged childhood in Vienna in the 1920s, an only child she admits was spoiled until the Nazis came and turned everything upside-down.


With Austrian Jews being relocated into ghettos and worse, her father escaped to Brussels while her mother insisted on staying behind with Susan, supposedly to see how her husband fared before leaving.

As Susan relates, her mother's actual intention was to remain behind with her lover, a decision that condemned her and her daughter to imprisonment by the Nazis. Susan is frank about her lack of sentimental memories of the woman who chose her man over her daughter's well-being, a decision that soon landed Susan in the dreaded concentration camp at Auschwitz.

Her eyes are alight with vivid images of the past as she relates, clearly and in great detail, the horrors and hardships encountered there.

 

We've heard many similar stories before, but as always, hearing them from yet another individual who lived through the ordeal brings a different and newly fascinating wealth of day-to-day details which can only begin to convey what the actual experiences must have been like.

She talks of familiar horrors--the crematorium with the tall, fiery chimney, freight cars filled with dead bodies, crowds of naked people being separated according to who can still work and who is fit only for extermination--along with the hardships of simply staying alive one more day in some of the worst conditions imaginable.

Her eventual transfer to the camp at Birkenau and a wildly fortunate opportunity to join the pool of administrative assistants gave her a somewhat less precarious existence, and in fact was the most important factor in her survival.

She then reveals how the impending arrival of allied liberation forces brought about a long, horrific death march before she finally found herself suddenly free from bondage after three incredibly harsh years.

What comes next is Susan's story of life after living death, a life not easy but one which she was eager to live to the fullest.  A failed marriage, motherhood, and a college degree are all part of the story of this amazing woman who still displays a faded number tattooed on her arm. 

SURVIVING BIRKENAU: THE SUSAN SPATZ STORY is a thoughtful, evocative, harrowing, and ultimately inspiring story that eschews sensationalism in favor of simply letting her tell her story the way only a survivor of that time possibly could, and in being fortunate enough to hear it, we are all the better for it.






Buy it at Amazon.com

Language: English
Region: All Regions
Number of discs: 1
Studio: Dreamscape Media
DVD Release Date: May 14, 2019
Run Time: 71 minutes

About The Holocaust Education Film Foundation
Established in 2018, the Holocaust Education Film Foundation was started to build an international, interactive online community one Holocaust survivor story at a time. Through full-length documentaries, distributed globally through numerous platforms, the online site and educational programs, the 501c3 foundation seeks to ensure that we never forget.

Read our review of the Holocaust Education Film Foundations's TO AUSCHWITZ AND BACK: THE JOE ENGEL STORY

SURVIVING BIRKENAU: THE SUSAN SPATZ STORY -- DVD Review by Porfle

John Wayne's Coolest Scenes #30: Brief Encounter, "In Harm's Way" (1965) (video)

Rock (John Wayne) and Maggie (Patricia Neal) have a budding romance...

...that's about to be interrupted by World War Two.

Is there time enough for one brief night of passion?


I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it.  Thanks for watching!

John Wayne's Coolest Scenes #30: Brief Encounter, "In Harm's Way" (1965) (video)

NAZI JUNKIES -- DVD Review by Porfle

In Film Movement's two-part TV documentary DVD, NAZI JUNKIES ("The Hidden History of Drugs in the Third Reich"), we get something which is, for me, much different than the usual rehash of familiar World War II material.  Because here, we learn of what a major role performance-enhancing drugs played for not only Nazi soldiers and German civilians, but for Der Fuhrer himself.

Inspired by Norman Ohler's book, "Blitzed: Drugs In The Third Reich", this is a riveting account of an army and its leader fueled to the gills on various substances that kept them wide awake for days, performing at dangerously intense levels, and generally feeling invincible as their Blitzkreig steamrolled over Europe and then recklessly made its way into Russia where some of the most horrific warfare in human history would take place.

We see the main drug of the military, Pervitin, being mass-produced and handed out as part of each soldier's standard kit.  It's like something out of a sci-fi yarn about chemically-enhanced super soldiers except that it really happened, as is recounted here in fascinating style with documents, interviews with historians and participants, and, most importantly, a wealth of both photographic and briskly-edited film material that lavishly illustrates the narrative while keeping the "talking heads" stuff to a minimum.

Part One, "Hitler the Junkie", is all about the big "H" himself and how Der Fuhrer's personal "physician", Dr. Theodor Morell, kept him stoked up with a cocktail of intravenous delights that gave him that delusion of grandeur needed to fancy himself a brilliant leader whose every thought was part of some perfect plan for world domination. 

With anyone else the story of his gradual mental and physical deterioration might be tragic, but in this case it couldn't happen to a nicer guy.  This gives "Hitler the Junkie" its most satisfying quality even as the rest of what we see as a result of this madman's reign of terror is as incomprehensibly horrific as always. 

The film puts us right there in Hitler's bunker during those last days and details Ol' Bristle Lip's final descent into drug-addled madness as he and Eva Braun, along with the rest of the remaining "elite", prepare to send themselves on an express elevator to Hell.

Until then, we get a detailed diary of Hitler's daily injections and what they were doing to his mind and body, with speculation by historians as to what extent this perpetual saturation of illicit substances in his bloodstream affected his thought processes and decision-making abilities.

Part Two, "Nazi Junkies", tells of how the Third Reich used drugs on its own soldiers in order to push them to the absolute peak of efficiency and fighting fervor, with millions of tablets of "Pervitin" being distributed to the troops on a daily basis along with whatever else might keep them sufficiently supercharged.

We get a streamlined history of the war, again via a marvelous wealth of historical film and other visuals, but this time we see the invasions of Poland and France and various major battles with the knowledge that the German soldiers are performing in a state of drug-fueled mania.

Later, the disastrous and prolonged invasion of Russia finds them running out of drugs and, as a consequence, trading motivation for despair.  One of the most shocking revelations of these final days of the Third Reich is the use of children in midget submarines who were pumped full of drugs and sent on suicide missions against enemy ships in their tiny metal death traps. 

Of course, as with any documentary of this nature, there are images of unimaginable atrocities including much concentration camp footage (where drug experiments were carried out upon the helpless prisoners) and the mass extermination of civilians in both Europe and Russia during which the soldiers performing these acts eased their consciences through copious amounts of self-medication.

I had no idea that WWII Germany's fierce fighting machine, its seemingly invincible Aryan supermen in uniform, were a bunch of hopped-up junkies and speed freaks burning the candle at both ends until the wheels fell off (to mix metaphors badly) and that their own Big Cheese himself spent most of the war with a needle sticking out of his fat, pulsating veins.  As such, I found NAZI JUNKIES highly enlightening and effortlessly fascinating from start to finish.

Order it from Film Movement

Order it from Amazon.com


TECH SPECS:
Director: Christian Huleu
Format: NTSC
Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
Number of discs: 1
Studio: Film Movement
DVD Release Date: April 2, 2019
Subtitles: None
Run Time: 104 minutes

NAZI JUNKIES -- DVD Review by Porfle

John Wayne's Coolest Scenes #29: Gavabutu, "In Harm's Way" (1965) (video)

Admiral Rock Torrey (John Wayne) has been sent to a remote Pacific military base in WWII...

...to straighten out the mess caused by cowardly, indecisive Admiral Broderick (Dana Andrews).

As Broderick is busy strutting and preening for the visiting press...

...building up the situation as practically unresolvable...

...Torrey hits him with the sobering truth.

Then, mercifully, Torrey helps the flustered admiral save face.


I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it.  Thanks for watching!

John Wayne's Coolest Scenes #29: Gavabutu, "In Harm's Way" (1965) (video)

Pearl Harbor Attack Without Airplanes: "In Harm's Way" (1965) (video)

For this WWII epic starring John Wayne and Kirk Douglas...

...director Otto Preminger recreated the Dec. 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.

But although we see  a couple of brief stock shots of airborne Japanese planes...

...Preminger didn't use a single actual airplane in the entire attack sequence.

We hear the attacking airplanes, but we never seen them.


I neither own nor claim any rights to this material.  Just having some fun with it.  Thanks for watching!

Pearl Harbor Attack Without Airplanes: "In Harm's Way" (1965) (video)