Greetings Warmongers and Warriors of the celluloid loving form.
War films are a genre of film, an important one in fact. It has many splinters, from historical swords and sandals battles - to the World Wars and up to the present day horrors still being fought in far off lands that are alien to most of us. It's a genre of film that can excite and horrify in equal measure.
So what films have you seen of late?
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ALFA TAU! 1942
This one is an Italian war film made during the Italian involvement in World War Two. The Italians, like all the other combatants knocked out flag-wavers for the home front. This one is about the crew of the Italian submarine, "Enrico Toti".
The film starts out in port and deals mainly with the everyday life of the various officers and crew of the submarine. We see the crew go through training and having a glass or two after hours. We get to see the lives of their women folk and their families as well. There is also the odd British air-raid to break up the routine. This goes on for a good two thirds of the film.
When the "Enrico Toti" finally goes to sea, the pace really bumps up a couple of notches. There is a run in with several British torpedo aircraft. (actually Italian SM- 79 Sparrow bombers) The sub is hit by one of the torpedoes but the torpedo luckily is a dud. The crew manage to down one of the British aircraft with their anti-aircraft fire.
There is now a hook up with a German U-Boat for the transfer of a wounded man to the Germans. The submarine is then sent to help the crew of a damaged Italian Air Force tri-motor floatplane. They help repair the aircraft and see it off.
Now comes the defining moment for the "Enrico Toti" The submarine becomes involved with a British Royal Navy submarine. Both ships are on the surface and are quickly barking at each other with their deck guns. The range rapidly closes as the two ships try to nail the other with a torpedo. The Italian anti-aircraft weaponry chases the British submarine's gun crew below decks. The main deck gun then manages to put several rounds into the Royal Navy submarine, sinking her. The "Enrico Toti" now returns to home port for repairs and to drop their wounded.
The battle depicted in the film actually happened. The "Enrico Toti" and HMS "Triad" ran into each other at dawn on 15th October, 1940, in the Gulf of Taranto. HMS "Triad" was the only Royal Navy submarine lost to an Italian submarine. There were no survivors from the "Triad".
The "Enrico Toti" spent most of the war as a training boat with the odd run to carry supplies to North Africa.
The first part of the film is heavy going, but once the action starts, it turns into a well mounted wartime flag-waver. The cast is made up of mostly Italian Navy submariners.
The film was directed by Francesco De Robertis. This is the second war film from the director that I have seen. The other title was 1952's, CARICA EROICA.
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SKY COMMANDO 1953
This quickie was put out by the Sam Katzman's B-Unit at Columbia Pictures.
This one starts at an American airfield during the Korean War. An American pilot, William Bryant, blames his Commanding Officer, Dan Duryea for the death of his brother on a ground support mission. Duryea's executive officer, Michael Fox, takes Bryant aside and tells him a story about Duryea from the WW2. The film now goes into flashback with Fox narrating.
Duryea is charge of a squadron taking reconnaissance photos for missions to be flown by the US 8th Air Force. Duryea is known in the unit as a tough and hard commander, disliked by his men. His personal aircrew hold him responsible for the death of his popular co-pilot during a mission. Joining the crew is a new co-pilot, Mike Connors.
It is now time to introduce the female of the piece, Frances Gifford. Gifford is a war correspondent assigned to do a story on the recon group. Needless to say she falls for the dashing co-pilot, Connors, and the pair are soon an item.
The heavy bombers have just returned from a raid over the heavily defended German city, Bremen. They need someone to do a flight over the city to see if another raid is needed. Duryea and his crew draw the assignment. They are sent off into less than stellar weather conditions to get the pictures.
When they arrive over Bremen, the cloud cover forces their B-25 down low to get their photos. The ship takes a load of anti-aircraft fire and several of the crew are killed. The plane just barely makes it over the channel back to England for a crash landing. The remaining crew including a wounded, Connors, blame Duryea for being reckless and getting their comrades killed.
While Connors is in hospital to recover from his wounds, the unit is shipped off to North Africa. And so is war correspondent, Gifford. Connors follows once the medical repairs heal.
The unit is now switched over to flying B-24 Liberators and assigned to fly on the raid against the Polesti oil fields in Romania. They face heavy Axis resistance and Duryea's aircraft is shot down. The B-24 manages to crash land in Yugoslavia, where the crew is soon grabbed up by the local partisans. Duryea and the boys have valuable photos of the raid high-lighting several oil installations missed in the raid. The surviving crew makes it to the coast, to be whisked away by a partisan fishing boat to safety.
This is not a good film. It has that filmed in a week look to it for a reason. Principal filming only took 8 days. The rest of the production time was spent sewing together the myriad of combat footage used to pad out the run time. The story, if one can call it that, is sub-par at best, even for a Sam Katzman production.
The director, Fred Sears, pumped out close to 50 films during his (1949-1958) career. Quite a lot of it was low rent drivel like this one, but he did turn out a few watchable films such as, WORLD WITHOUT END, UTAH BLAINE, RUMBLE ON THE DOCKS, THE 49th MAN, CELL 2455 DEATH ROW and CHICAGO SYNDICATE.
This was the third film for Mike "Touch" Connors, who after a career in b-fodder, would strike gold with the long running (1967-1975) Private Detective series, MANNIX. It was also the last film for former star, Frances Gifford. One can only guess that Dan Duryea had no idea what he was signing up for when he joined this production.
The stock footage used is all jumbled up and has B-25, B-24, A-20, Stuka, various marks of Me 109, P-40, F-86 and P-80 aircraft being shown. There is even a segment used during the Polesti raid with C-47's transports on screen. The model work is also less than stellar.
Having said all this, it does only have a run time of 69 minutes.
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1944 (2015)
This Estonian made war film takes place during July to November 1944. It starts with the battle of the Tannenberg Line where German and their Allied forces try to hold back the advancing Soviet Red Army.
The film follows a small detachment of Estonian troops who are fighting for the Germans. The battle is hard fought and results in massive losses to the Red Army. The Red Forces are however far too great and the Germans and Estonians are forced to retreat towards the coast. The first 45 minutes or so follows this group during the battle and retreat.
The film then shifts gear and follows another group of Estonians, this time the men are part of the Red Army. There is a brief fight between the two groups that ends once they realize they are all Estonian. The group fighting with the Germans withdraws leaving the field to the Red Army side. Now the film follows the Estonians who are fighting with the Reds as they advance.
The politics in play here are the same for both sides. In 1940 the U.S.S.R. annexed Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia all at the same time. (The Soviets received a bloody nose when they tried the same move on Finland) The Soviet occupation had been brutal with many killed or shipped off to camps. When the Germans swept through during their 1941 attack on the USSR, they were looked upon as liberators by many.
When the Germans put out a call for men to join an all Estonian unit to fight several thousand men signed up. (Several thousand more were drafted) Most join to get some payback on the USSR. The men fighting for the Reds were men drafted into the Red Army in 1941, or offered freedom from the camps if they fought for the Red Army. Both sides just wanted the war to end.
The film is quite well made with excellent attention to weapons, uniforms etc. The battle scenes are all well handled with plenty of pyrotechnics on display.
The film is a look at a rather unknown (in the west) story of World War Two and is worth the time imo.
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BLACK SHEEP aka "Schwartzes Schap" 2016
This impressive short is a real nasty jewel of a war film. The 57 minute quickie was written, produced, edited, scored and directed by newcomer, Mitchell James Huberty. It looks like Huberty put his whole family to work on this production. Other than one or two professional actors, the production was made by amateurs. And they all do a hell of a job!
The film is set in the summer of 1943 in the deep forests of eastern Poland. A small detachment of SS troops are on an anti-partisan sweep through the country side. Their enemy are Polish partisans and a few Soviet Red Army soldiers that were left behind during the retreat of 1941.
The film focuses on one particular SS private and one particular partisan. Both their background stories are similar and both would rather be elsewhere. The daily grind for the SS troopers is checking the homes and farms of the locals. Whenever evidence of anyone aiding the partisans is found, it is up against the wall for a firing squad. For the partisans, it is raiding German supply trucks and ambushing the opposing forces.
The locals are caught between the old rock and a hard place. The Germans shoot them if they help the partisans, while the partisans do likewise if they collaborate with the Germans. For the most part, the SS types are the winners in the battles in the woods. This anti-partisan war was a particularly nasty conflict with no quarter given by either side.
What really stands out here is the attention to weapon and uniform details. All are accurate to the period. There is also no English spoken in the film. It is all German, Polish or Russian which adds to the film's dramatic impact. The look of the film is top flight with the battle scenes in particular standing out.
Other than actor, Jeremiah Turner, there is not a soul I recognize in the film. Director Huberty also plays one of the major roles in the film. If this was a film school project, then it is a barn-burner of a success. Huberty is destined for big things if this is an example of his skill.
Well done by everyone involved.
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THE SILENT SERVICE "Incident Down South" 1958
This is the 49th episode of the U.S. war series, "The Silent Service". The series was about the exploits of the U.S. Navy's submarine fleet. Each episode is a stand-alone tale of the actions of a particular submarine. Most of the stories are about actions against the Japanese Navy and merchant fleet in the Pacific. There is also the odd tale from the Korean conflict. The series ran for 78 episodes during 1957 and 1958. The stories were all based on actual events. Some pretty good attention to detail here with the U.S Navy allowing filming on several WW 2 era Gato class subs.
Each episode started and ended with retired Real Admiral Thomas M. Dykers giving a breakdown of the action. Dykers became a writer, producer and technical adviser after leaving the service. He worked on films such as, TORPEDO ALLEY, FLAT TOP, THE FROGMEN, HELL AND HIGH WATER and SUBMARINE COMMAND.
This episode is about the U.S.S. "Tarpon". It is January 1942 and the "Tarpon" is sent out from Australia to look for Japanese ships heading toward the Dutch East Indies. The "Tarpon" had been based in the Philippines at the start of the war before escaping to Australia. The boat is sorely in need of repairs and a refit, but the situation is desperate and all ships are needed.
The "Tarpon" sights a large Japanese ship in the distance and gives chase. One of the submarine's diesel engines now gives up the ghost. The "Tarpon" cannot keep up with the target and is forced to give up the attack. She continues on to her patrol area.
More bad luck rears its head again as the submarine runs aground on a reef off Flores Island. The submarine now needs to wait for high tide to try and escape. A Dutch missionary and several natives canoe out to the submarine. The missionary tells the ship's Captain, Ed Kemmer that high tide is not for a good 10 hours.
Kemmer and his executive officer, Gardner McKay have the crew jettison all extra equipment. They toss everything not bolted down and fire off all the torpedoes. Even lightened, the "Tarpon" refuses to float off. They will need to wait till high tide. The motor room crew finally manage to jury rig a repair to the failed engine. With high tide and the extra power, the "Tarpon" pulls itself off the reef. And just in time as a flight of Japanese aircraft has appeared on the scene. The submarine dives to safety and head back to base in Australia.
The "Tarpon" would complete 11 wartime patrols sinking at least 6 enemy vessels. The submarine was used for training until 1956 and was then sold for scrap. The "Tarpon" floundered while under tow off Cape Hatteras in August 1957. (So many ships have been lost off Cape Hatteras that the area is known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic)
Of note here, is one of the ships that was sunk by "Tarpon". The German surface raider "Michel" was destroyed on Oct 16 1943 just off Japan. The disguised raider "Michel" was responsible for the destruction of 15 Allied vessels during two voyages.
Actor Gardner McKay would later headline the popular South Seas series, ADVENTURES IN PARADISE for 91 episodes between 1959 and 1962.
Age of Heroes (2011)
Operation Grendel
Age of Heroes is directed by Adrian Vitoria and Vitoria also co- writes the screenplay with Ed Scates. It stars Sean Bean, Danny Dyer, Aksel Hennie, Izabella Miko, James D'Arcy, William Houston, John Dagleish and Stephen Walters. Music is by Michael Richard Plowman and cinematography by Mark Hamilton.
Pic is based on the real life exploits of James Bond creator Ian Fleming. This telling sees a unit of Commandos sent on a mission to the mountains of Norway to knock out an important German communication tower whilst purloining information to aid the war effort.
In truth it doesn't add a great deal to an already over stocked "men on a mission" sub-genre of war films, but there's enough excitement, explosions, potent character dynamics and military shenanigans, to keep things at the better end of a viewing experience. Cast are fine, all portraying familiar types seen in countless films of this ilk, whilst the snowy Norwegian locations are a sight for sore eyes, and Vitoria does a nice job of giving his film an old fashioned feel - complete with the obligatory Nazi atrocity to add some venomous oomph to the plotting.
The inclusion of Izabella Miko on the mission sadly comes off as a token female shoehorn job, and I agree with what other reviewers have said as regards the finale, it does feel a bit rushed as this pic definitely could have done with another 15 minutes or so. Yet being an old fashioned guy myself, I liked it well enough and was glad to have viewed it. 7/10
The Spikeopath - Hospital Number 217
New one for me, Spike. Thanks for the heads up here and of course a tick has been sent your way. Been a Bean fan since the SHARPE'S films.
shareHe hasn't got to stretch himself in this but he's his usual gruff scene dominating self.
The Spikeopath - Hospital Number 217