Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Candida It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Oslo Jargo (Bartok Kinski) Idiotic film that portrays a bunch of drunk losers who brawl, that suddenly become one of the best army units in WW2. The incessant brawling takes 2 hours of time. It is tedious and juvenile.William Holden is as stiff as ever in his role as some tough commander who's always at the front of the battle, without taking an injury I might add.You might want to throw away your brain once the actual battles start up, since the Wehrmacht is portrayed as a bunch of idiots who don't know how to fight or stand guard duty. The greenhorn US grunts walk down a stream and take the whole town just like that.There is also no way a bunch of greenhorn US grunts are going to capture a town that was probably supported by Gebirgsjäger (Mountain units) and Waffen SS Mountain units by simply and easily climbing up a steep hill without gloves or equipment.There is also no way a bunch of greenhorn US grunts are going to capture a hill held by seasoned Fallschirmjäger units (paratrooper).

JohnHowardReid Allegedly based on a true story, this is a moderately entertaining war film that would be twice as exciting at half the length. In fact, the real-life characters presented here are actually rather superficial and unappealing. They never arouse much audience interest because many of the characters exist as mere ciphers. Despite its present length, the film bears evidence of cutting. Possibly the rejected footage filled out and rounded the characters, so that they had some semblance of reality. But this material has presumably been jettisoned in favor of three big action sequences, namely the fight with the lumberjacks, the round-up of German prisoners, and the final climactic battle. These are extremely well staged although many viewers will find the battle scenes too realistically gory. Earlier on, however, there is an amusing sequence when the hand-to-hand combat instructor arrives at camp. Nevertheless, by and large, the screenplay loses most of its opportunities for dramatic suspense. Why not allow at least one of the trainees to escape from the camp? Loose direction doesn't help either and some of the special effects are faulty. Within the limitations of the screenplay, the performances are good, particularly Holden and Akins. Patric Knowles, superbly made up, is fleetingly glimpsed as Lord Mountbatten. Michael Rennie, Dana Andrews and James Craig are understandably perfunctory in two-second bits. Harry Carey Jr, who seems to turn up in many McLaglen films, has nothing to do but march around in the background of two or three shots. In fact the main trouble is that just none of the characters are developed. In common with most of the other credits, Clothier's color and 'Scope photography is competent but undistinguished.

moonspinner55 WWII story has William Holden looking distressed at playing an American Lieutenant Coloniel, assigned to the heady task of whipping a large group of delinquent G.I.s into shape within four months for possible battle in Norway; complicating matters on the training base is the inclusion of a Canadian military unit who must share the field--and the barracks--with the obnoxious Yanks. Robert H. Adleman's book must have seemed like surefire screen material in 1968, but today it merely looks like a second-rate imitation of any number of "Dirty Dozen" war entries. All the usual clichés are firmly in place, from the rowdy bar brawl to the male ego-bruising to the eventual bonding amongst the men (which happens at exactly the 60-minute mark, commencing with the graduation ceremonies). A not-bad supporting cast (including Cliff Robertson, Vince Edwards, Carroll O'Connor, and an aged Michael Rennie and Dana Andrews) mostly takes a backseat to the soldiers-in-training, with Claude Akins' class-clown hogging a great deal of the spotlight. By-the-numbers film-making (not to mention storytelling) has a handful of rousing moments; yet, once the first-half is done, the rest of the picture is practically irrelevant. *1/2 from ****

bkoganbing When The Devil's Brigade first came out it got panned by a lot of critics in that it was too similar to The Dirty Dozen. Never mind that it was based on some real figures, the consensus was that The Devil's Brigade was a poor imitation of The Dirty Dozen. Personally I think it was a better film.I'm sure that the characters and incidents were given a lot of poetic license, but that was to make it entertaining. And entertaining it is. But it's also inspiring, especially in the last battle sequence, taking that hill by going up the hard way.When Bill Holden was cast as real life Lieutenant Colonel Robert Frederick, Mrs. Frederick was interviewed and said while she admired Mr. Holden's talent, she thought her husband was more the Gregory Peck type. Nevertheless Holden does a fine job as a man who shoots down Lord Louis Mountbatten's idea of a combined American/Canadian special force and then gets command of it. He's also a staff officer who had not seen combat and he was trying to prove something to himself.As good as Holden is, the best performance in this film has to be that of Cliff Robertson as Canadian Major Alan Crown. Robertson's an Ulster Irishman in the film and his acting and accent are impeccable. He's got something to prove as well, he and many of his Canadians left Europe at Dunkirk. Robertson himself was off his Oscar winning performance in Charly and The Devil's Brigade was a good follow up for him.The Canadians selected for this unit are the pick of the lot, while the Americans emptied their stockades of all the refuse. Holden encourages competition among them and a really terrific sequence involving a bar brawl with some obnoxious lumberjacks welds a camaraderie among former feudees.Standing out in the cast are Claude Akins as a particularly rambunctious American recruit and Jack Watson as the Canadian sergeant. They bond particularly close, some might even infer some homosexuality here, but Watson's death scene and Akins's reactions are particularly poignant.The Devil's Brigade also came out during the Viet-nam War and war films were not well received at that time, at least until Patton came out. Seen now though, The Devil's Brigade is a fine tribute to the Canadians and Americans who made up the First Special Service Force.