In Love and War

Starring:Chris O'Donnell, Mackenzie Astin, Sandra Bullock, Margot Steinberg, Alan Bennett, Ingrid Lacey, Terence Sach, Carlo Croccolo, Tara Hugo, Gigi Vivan, Giuseppe Bonato, Allegra Di Carpegna, Diane Witter, Mindy Lee Raskin, Tracy Hostmyer, Kaethe Cherney, Lauren Booth, Rebecca Craig, Frances Riddelle, Wendi Peters
Director: Richard Attenborough
Studio: New Line Home Video
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

This big, boisterous adventure is more inspired by than based on Rudyard Kipling's famous poem. Legendary screenwriters Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur have fashioned a rousing Hollywood movie full of high adventure, knockabout comedy, and old-fashioned male bonding. And old-fashioned it is: the trio of British officers and best friends who form the core of the film are a 19th-century three musketeers in India, threatened by the interventions of a woman who means to marry the dashing Ballantine (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.). Blustery commander MacChesney (Victor McLaglen) schemes to keep Ballantine in the army while his second in command, the treasure-hunting Cutter (Cary Grant in a hopelessly mugging comic performance), continues searching for his elusive mother lode, but all their plans are thrown into chaos when the rise of the bloodthirsty Thugs threaten Britannia's soldiers. Sam Jaffe takes up the rear guard in turban, loin, and full-body make-up as the titular Gunga Din, the loyal water carrier who dreams of becoming a soldier. Bombastically chauvinist and naively imperialist, the film is bound to rub some people wrong, but Stevens creates a thrilling spectacle in the grand Hollywood mold, a handsome, exciting classic comic adventure that helped make 1939 Hollywood's grandest year. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews:

Gunga Din revisited.......2007-02-23

Although made in 1939 in California, many cinema goers thought the film was made on location in India. George Stevens, the director was a master of his time.

After seeing the film, listen to the excellent comentary about the making of the film. The three stars are almost outshone by Sam Jaffee who plays Gunga Din, and he plays it wonderfully.

This is another example of the quality of hits Hollywood produced in 1939, the golden year in American Cinema.

Gunga Din -- the first Indiana Jones movie.......2007-02-07

Gunga Din is one of those under rated films of the late 1930s that had a huge influence on later films. Both the Beatles Help and later Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom used Gunga Din as a model. But Gunga Din has the ability to combine pathos and humor in a way that both later films failed, and in the end, serves as one of my favorite action films.
While it does not have the remarkable special effects of Temple of Doom, Gunga Din gives us characters that are richer and in some way significantly more human. Both Douglas Fairbanks and Cary Grant serve as early versions of Harrison Ford.
We even get some similar humor -- especially in dealing with elephants -- and similar scenery.
I tend to watch Gunga Din after I have watched Temple of Doom. They make a great double feature.

great cast for a great story.......2007-01-19

just a plain ole good movie with a great cast. even Sam Jaffe made up looked like a Hindu peasant.

An Underrated Masterpiece.......2007-01-12

Few movie watchers realize there were more classics from 1939 than just "Gone With the Wind" and "The Wizard of Oz."

This movie is a beautiful blend of adventure, suspense, and humor. There is great chemistry between Gary Grant, Victor McLaglen, and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., which are the most enjoyable segments of the movie. However, Gary Grant once again steals the show with his expressions and overall performance. It still amazes me that he never was awarded an Oscar for best actor.

The final scenes with Sam Jaffe (Gunga Din) are very moving and climax a well scripted classic.

Every man's favorite movie........2007-01-12

Gunga Din is a great classic. The few aqttempts to remake it were failures. You just can't do it any better than George Stevens did it with that remarkable and unforgettable cast.

Average customer rating:

Come on HDDVD!
HERE'S LOOKING AT YOU, CASABLANCA...as NEVER BEFORE in HD DVD!
Truly not overrated
Anyone who can't appreciate this film, shouldn't watch movies.
Casablanca is overrated

Casablanca [HD DVD]
Starring: Mischa Auer , Leon Belasco , Ingrid Bergman , Oliver Blake , and Monte Blue
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: HD DVD

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ASIN: B000I0RR7Q
Release Date: 2006-11-14

Description

Casablanca: easy to enter, but much harder to leave, especially if you're wanted by the Nazis. Such a man is Resistance leader Victor Laszlo (Paul Henreid), whose only hope is Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart), a cynical American who sticks his neck out for no one, especially Victor's wife Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman), the ex-lover who broke his heart. Ilsa offers herself in exchange for Laszlo's transport out of the country and bitter Rick must decide what counts more - personal happiness or countless lives hanging in the balance.

Customer Reviews:

Come on HDDVD!.......2007-05-21

Great movie hands down. It's the HDDVD I am upset with. The film is forced into a 4x3 aspect ratio. I understand this is to ensure the theatrical presentation of the film, but why not have an option for widescreen. I have never minded the bars associated with letterbox, but I want my widescreen tv to have a full picture! Some hddvds even letterbox films still. Why? I already have widescreen, your making my screen smaller! There needs to be some better viewing options. Oh well, HVD will be out in 20-30 years, we'll all have to buy everything all over again anyway.

Oh, would someone please bring an ultimate edition of Gone with the Wind to HDDVD? This should have been one of the first titles made available. But I'm sure they have I in the works. It will probably be like ten HD discs and cost over a hundred dollars knowing the film industry.

HERE'S LOOKING AT YOU, CASABLANCA...as NEVER BEFORE in HD DVD!.......2007-04-22

65 years after it first it theaters, CASABLANCA remains a perfect film, a timeless masterpiece, and one of the most beloved American cinematic treasures. There are only a handful of films from the 'golden era' that can still captivate any audience, even those with no interest in classic film, no less black & white films.

Warner Brothers gave this crown jewel the deluxe treatment on regular DVD about 3 years ago, and it was impossible to conceive that even the glories of 1080p HD DVD could really make it look THAT much better...

Well, it DOES. Several people I know use this CASABLANCA HD DVD as their 'demo disc' for their home theater. Despite B&W, monaural sound, and a square aspect ratio, the clarity is unreal, and it only heightens the enjoyment of one of the greatest films ever made.

Kudos to Warner for giving this to fans so early in the HD game. There is a terrible paucity of truly great films available in Hi Def right now, regardless of format. None of the other studios seem to recognize they have libraries, and relegate their releases to the recent flavor of the month (for the most part). Warner has been the top video label for years, and this is just another reason why. They really know what they're doing.

All the exceptional special features created for the regular DVD have been carried over, and although they are standard definition, the upconversion makes them look better than ever.

This is truly an ESSENTIAL part of any HD library.

Truly not overrated.......2007-02-28

I personally haven't seen Casablanca in HD as of yet. However, I am in total agreement with the previous review. If you simply are watching movies for HD rather than the storyline or simply do not care for black and white films, you are missing the picture. This movie was released during the war and overwhelmingly accepted at a time when blockbuster movies were not at the top of the list for our nation. It has been revered as the best movie of all time by many and ranked #2 on AFI's top 100. Simply reviewing this film strictly for the set or grainy picture is not sufficient and is pretty much the same as if someone 50 years from now were to make the same remarks about an epic film of our day. In closing I would like to say that even though I don't agree with the 3 stars, at least you watched the movie before you knocked it. My advice, watch it once more and appreciate it.

Anyone who can't appreciate this film, shouldn't watch movies........2007-02-03

This classic film is more than just a love story- it's at once an allegory, morality tale, and propaganda film. Most of all- it's propaganda for living. It sends the message that the greatest battle we have to fight is with ourselves, and that inevitably- love conquers all. If you watched this film as all you saw were grainy models, stoic acting, and car scenes obviously filmed in studio- you were looking too hard. You should look at the film and see yourself staring back. There is something for everyone in this film, which makes it good- but if you know anything about the world at the time this movie was made, it's a truly great work. Watch as Renault, the corrupt Frenchman, battles against the Germans with snide comments and other asides- but just as he battles against the Huns- the Vichy and Free parts of his mind are struggling for his better inclinations. Take another look through the lenses of the era, and you will understand why it swept the academy awards, won unanimous support of the censors, and the love of a war torn public.

Casablanca is overrated.......2007-01-16

Maybe it's because of the detail in HD-DVD format, but I think Casablanca is a B-Movie at the most. The love story is not believable, Bogart is emotionless and delivers like he memorized the lines. Bergman does a credible job, except I don't buy her character being in love with Rick. Sure she had fun with him in Paris, but I didn't feel the love. That's the big deal about the movie, right? The effects were cheesy (maybe due to the High-Definition, they really show models as models) aircraft & buildings look like toys, the rear-projection car scenes are obviously not in a car.

I had never actually watched this movie all the way through before. I have always seen clips and parts, but not the whole movie in toto. With all the hype and buildup I really had expected a better movie. The HD-DVD is great, with marvelous quality and clear sound. But the movie itself was not all it's cracked up to be (imho).

Average customer rating:

For fans of the F-86 fighter
"The Hunters" DVD
Nice flying sequences - shame about the plot!
Great Korean War Aviation movie
It is the superb aviation footage which makes "The Hunters" memorable...

The Hunters
Starring: Robert Mitchum , Richard Egan , May Britt , Lee Philips , and John Gabriel
Director: Dick Powell
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B0001NBMHQ
Release Date: 2004-05-25

Description

With its electrifying flight sequences and high-powered cast, The Hunters is a mesmerizing film based on the best-selling novel by veteran fighter pilot James Salter. Set during the height of the Korean War, the story centers on Major Cleve Saville (Robert Mitchum), a master of the newly operational F-86 Sabre fighter jets. But adept as he is at flying, Saville¹s personal life takes a nosedive when he falls in love with his wingman¹s (Lee Philips) beautiful wife (May Britt). To make matters worse, Saville must cope with a loud-mouthed rookie (Robert Wagner) in a daring rescue mission that threatens all their lives in this well-crafted war drama.

Customer Reviews:

For fans of the F-86 fighter.......2007-04-04

The plot is totally predictable, but interesting, set in a historical perspective. But it is the flying scenes of Korean war F-86's that make this DVD worth purchising.

"The Hunters" DVD.......2007-03-08

This was a new copy, still in wrapping. I am very pleased.

Nice flying sequences - shame about the plot!.......2007-03-05

If you like watching F-86 Sabres pitching, yawing, rolling, shooting, and crashing then this film might be for you. There is plently of this as it was made in cooperation with the USAF.

Be warned however:
- This film contains an idiotic romantic subplot.
- Robert Wagner's "cool" character appears to be from another film.
- Chinese soldiers are portrayed as gibbering idiots.

Watch "The Bridges at Toko-Ri" if you want to see a decent Korean War/USAF film.

Great Korean War Aviation movie.......2007-02-07

Lots of F-86 air combat video and a good cast.

It is the superb aviation footage which makes "The Hunters" memorable..........2007-01-02

North American's F-86 Sabre was the West's premier fighter aircraft during the early 1950s, and superior to any fighter aircraft in the eastern part of the world... The F-86 scored consistent victories over Russian-built MiG fighters during the Korean War...Hollywood didn't make nearly enough movies about it, but in "The Hunters," we have the opportunity to admire this graceful and agile subsonic equipped with more powerful engines and armament systems that ranged from bombs and rockets to machine guns and cannons...

Robert Mitchum portrays the big hunter, the 'Iceman.' Maj. Cleve Saville was like death: no feelings, no nerves, no fear... In Japan, on his way to his first posting in Korea, he meets Lt. Carl Abbott (Lee Philips), a young pilot who thinks he is a bad flier... Too much booze was the sign... With 30 missions Abbott failed to get any enemy planes... His wife Chris (May Britt) doesn't know what to do with him... She asks Maj. Saville to look out for him and help him... Saville finds himself falling in love with her, with some response from her...

Filling out the story when they finally reach Korea are the first of the jet pilots, Col. Dutch Emil (Richard Egan), and Lt. Ed Pell (Robert Wagner), a rude young guy with big cigars in his face, considered as a 'little stinker who can get MiGs.' Their common enemy is the Chinese ace Casey Jones (Leon Lontoc). His plane has the numbers 7-11 on his fuselage...

The MiGs are based in Red China, across the Yalu River...

Average customer rating:

YOU KNOW HOW TO WHISTLE, DON'T YOU?
Beat Bogie!
Great Movie To Watch
Bogie And Bacall - Where It All Began....
Bacall was blessed by nature with two advantages...

To Have and Have Not (Snap case)
Starring: Humphrey Bogart , Walter Brennan , Lauren Bacall , Dolores Moran , and Hoagy Carmichael
Director: Howard Hawks , and Robert Clampett
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0000B1OGH
Release Date: 2003-11-04

Amazon.com essential video

Yes, it's true: you can virtually see Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall falling for each other in this Howard Hawks variation on Casablanca but adapted from--as legend has it--Ernest Hemingway's self-declared "worst novel." (The story goes that Hawks told Hemingway he could make a movie of the author's least work, and Hemingway gave him the rights to this story.) The script by William Faulkner and Jules Furthman actually makes this one of Hawks's and Bogart's most interesting and often exciting films. Bogart plays a boat captain who reluctantly agrees to help the French Resistance while wooing chanteuse Bacall. Hoagy Carmichael, wry at the piano, adds a delicious accent to an already wonderful mood. --Tom Keogh

Description

Help the Free French? Not world-weary gunrunner Harry Morgan (Humphrey Bogart). But he changes his mind when a sultry siren-in-distress named Marie asks, "Anybody got a match?" That red-hot match is Bogart and 19-year-old first-time film actress Lauren Bacall. Full of intrigue and racy banter (including Bacall's legendary whistling instructions), this thriller excites further interest for what it has and has not. Cannily directed by Howard Hawks and smartly written by William Faulkner and Jules Furthman, it doesn't have much similarity to the Ernest Hemingway novel that inspired it. And it strongly resembles Casablanca: French resistance fighters, a piano-playing bluesman (Hoagy Carmichael) and a Martinique bar much like Rick's Cafe Americaine. But first and foremost, it showcases Bogart and Bacall, carrying on with a passion that smolders from the tips of their cigarettes clear through to their souls.

Customer Reviews:

YOU KNOW HOW TO WHISTLE, DON'T YOU? .......2007-04-19

A story based, very loosely based I might add, on Ernest Hemingway's short novel. A screenplay written in part by William Faulkner. The lead roles played by the charismatic Humphrey Bogart and the dishy Lauren Bacall with able assists by Walter Brennan and the legendary songwriter Hoagy Carmichael. Some classic Hollywood lines. What is not to like about this 1940's black white film that still plays well after over fifty years. Only if you naively expected faithfulness to the author's novelistic intent by those who bought the film rights. But, don't be silly it happens all the time. If you want Hemingway's gritty tale of a down and out sea captain scratching out a living for his family anyway he can go read the book. Here we are talking about the film adaptation. And on those terms what a seamless piece of cinematic art.

As is the case in most of the early movies the story line is simple. Jaded boy meets slightly world-weary girl in the throes of Vichy-administered Martinique during World War II. Naturally, given the times, the local variant of the French Resistance is in need of help and a skittish, but in the end courageous, Captain Morgan (the Bogart role) is dragged into the middle of it. Some of this is an echo of the story line in Casablanca but this time Bogart, thankfully, does not let the dame go. All the politics and heroics aside this film is all about the romance. For a 1940's film the sexual tension and resolution between Morgan and Slim (Bacall's role) is as steamy as it gets with two people who still have their clothes on. It probably does not hurt the romantic buildup that Bogart and Bacall were becoming an item off-screen, as well. If you want classic Bogart and Bacall this is for you.

Beat Bogie!.......2007-04-10

DVD's have really spruced up my life! This is probably my favorite Bogart of them all. For years I have wanted to see it again and now to have it for anytime I want is great!

To me this is just a hair under Casablaca. The whole Nazi thing and the period of World War II movies. Bacall does a pretty good job for a 19 year old! Walter Brennan almost stole the show and it was good to see Delores Moran, what a doll! Always wondered why she made so few movies.

Bogie at his best in a film that almost did'nt get made.

Great Movie To Watch.......2007-04-01

I was inspired to watch "To Have and Have Not" by to reasons: Humphrey Bogart was always one of my favorite actors of Golden Age and also after reading an amazing book by Lauren Bacall " By myself and Some More".

The movie shows a great chemistry between Bogart and Bacall, the good actors can always convince us that there is chemistry, but when it's the real thing it is something different. "To Have and Have Not" is the starting point of one of the most romantic relationships in Old Hollywood.

Movie has great humour, some lines are hilarious, and leaves you cheered up. My only regret that it is a bit too short!

Bogie And Bacall - Where It All Began...........2007-01-19

Supposedly Howard Hawkes told Ernest Hemingway a movie could be made of the "least" of the author's novels. And Hemingway signed over the rights to this novel. Between the movie and novel there is barely anything to compare, other than the main character's name is Harry Morgan, he has a sidekick by the name of Eddie, and a romantic interest by name of Marie. Mercifully, Howard Hawkes changed everything about the novel and cast Humphrey Bogart in the lead role. By casting up and coming model Lauren Bacall opposite Humphrey Bogart, movie history - and legend - was born.

The plot and dialogue in this film are certainly not stellar, and there are many other films from the 1940s that far outshine this one. However, the chemistry and sparks that ignite between Bogie and Bacall cannot be denied. Bogie plays the role he is most known for: self-possessed, street-wise, hard-boiled, with just a touch of desperation. This is the man one wants around in a crisis.

But Lauren Bacall plays a new type of leading lady. Beautiful and sexy, yes, but smart. This gal is not given over to hysterics or drama. Her life hasn't been easy, but she isn't sinking into a bottle or embittered about it. She faces life like a challenge - and knows that somehow she's going to win it. She's tough without being rough, strong while still looking fabulous, and she can turn a man to jello with "the look." If for no other reason, it is worth seeing this movie just to watch the debut of this actress!

When the movie ends, I'll doubt one remembers the plot or what everyone was up to and it won't even matter. This movie revolves so strongly around Bogie and Bacall, and they certainly do hold it together so very, very well, one doesn't even miss the rest of the movie. A pure delight!

Bacall was blessed by nature with two advantages..........2007-01-15

Lauren Bacall, who gave men the license to whistle, was blessed by nature with two advantages: the personality of a buddy and the look of a Femme Fatale...

This combination initially took the only 19-years-old actress to the top with her first two films - 'To Have and Have Not' and 'The Big Sleep' - scoring a success even the deadpan expressions of a Buster Keaton could not undermine...

It helped, of course, to be co-starred in them with Humphrey Bogart who fell in love with her during shooting, and to have Howard Hawks, who deliberately set out to prove that he could make her a star, directing her every move in the same totally controlled way Joseph Von Sternberg had done with Marlene Dietrich...

'To Have and Have Not' is an almost unrecognizable adaptation of the Hemingway novel... The Rick character again appears, though with a new name... The film is a fairly routinely adventure, with a plot that isn't all that interesting, and with a frequently laughable dialog, but it sparks into life when Bogart and the leading blonde, with whom he is deeply in love and to whom he will later be married, appear...

The girl is Lauren Bacall, in her first movie... Cool, smooth, and gorgeous, she sets the screen on fire from her first entrance... She was a new kind of heroine...

Opposite Bogart she was colorful and believable... She had no illusions about herself... She was used to getting by, making out as best she could... She wanted Bogey and she let him know it... She offers herself to him, bravely and without shame: ' You know you don't have to act with me, Steve. You don't have to say anything and you don't have to do anything. Not a thing. Oh, maybe just whistle. (She opens his door and pauses.) You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together - and blow.'

With the effective use of her sexy, sultry, speaking voice and her confident eyes, Howard Hawks creates a new screen image, and one of the most sizzling yet sexual propositions on film...

Lauren Bacall has become heir to our memories of the truly memorable star of the 1940s, and, in her own way, one of them...

"To Have or Have Not" was remade as "The Breaking Point" with John Garfield and "The Gun Runners" with Audie Murphy and both were, inferior to the original...

Average customer rating:

The Americanization of Emily
Number One
The Americanization of Emily
james garner is the most underrated american film actor
A Different Julie in Her Movie Debut

The Americanization of Emily
Starring: James Garner , Julie Andrews , Melvyn Douglas , James Coburn , and Joyce Grenfell
Director: Arthur Hiller
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B0007TKNGU
Release Date: 2005-05-10

Amazon.com essential video

Screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky (Marty) sinks his satirical fangs into this story of an American naval officer (James Garner) selected to be the first victim at the invasion of Normandy. Julie Andrews plays a prim, British war widow who falls for him. Cynical in tone, the story becomes an interesting collision of manipulative interests and renewed life, the same formula that worked so well in Chayefsky's scripts for Network and Hospital. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews:

The Americanization of Emily.......2007-05-13

The product is what I expected. It arrived on time and in the condition advertised.

Number One.......2007-01-29

This film is at the top of my all time favorites list. I am glad we can get our own copy. I also highly recommend Youngblood Hawke, a film made the same year. Unfortunately, this film is not available on either video or DVD. What a real shame!!!!!

The Americanization of Emily.......2006-08-02

A brilliant and moving film. The actors are superb and the chemistry between Julie Andrews and James Garner is totally believable. This is one of the most literate films you are likely to encounter. Perhaps for some people's taste and the minimal-length dialogue standards of today's films it is too loaded with talk. But for those of us who like to listen to attractive articulate people convey their passionate points of view it is a delight. It is strong on intelligence and irony and does a great job of portraying England on the eve of the Normandy invasion. It is a film about the senselessness of heroic posturing and is especially pertinent now in view of the recent follies and fiascoes of military action.

james garner is the most underrated american film actor.......2006-07-04

arthur hiller directed this great movie while a young man, and never came near it again. this is julie andrews's actual first movie (pre-poppins) and remains her favorite, as well as the favorite of its star, the always undervalued james garner. he stars here as a procurer (read black marketeer and pimp) for military brass in the european theater in the days leading up to d-day. thru a bizarre set of circumstances, this professional coward becomes the first sailor killed on omaha beach -- a lionization leading to dismay when he shows up alive a week later. (as an aside, i especially enjoyed this tack, having had a high school teacher back in 1971 whose ship having been blown up in pearl harbor had been the first citizen of nashville tennessee to be killed in ww2 -- only to emerge weeks later, to the consternation of his family who had been voted a generous pension by the city fathers, who had to cancel the statue that had been ordered.) contrary to what many believed at the time, this movie is not anti-war; it is anti-glorification of war. it is fully cognizant of the need to fight at times, while refusing to acknowledge that there is any nobility in it. a great script by paddy chayefsky, and great acting by the stars and supporting players melvyn douglas, james coburn, and joyce grenfell.

A Different Julie in Her Movie Debut.......2006-06-12

Charlie Madison (James Garner) is the king of the black market. He is the attachý for a Navy Admiral and his main job is to see that the Admiral and his cohorts are well taken care of. Emily Barham (Julie Andrews) is a war widow who works with the military as a driver. She is no nonsense and refuses to take advantage of her position. But they fall in love anyway.

Charlie's Admiral is having a nervous breakdown and its only a few days to D-Day. He has decided that Charlie is to film the Navy invasion on Omaha beach and that the first man to die would be a Navy man.

Charlie does not see any honor in death and tries everything to get out of the mission but as fate would have it not only is does he arrive on Omaha beach but is the first to be shot.

When Emily finds out that Charlie is dead, she comes to realize what he was saying has merit. But Charlie is not dead, just wounded and we have a "happy" ending.

Paddy Chaefsky was best at satire. This film is comedy with touch of satire. This is not Chaefsky's best work but it is better than most other's best.

There has been some controversy over the casting of Julie Andrews as Emily but that had to do with her other more wholesome roles to follow. But looking at it 40 years later and Julie having diversified her portfolio, she was the perfect choice. This was a typical James Garner role and he could do it with his eyes closed but he worked well with Julie, so it seemed fresh.

This is a great anti war film that really is not an anti war film.

DVD EXTRAS:
Commentary by Film Historian Drew Casper

Action on the Beach - Featurette on the filming of the invasion of Normandy (well Malibu).

Average customer rating:

"Absence Makes the Heart Fonder"
MIRACLE IN THE RAIN
a lost gem
A nice Sentimental film
Touching Wartime Romance

Miracle in the Rain
Starring: Jane Wyman , Van Johnson , Peggie Castle , Fred Clark , and Eileen Heckart
Director: Rudolph Maté
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B000JU8H9M
Release Date: 2007-02-06

Amazon.com

Need a good cry? A real fistful-of-Kleenex, cathartic, "Oh (sob) my (sob) God (sob)" weeping jag? The deft and lovely Miracle in the Rain is exactly what the love doc ordered. The 1956 classic stars Jane Wyman as Ruth, that long-lost movie heroine type: a working-girl spinster caring for her ailing mother, toiling at her mundane job and feeling life's passing her by. Well, life has a little surprise up its sleeve, in the form of a random meeting on the streets of New York, with a soldier named Arthur (Van Johnson), who's on temporary leave during World War II. The streets are dingy and the rain is pounding, but the mood is changed; two lost souls connect. What follows is a believable, heart-wrenching tale with a great script (courtesy of Ben Hecht), and terrific performances by the two leads and a brassy Eileen Heckart as Ruth's best pal (and chaperone on the couple's first date!). The film presages the later weepy Somewhere in Time, with its echoes of fate, chance, and even the role of a tiny coin. Fans of romance of all eras, who believe what Arthur says--"Love never dies"--should wrap themselves in the cocoon of Miracle in the Rain--and never stop believing in miracles. --A.T. Hurley

Description

Wartime romance about a lonely man and woman who meet one rainy afternoon in New York.

Customer Reviews:

"Absence Makes the Heart Fonder".......2007-05-14

`Miracle in the Rain' is a could-be classic. Off the radar screen, `Miracle...' is an offbeat adventure, celebrating ordinary people coming to life when able to do so. Both romantic and religious, it stars Jane Wyman in a remarkable performance as Ruth Wood, a spinster caught in life's dreary web. She meets Private Art Huegenot (played with lively spirit by Van Johnson*--not my favorite actor--in a role of a lifetime.) The developments are life-changing and exuberant.

The story begins with Ruth going to work. Quiet, she works in an office with a blond bombshell who makes out with the boss in his office. Nearby, a young man keeps a map in front and keeps track of the raging war. And as a consolation, a kindly woman offers to take the edge off of Ruth's solitary existence. Later, in a New York rainstorm, she bumps into Private Art, who, given a pass to enjoy the city, can only glower about rain and everything else. Charming the socks off Ruth, who knows nothing but her day job and her night support of her ailing and abandoned mother, he convinces her to let him show her the town she`s never seen before. Cautiously, she warms up to him. When there's freedom at point zero, both the colorful extravert and the shy recluse hit it off. Then, the specter of war looms over them both. Having lost her father who abandoned both her mother and herself, she can only feel bitterly cheated, missing out on a brief awakening in her sadly pedestrian life. The movie interweaves the stories skillfully many years before modern movies like today do.

`Miracle in the Rain' deserves to be unearthed by classic movie fans. At first the characters and development are genuine and believable. Later, a good film becomes a fine one with loose ends coming together and a satisfying resolution for those who love old-fashioned movies. Rent or buy 'Miracle in the Rain,' and it could the next 'It's a Wonderful Life'.

*Johnson often played the stock garrulous roles. Here he's perfect.

MIRACLE IN THE RAIN.......2007-05-12

LOVE THIS MOVIE. BROUGHT BACK MANY MEMORIES FROM MY CHILDHOOD.

a lost gem.......2007-04-07

a real british rareity this..and very enjoyable with john mills surprisingly good in a musical , although he did start his career on the stage in musical comedies

A nice Sentimental film.......2007-04-01

A good-hearted movie with Van Johnson being his most appealing and Jane Wyman being her sweetest A good group of supporting character actors gives this a nice New York feel. Although at times it might be a bit corny and melodramatic, it is a movie free of violence, vulgarity, and the shallow erotica that is so prevalent in our own time. Watch and enjoy.

Touching Wartime Romance.......2007-03-30

"I love you as if I'd always known you. I'll be back as if I'd never left you." -- Van Johnson

Jane Wyman is wonderful as a lonely woman brought to life by the unexpected attention of soldier Van Johnson in this tender soaper. Though it doesn't have quite the charm of "The Clock" with Garland and Walker, there is something very real and ultimately moving about this bittersweet story of faliing in love during wartime.

Ruthie (Wyman) lives in New York where she takes care of her heartbroken mother, still shell-shocked years after Ruthie's father called one night to say he was leaving. It has not allowed the sweet Ruthie much of a life outside her job and mother. When she meets a soldier in an elevator named Art (Val Johnson), his warm and friendly manner is just the right medicine for Ruthie, who's never really been noticed.

Johnson really shines in a role tailor-made for his boyish charm. He is lonely too, and masks his need with constant chatter so that Ruthie can't tell him to go away. Art sort of invites himself to dinner and over the next two days they paint a picture of love's transforming magic, which does not always take huge amounts of time. It is a picture painted on a canvas of fresh grass in Central Park, boat races, and a city made for falling in love.

When Art's 153rd is slated to pull out, however, their happiness is interrupted. It is the small touches, such as Ruthie's pride in a story Art gets publised in the paper, and a truck full of soldiers yelling goodbye to Ruthie when Art leaves that make this film rise above its soap opera origins. Ben Hecht's script, based on his own story, doesn't hurt either. A lovely and subtle score by Franz Waxman adds just the right mood to this special film.

Writing Art every day until he can write her back, a letter finally arrives for a lonely Ruthie, waiting for the voice and words which will make her heart live again. To reveal more would be unforgivable to anyone with a romantic heart who hasn't seen this yet. I can only say that a scene in the rain is a poignant moment never forgotten by those who have seen it, either recently or years ago.

A great cast gives Johnson and Wyman the room they need for two lost souls to find each other. Those with a romantic heart will find much to enjoy with this film, finally available on DVD.

Average customer rating:

Required viewing for 1933 movie buffs
Not so great
Refreshingly Sweet
cukor & hepburn would go on to better things
Good, But a Little Too Stagey and Creaky!

Little Women (1933)
Starring: Katharine Hepburn , Joan Bennett , Paul Lukas , Edna May Oliver , and Jean Parker
Director: George Cukor
Manufacturer: Turner Home Ent
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Little Women
Little Women (Collector's Edition)
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ASIN: B00005NRO2
Release Date: 2001-11-06

Amazon.com essential video

Louisa May Alcott's beloved story is one of the most-read novels ever written. It has also proved popular film and telefilm fodder (at least six versions plus a TV series). In addition, Little Women is one of those rare literary projects that can truly be done well on screen. This, the 1933 version, chronicles the lives and loves of sisters Jo, Meg, Amy, and Beth (played, respectively, by Katharine Hepburn, Frances Dee, Joan Bennett, and Jean Parker). It's a superior rendering to the amiable, perky 1949 version with June Allyson, Janet Leigh, Elizabeth Taylor, Margaret O'Brien, and Peter Lawford, and comparable to the beautiful, feminist Gillian Armstrong 1994 take. Douglass Montgomery's Laurie isn't nearly as dreamy as Christian Bale's (1994), but the lack of chemistry between him and Hepburn's Jo is perfect for the story, in which Jo loves him like a brother. Jo's real love she offers up to perhaps the finest Professor Bhaer (Paul Lukas). Character actress Edna May Oliver is at her indignant best as Aunt March. Director George Cukor's vision is elegant, warm, and as true to the original source material as 117 minutes allows. This Little Women was a huge box-office hit, and broke all the records to that time. --N.F. Mendoza

Customer Reviews:

Required viewing for 1933 movie buffs.......2007-06-10

Fantastic, could not be a "re-make" today, no one could do it better!

Not so great.......2007-05-01

There are three versions of little women, and this would have to be my least favorite. the only good thing about this movie is Katherine! She gives a great preformance as the charactor, but that's the only thing that keeps this movie at being one star movie apposed to being a complete drag. I probably wouldn't actually choose to watch this moovie again. If you're are looking for good really good version try the 1949 version with June Allyson,Mary Astor, Janet Leigh, Elizabeth Taylor, Margret O'Brien,and Peter Lawford.Or try the 1994 version with Winona Ryder, Christian Bale, and Gabriel Byrne just to name a few. Both are wonderful, and worth watching again and again.

Refreshingly Sweet.......2007-02-06

Without comparing this version of Little Women to the 1994 remake I grew up with, I can heartily endorse it as fun-loving, wholesome family entertainment that does justice to a story we hold dear. I suppose one has to develope a taste for these older movies, however . . . and I'm not thinking about the black and white. There are so many parts where it's hard to keep up with the diolog, probably because I'm used to newer movies where they always zoom in on who ever is speaking. Katherine Hepburn did good acting, there is no doubt . . . but looked too old for a teenage role, and she oddly resembled Lucy ("I Love Lucy"), giving me a weird feeling about her through the first half of the movie. The potrayel of her sister/brother relationship with Laurie was brought out better in this movie than in any other, in my opinion. In the 1949 one Laurie seemed to be sweet on her to begin with, and that wasn't the way it was in the book. In the 1994 one with Christian Bale and Winona Ryder, their relationship was playful, but in the book they also "quarreled" a lot, and the 1994 version didn't bring that out enough to explain Jo's rejection of his suit. The Laurie in this 1933 version, however, looked way younger than Jo, and a bit frail. And, too, his facial expressions were sometimes nerdy, and sometimes cute, making me edgy. The Beth they had was PERFECT, as was the Amy, but Meg's character was a bit flat, as she wasn't given many lines, and I only remember one scene which Mr. March was in. John Brook was also a side character. Mr. Lawrence and Aunt March were given big parts, though, and were highly entertaining. The Marmee they had gave a sincere effort, you could tell, and truly seemed the warm, caring mother of four girls from Alcott's novel. I would reckon that most of her acting career was on the stage, however, because it shows in her overworked gestures, facial expressions, and intonation. (Stage actors had to be overly dramatic in a time before the magic of fancy camera work.) Jo's Proffessor from the 1994 movie is and will remain my die-hard favorite. The new version did the best with Jo and the Proffessor's romance. My favorite thing about this movie was the quiet, unforced reverence it radiates. Marmee and her girls are shown praying at different times and even sing "Abide With Me" as Beth plays the piano, and the March girls are rightly concerned about fashioning their characters as best they can. Very wholesome stuff. This is one good movie, and I'd reccomend it to anyone.

cukor & hepburn would go on to better things.......2006-07-04

katharine hepburn heads the cast in george cukors too respectful treatment of the louisa may alcott novel. a pleasant enuf way to spend a couple hours, but i wouldnt seek it out.

Good, But a Little Too Stagey and Creaky!.......2006-03-18

This is my second favorite movie version of Little Women. It is good but I found it to be a little too stagey and creaky!

Average customer rating:

Reunion In France
Joan Crawford was ashamed of this film
Glossy but insubstantial Crawford vehicle
From Spoiled Mistress To Heroine of the Resistance
Charming and glamourous, fun and cozy

Reunion in France
Starring: John Wayne , and Joan Crawford
Director: Jules Dassin
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
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Without Reservations
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ASIN: B000O179JK
Release Date: 2007-05-22

Amazon.com

The lone pairing of Joan Crawford and John Wayne is reason enough for being curious about Reunion in France, a flagrantly preposterous World War II melodrama with a surprisingly distinguished roster of contributors--from producer Joseph L. Mankiewicz, co-screenwriter Marc Connelly, and director Jules Dassin to such stalwart character actors as Philip Dorn, John Carradine, Reginald Owen, Henry Daniell, Albert Bassermann, Howard Da Silva, and unbilled bit player Ava Gardner. It's a Crawford vehicle all the way (her next-to-last at MGM), with her as a heedless French fashionista in love with ultra-swank, wealthy industrial designer Dorn. While on a trip, Crawford finds herself under German bombs and, after suffering in the company of other, much less stylishly costumed refugees, makes her way back to Paris. There she's shocked to discover Dorn still enjoying his upper-crust lifestyle: he's lent his skills and factories to the Nazi war machine, and Crawford--appalled and suddenly penniless--seeks gainful employment and moral rearmament with her favorite modiste.

Wayne enters the picture a couple of reels in, an American flyboy who signed on with the RAF, crashed in France, and made his way to Paris. Inveigling himself into Crawford's arms under the eyes of a Gestapo agent, he enjoys her reluctant protection for a good deal longer than credibility can bear. People who know such things have recorded that, in reality, Crawford made any number of heavy passes at her costar, but there was no chemistry between them offscreen or on. The one scene in the film with any sting features veteran German actor Ernst Deutsch (the future Baron Kurtz of The Third Man, billed as Ernest Dorian in his Hollywood years) as a Nazi officer tormented by the knowledge that he is loathed by the people whose nation he occupies. --Richard T. Jameson

Description

A Frenchwoman believes that her fiance is a Nazi collaborator.

Customer Reviews:

Reunion In France.......2007-05-31

Reunion in France
The Movie
Basically it's the occupation of France with John Wayne in it. It on par with his B pictures it's not very well paced nor is it very interesting to watch. I personally think this may have been and attempt to squash the dukes guilt at not being able to serve in WWII. He is the only bright spot on this horrible movie.

The Video
In need of a restoration, it has some grain issues and focus problems. It is in black and white full frame and shows its age.

The Audio
1.0 mono no extra treatment here

The Extras
We Do It Because
A look at the customs of manners and there origins they came from. This feature is actually better than the movie.

War Dogs
Here a cartoon about dogs in boot camp and there training just a propaganda film for our side I had not seen this one before but did enjoy it.

Joan Crawford was ashamed of this film.......2007-04-17

There are so many good Crawford titles yet to be released on DVD that you have to wonder why they are releasing this trash which Crawford herself hated. She said that if she was ever to suffer for her past sins, this is the movie that would be shown to her over and over again. She also found John Wayne to be miscast.

Also to be released on DVD around the same time as "Reunion in France" is another of Crawford's worst films "Trog". Seriously, who decides these releases? What fans want most of all are the unreleased Crawford classics such as "Story of Esther Costello", "A Woman's Face', "Strange Cargo" and "Susan and God". Besides the DVD releases of "Baby Jane", "Grand Hotel" and "Mildred Pierce" some years back, the DVD releases for Crawford so far have been dismal and look set to continue.

Warner Bros and MGM take note: please release the better films from Crawford's catalogue and stop wasting time with films like "Reunion in France" and "Trog".

Glossy but insubstantial Crawford vehicle.......2007-03-14

Women's-magazine-style romantic melodrama was the first major production for director Jules Dassin -- who was promptly demoted back to the MGM "B" department when the picture tanked at the box office.
Joan Crawford stars as Frenchwoman Michele de la Becque, who comes to believe that her fiancé, wealthy munitions manufacturer Robert Cortot (Philip Dorn) is a Nazi collaborator. When her suspicions are apparently corroborated, Michelle falls in love with Pat Talbot (John Wayne), a downed American aviator stranded in occupied Paris. Only then does Michelle discover that she's been all wrong about Cortot -- but what to do about Talbot, who has been marked for death by the Gestapo? Ava Gardner has a tiny role as a Parisian shopgirl.

From Spoiled Mistress To Heroine of the Resistance.......2005-09-27

The conventional wisdom about this movie (and its followup, ABOVE SUSPICION, which pairs Crawford in Europe with Fred McMurray) is that they were deliberately bad features planned by the moguls to force Crawford out of pictures. But neither film deserves its bad reputation. Indeed in hindsight I find them fully as interesting as any other of Crawford's MGM vehicles, and by no means do they seem cheap or ill-thought-out.

Well, it's kind of silly having Crawford playing the richest girl in France, in a movie when everyone else is playing up the French accent so much so that at times you can't understand what they're saying, and meanwhile she, Joan, doesn't even try. Why should she? She's Joan Crawford. The only time she tries to go French is when she carefully pronounces the name of her fiance: "Row-bear." Outside of that, she uses her regular, broad American accent with its weird dips and slurs, the voice we know from a hundred movies. When the picture begins she's sitting, bored silly, on the dias during some kind of fundraiser honoring those who made the Maginot Line possible in May 1940--the night it broke. She rushes home to dismiss the modistes who have been waiting for her for two and a half hours, for she is off to Biarritz for a holiday. Well, by the time she crawls back, having been bombed and brutalized, Paris has fallen to the Nazis and it's a new day of deprivation for the glamorous Michelle de la Beck, and "Row-bear" her boyfriend (Philip Dorn) is looking strangely like a collaborator.

Michelle's million franc mansion has been commandeered by Vichy forces, and she is told to sleep in this crummy little concierge studio, a room with a door on the street that doesn't lock. It's filthy, grim, and dangerous, for any Nazi could come in at any time. She takes a job at the couturiere she used to patronize--sort of a left-wing Coco Chanel, very chic but no threat to Joan in the looks department. German women are buying up all the gowns in the shop, big heavy Walkure style creatures who look like pigs suckling at a trough. Then John Wayne (as "Pat") escapes from a POW camp and stumbles, sick, nearly hallucinating, into Joan's arms and she has to shield him the Gestapo. John Wayne looks hot in this movie! He could put his boots under my divan any old time. She moves him right into her apartment with only a cursory thought to propriety, it's sort of refreshing. People in World War II, even Hollywood people, must have thought that they had entered into a new world which would be totally given over to the fight against Fascism, and that all other considerations were secondary to this mission. Jules Dassin, the director, embodies this pulpy material with real conviction and some wise-ass camera setups--real wit, real grit, and two fantastic, out of this world stars.

Charming and glamourous, fun and cozy.......2004-09-28

Those nasty Nazis will never triumph because they have no fashion sense, no sense of humour and are utterly mystified by the workings of the female mind. Oh, I love this film and so does everyone to whom I've lent it.

Joan Crawford represents the spoiled darling that was France, now ready to join the Resistance and fight for freedom. (Don't worry, those oblivious Nazis actually FETCH HER ENTIRE COUTURE WARDROBE to the modest digs she occupies when they have taken over the lion's share of her house.)

The two who take away the film, though, are Henry Daniell and John Carradine, both playing Nazi officers. The former, who has been wounded by the bite of an enemy dog, is in charge of Joan's house when it is commandeered. He is captivated by Joan, who lets him back her up against the wall and KISS HER ON THE LIPS so that John Wayne can make his getaway. John Carradine is the head of the Gestapo in Paris, and he is so sinister, sombre and sexless that you may find yourself fretting that Joan might have a little trouble with him. Don't. She will triumph at the end.

My favourite scene is in a nightclub. There is an African-American jazz band playing and the singer is belting out "I'll be glad when you're dead, you rascals, you! I'll be glad when you're dead, and Adolf, too!" The smiling, finger-tapping Nazi couples just lap it up. They don't know English, I suppose. (What makes this even weirder is that the whole movie is in nothing BUT English. But don't worry about it.)

A joy from start to finish. Please watch and enjoy. This is right up there with _Adventures of Tartu_ with Robert Donat!

Average customer rating:

Triumph under fire
Still the classic World War II movies about American G.I.s
Great, now where's the DVD?
Still the classic World War II movies about American G.I.'s
So-So WWII Film

Battleground
Starring: Van Johnson , John Hodiak , Ricardo Montalban , George Murphy , and Marshall Thompson
Director: William A. Wellman
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Battle of the Bulge [HD DVD]
Pork Chop Hill
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ASIN: B0007TKNLU
Release Date: 2005-05-03

Amazon.com

Director William Wellman (The Big Heat) offered up this 1949 treatment of the Battle of the Bulge, which won Oscars for best screenplay and best cinematography. The film concentrates on the camaraderie and the divisions between the troops as they ready for the big offensive. Told in a taut narrative, the men of the 101st, led by Van Johnson, wait out the winter in the Ardennes forest to confront the German army in what would be the last major offensive of World War II. The men are demoralized and trapped, with no hope of support from the Allies as they are forced to band together and defend their position. A classically assembled war drama that nevertheless manages to be both engrossing and entertaining, Battleground is a mainstay of the genre. --Robert Lane

Description

Van Johnson, Ricardo Montalban and George Murphy star in this remarkable war film, nominated for six Oscars(R) (including Best Picture) about courageous American G.I.s caught up in the battle at Bastogne. Year: 1949

Customer Reviews:

Triumph under fire.......2007-03-26

Being entitled Battleground you might think this film to be non-stop combat, but it isn't. It is so much more than an ordinary "war" film. One won't spy a tank in this film, for instance, until more than 90 minutes into this story; the story of the boys of the 101st who held out in Bastogne until the skies permitted aerial support to come to the rescue in this Battle of the Bulge. Skirmishes there are, however, up until this point, as a prelude---seemingly---to that which will ultimately test them; in which these soldiers show their individual mettle as well as insecurities. It's the story of a historically significant moment, but told from the vantage point of foxholes, in other words, and the GIs that dug them, holed up in them, and sprung from them to engage hostile German combatants. Van Johnson and company are convincing & the direction in this film is commendable. A number of scenes and/or specific camera shots are simply well framed & thus add to the dramatic effect of the lines being delivered by members of this fine cast. There are not that many World War Two-era films as well presented as this one. Do give it a chance (but keep in mind that it's a measured film---almost 2 hours in length, & more dramatic than action-packed). My only complaint herein or rather wish would be that they would've filmed more of Battleground beyond MGM's sound stage doors---dialogue in one particular street scene, for instance (wherein troop trucks roll into a town) bares the traces of an indoor echo. In addition, the artificial snow utilized is no better than passably realistic at times. (Do also catch another fine 'Bulge' story entitled Saints and Soldiers). (04Dec) Cheers!

Still the classic World War II movies about American G.I.s.......2004-02-02

The first twenty minutes of "Saving Private Ryan" raised the bar on the realism of war film in terms of the portrayal of the violent hell of combat. But in terms of showing us in a movie what it was like to be combat troops in World War II, the standard still remains the 1949 film "Battleground," directed by William Wellman (and I say this having loved "Band of Brothers"). The film won Oscars in 1950 for Robert Pirosh's script and Paul Vogel's black & white cinematography, and was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (James Whitmore), and Best Editing (John D. Dunning).

The setting for "Battleground" is the besieged city of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge and focuses on I Company of the 101st Airborne. Pirosh had based the story on his own experiences during the battle, which including the details like Private Kippton (Douglas Fowley) always losing his false teeth and Private Rodriguez (Ricardo Montalban), who came from L.A. and had never seen snow before he got to Belgium. The situation was pretty simple: the Germans have Bastogne surrounded and the 101st is short on food and ammunition. Sgt. Kinnie (Whitmore) and the men of I Company have there sector to control, so they sit in the freezing cold, waiting for the Germans to attack and praying for the cloud cover to lift so they can get air support and supplies.

I am sure I am not the other kid from my generation who learned to do the cadence call of "Sound off," not knowing that it came from older kids who had seen this movie. This is a movie full of memorable scenes: Private Holley (Van Johnson) trying to make eggs, a checkpoint exchange that shows the importance of knowing baseball terminology like "Texas Leaguer," and a befuddled German officer trying to understand if General McAulliffe's infamous reply of "Nuts" to the demand for the 101st's surrender is a negative or an affirmative response.

For me the key moment in the film comes when I Company finally receives supplies dropped from C-47s. These guys have been freezing and pretty much starving for a week, and when they open up crates of SPAM and K-Rations, they are clearly disappointed. It is not until they find ammunition that they finally get excited. The montage of defeating the Germans is superfluous at that point, because the look in the eyes of these guys captures the moment even better.

In terms of realism I do have one slight knock on this film, in that I Company is atypical because they had winter coats (compare with the Bastogne episode of "Bad of Brothers"), but that is rather secondary to the point of this film, which is to celebrate the citizen soldier. As Holley explains to a major, "PFC" means "praying for civilian." Even when the Chaplain (Leon Ames) answers the big question, as to why these guys had to leave their families and jobs to fight in Europe, in has less to do with fascist ideology and more with the idea that the Germans were bullies throwing their weight around and killing a lot of people.

Still, "Battleground" comes down to the guys in I Company, Jarvess (John Hodiak), "Pop" (George Murphy), Layton (Marshall Thompson), Spudler (Jerome Courtland), Standiferd (Don Taylor), Hansan (Herbert Anderson), Bettis (Richard Jaeckel), Doc (Thomas E. Breen), and Sgt. Walowizc (Bruce Cowling). There is a tendency to make fun of the idea of the melting pot nature of these units, but we are talking diversity in terms of ethnicity more than racial lines and is certainly in keeping with everything I have read about the 101st. The humor in the trenches is a lot grimmer than you hear in most of these movies, an advantage of being made several years after the war ended (compare it with Wellman's 1945 film "Story of G.I. Joe").

This film is more about the psychology of war, putting up with the weather, the lack of supplies, the Germans trying to get them to surrender and showing up dressed in American uniforms, and keeping up morale than it is about actual fighting. That makes it rather unique in terms of movies about World War II in general or the Battle of the Bulge in particular. "Battleground" remains one of the classic films about grunts in the army.

Great, now where's the DVD?.......2004-01-30

It's amazing that this one hasn't seen a DVD release yet because it's a really fine classic war film. Don't be put off by the fact it came out in 1950: yes, there's no blood and gore, so you can easily argue it's unrealistic from that angle. There are hardly even any combat scenes. But like all the best war films, this one concentrates not on combat but on the psychology and morality of the men caught up in war.

Battleground follows a squad through the nightmare of Bastogne, showing the everyday misery they had to put up with and the grim humor and camaraderie that helped them get through it. For a film of its day, this is one is surpisingly even-handed, even a bit dark and cynical. You won't find a bunch of John Wayne heroics here, but rather a bunch of sick, tired, demoralized men doing their best to stay alive. This is a great companion piece to the Bastogne episode of the superb Band of Brothers miniseries. Also consider checking out Wellman's other classic WWII film, The Story of G.I. Joe.

Now, where's the DVD release??

Still the classic World War II movies about American G.I.'s.......2004-01-30