What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Betrayal (2009)

A moody, thought provoking, Second World War thriller based on true events from Norway, involving espionage and Nazi corruption. Former Aqua singer Lene Nystrom plays a nightclub singer who in reality is a British double agent attempting to come by the plans of a local Aluminium smelting plant which is used for building new planes, a key cog in the Third Reich's war machine. Plans held by SS-Sturmbannf?hrer Kr?ger (Gotz Otto)

Stately of pace yet always interesting, with excellent acting and great photography. Admittedly not the most action packed of films but it gives the bullets much more impact when they do come. This joins Flame and Citron and Winter in Wartime at the top of the list of Scandinavian WW2 thrillers released in the late 00's.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The Big Red One: The Reconstruction (1980) (2004)

A film based on director Samuel Fuller's own experience as a soldier in WWII.

It stars Lee Marvin as a sergeant in The Big Red One, the nickname for the US 1st Infantry Division and depicts their activities from first landing in North Africa, to the Allied invasion of Sicily, onto D-Day, Omaha Beach and Normandy, the liberation of France and on into Germany and finally Falkenau concentration camp in Czechoslovakia.

As you can imagine it's not a short film and this reconstruction by film maker and historian Richard Schickel adds 47 minutes to the films original running time of 113 mins.

Made with a small ensemble cast including Mark Hamill and Robert Carradine, as well as a shit load of extras, this is an action packed film that doesn't attempt to add phony morals, in essence it's a B-movie when compared to other war epics and is about Marvin's sergeant and the four soldiers who fought with him throughout the arduous three year campaign. There's no all encompassing Gods and Generals theme planning the attacks, we are simply with the men seeing and hearing the war through their eyes. The last reels in Czechoslovakia are deeply affecting.

[Susan Foreman]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

The Big Red One (1980)

A film based on director Samuel Fuller's own experience as a soldier in WWII

Makes you wonder what the police were thinking when this was seized at the height of the 'nasties' scare!

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Susan Foreman

Makes you wonder what the police were thinking when this was seized at the height of the 'nasties' scare!

Ill informed idiots weren't they.

Did they really think that a director who had worked in Hollywood throughout his career had suddenly gone into hard core pornography and coaxed Lee Marvin and one of the world's biggest stars at the time in Mark Hamill to join him.

[Susan Foreman]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Did they really think that a director who had worked in Hollywood throughout his career had suddenly gone into hard core pornography and coaxed Lee Marvin and one of the world's biggest stars at the time in Mark Hamill to join him.

Don't forget they also brought 'The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas', with Dolly Parton and Burt Reynolds, in for questioning !

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Susan Foreman

Don't forget they also brought 'The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas', with Dolly Parton and Burt Reynolds, in for questioning !

Yes, but so would i.

[Justin101]

Hey, I love that film

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Justin101

Hey, I love that film

If only it were directed by Ken Russell then it would have been worth watching.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

When Trumpets Fade (1998)

Made by director John Irvine as a production for cable channel HBO, it stars Ron Eldard as a US army private promoted against his will having survived a German assault in the Battle of the H?rtgen Forest in the winter of 1944. Physically and mentally exhausted from seeing all his comrades die around him, Irvine, together with a powerful performance from Eldard, make the viewer question whether or not he's a hero, a coward or simply a victim of circumstances happening around him.

Released the same year as Spielberg's ground breaking Saving Private Ryan When Trumpets Fade is almost as harrowing in it's portrayal of war violence. Much of the film is genuinely gripping with several beautifully affecting scenes amid the brutal carnage.

The battle itself was a long three month slog in which the Allies came up against heavy opposition near the Belgian / German border. The Germans fiercely defended the area because it served as a staging area for the 1944 winter offensive Wacht am Rhein - best known as the Battle of the Bulge. It remains the longest single battle the US army has ever fought with casualties around 140,000.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Battle of the Bulge (1965)

An astonishingly spectacular WWII epic based on the last German offensive in the winter of 1944 when thousands of German tanks smashed their way through the snowy forests of the Ardennes pushing back the Allied forces as they neared the German border.

Both sides are superbly represented with Robert Ryan, Henry Fonda and Dana Andrews leading the charge for the Americans, but all are outshone and dominated by Robert Shaw as the German colonel and tank commander Hessler, in what is a stunning performance of both military tactical nous and obsessed paranoia.

There are historical inaccuracies galore including as is usual for American films no mention of British involvement at all which is ridiculous as Field Marshal Montgomery commanded two armies in the northern half of the Bulge, it also lacks authenticity as no German King Tiger tanks were used in the film instead replaced by American M47 Pattons which look nothing like them. In the film makers defence none of the Tigers existed so couldn't be used. (Footnote - The only King Tiger in existence is at The Tank Museum in Bovington, Dorset)

Get past these inaccuracies though and Battle of the Bulge is a terrific action packed and extremely thrilling depiction of all out Panzer assaults on the Allied forces.

Director Ken Annakin filmed in Ultra Panavision 70 and exhibited in 70 mm Cinerama and it looks absolutely stunning on Blu-ray.