Nation’s Pride (Stolz der Nation) (1944)

 

In honor of Daniel Bruhl's birthday, here is my review of the short propaganda film that develops his character in Tarantino's film.

               “Nation’s Pride” is the movie within the movie “Inglourious Basterds”.  It is meant to be a German propaganda film in the style of those put out by Joseph Goebbels.  It is only six minutes, 11 seconds, but implies that it is part of a longer feature.  It was directed not by Tarantino, but by actor/director Eli Roth.  Roth plays “The Bear Jew” in the feature.  Tarantino got Bo Svenson to play a role in the short in an homage to “The Inglorious Bastards”.  Speaking of homages, only to a much better movie, Roth includes an American soldier screaming after being shot in the eye and a baby carriage.  Both are references to the famous Odessa steps scene in “Battleship Potemkin”.

               The short starts with Zoller (Daniel Bruhl) in the tower in some Italian town.  He is assaulted by a bunch of sniper fodder.  The film is sniper porn, 1940’s Nazi style.  Zoller never misses, of course.  But neither do every other sniper hero in movies.  And the Americans are incompetent.  They run out in the open begging to be shot.  It’s a propaganda film, after all.  However, although it is meant to be a takeoff on German propaganda films, it is not as over the top as you would expect for a propaganda film set within a Tarantino movie.  It has it’s sly humor, like when an American uses a walkie-talkie to communicate:  “Hello, Hitler.  I want to surrender.”  American bullets stitch a swastika in the wall of the tower.  But the funniest part is the theatrical deaths that make the touchdown-signaling deaths of many war movies seem realistic.

               If you are a fan of “Inglourious Basterds”, you need to see this film.  It’s amazing he went to the trouble to make it.  Only Tarantino would have done so.

The Diary of Anne Frank (1959)

 

                Today is Anne Frank Day because she received her diary as a gift for her 13^th birthday on June 12, 1942. Her father, who was the only one of her family to survive their stay in concentration camps, published the diary in 1947 and it instantly became a best-seller. In 1955, a Broadway play based on the diary was a big hit. The playwrights, Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett, wrote the screenplay. George Stevens (“Gunga Din”) was chosen to direct. He was a good choice partly because during WWII he was a major in the Army Signal Corps. He had enlisted after seeing the infamous Nazi propaganda film “Triumph of the Will”. He and his crew filmed in Normandy after the D-Day invasion. His unit produced the only color footage of the war in Europe. He followed the American army all the way to the Elbe River. He reached Dachau death camp two days after it was liberated. He filmed at other concentration camps and then created the documentary “The Nazi Plan”. It was used at the Nuremberg Trials. He wanted Audrey Hepburn for the lead role because she looked a lot like Anne. She declined because she felt she was old at 30. She also was uncomfortable about bringing back memories from her life in the Netherlands during the war. Stevens auditioned thousands of young women and chose a 17-year-old model named Millie Perkins. Shelley Winters sought the part of Petronella van Daan. She was twenty years younger than Petranella. She gained 30 pounds for the role and lost 25 during the shoot. Stevens was determined to make a realistic and emotional picture. An exact replica of the three story building was constructed in a large sound stage. He kept the temperature on set appropriate for the time of year that was being filmed. This meant the actors were freezing during the winter scenes. The exterior scenes were filmed on location in Amsterdam. Otto Frank and Johannes Kleiman were technical advisers. The movie was a modest hit and was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Picture, Director, Costume Design, and Score. It won for Best Supporting Actress (Shelley Winters who donated here Oscar to the Anne Frank Museum where it is still on display), Art Direction, and Cinematography. Winning three Oscars when “Ben Hur” dominated the awards was quite an accomplishment. It helped that they were giving separate awards for black/white and color. It was rated the 18^th greatest inspirational movies for AFIs 100 Years…100 Cheers.

               The movie uses a flashforward introduction as Otto Frank (Joseph Schildkraut reprising his Broadway role) visits the building after the war. Miep (Dodie Heath), the Gentile woman who helped hide the family, presents him with the diary which she and Mr. Kraler (Douglas Spencer) have saved. The film flashes back to July, 1942 when the Franks and the van Daans take up residence in the attic above the spice factory. Otto goes over the rules which include no noise during the daytime hours. I wonder if students will watch the movie today and pass out when they learn Anne would read for ten hours a day. She finished “A Tale of Two Cities” in one day. There is dysfunction between the two families mostly because of eight different personalities living in such a claustrophic and stressful situation. Anne is about the same age as Peter van Daan and they are not exactly Romeo and Juliet, but they gradually develop feelings for each other. Anne is a typical teenage girl as evidenced by her diary. She idolizes her father and tries her mother’s patience. The seven show their humanity by agreeing to take in Miep’s Jewish dentist Alfred Dussel (Ed Wynn). He adds more dysfunction. There are some edge of your seat moments because most viewers don’t know how or when they were caught. This adds suspense to the movie. At one point a burglar breaks into the factory and the cops come. Later, German Gestapo agents search the bottom two floors. There is an excellent scene where they endure a bombing raid. This is the one scene that the play could not recreate.

               Stevens did a great job bringing the diary to film. Screenwriters Goodrich and Hackett won a Pulitzer Prize for their play so Stevens had an excellent script to work from. The screenplay incorporates diary entries which are narrated by Anne. The cinematography deservedly won an Oscar for William Mellor. The camera would move from floor to floor. The lighting shines appropriate for an ill-lit attic. The only technical weakness is the sappy score. The cast is great. They all behave realistically. The movie does not make them heroes. They are typical people thrown into a terrifying situation. You will wonder if you could have survived what they survived. Until that fateful day. The movie answers the question of who ratted them out by choosing the burglar as the villain. It is still unclear if this is correct. Millie Perkins is surprisingly effective in her first acting role. She had no training as Stevens picked  her after seeing her photo and convincing her to audition. She was a better choice than Hepburn, so that worked out well.

               Obviously, the movie is a must-see which means I’m pretty embarrassed that it took me so long to see it. The film is inspiring, but very sad. That is as it should be. It is a great companion to the book and follows the book carefully. There are no Hollywood embellishments. What we do get is some Hollywood expansion of the story. Fans of the book might not have had an idea of the role that Miep and Kraler played in their valiant attempt to save members of a different race/religion. Would you have risked your life like they did? God help us because that question may be in our future.

P.S. I completed my 100 Best War Movies list before I saw this movie. I know, I know. Mea culpa. It does belong in the top 100.

GRADE = A

 

BAND OF BROTHERS: Carentan

 

Today marks the anniversary of the capture of Carentan, France by Americans including Easy Company of "Band of Brothers". Here is some information of the third episode of the series which was entitled "Carentan".

 

Did Luz do imitations? Yes.

 

What did the episode get right about the taking of the taking of Carentan?

 

- The unit did move up through a wasteland with burning vehicles and dead bodies

- Winters did have Welsh’s platoon to lead the way into Carentan.

- Welsh and five men entered the town before a German machine gun caused the rest of the platoon to take refuge in ditches. Winters did expose himself to get the men to move. He cursed, which was rare for him. The men took longer to motivate than in the episode.

- Shifty Powers did shoot a sniper.

- They did clear buildings by throwing a grenade through a window and then busted in through the door.

- They did come under mortar fire.

- Blithe did lose his sight (hysterical blindness). He did regain it after Winters talked to him at the aid station.

- Lipton was wounded by a mortar round, not an anti-tank gun. Talbert did check to reassure him that his privates were undamaged.

- Tipper did shoot through the outhouse door and then was wounded badly by a mortar shell. He did lose an eye.

- The Germans were shot down as they fled from the town.

- Lt. Col. Strayer did ask Winters if it was safe to cross the street.

- Winters was hit in the shin by a bullet, but it was Lt. Jackson Neavles who patched him up, not Roe.

 

In Carentan, the book does not mention Luz finding a family huddling in a shop.

 

That’s the chaplain Father John Maloney giving last rites in Carentan. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. He appears several times in the book.

 

The book does not mention Winters getting a message from a soldier riding a horse.

combat fatigue - what was called shell shock in WWI and is called PTSD today.

 

In the book, when Smith stabs Talbert, Talbert was wearing a German poncho.

 

The book does not have Speirs saying you should just accept the fact that you are already dead.

 

The name of the battle in the hedgerows is “The Battle of Bloody Gulch”. In the show, Dog and Fox Companies are shown running. Fox Company fled at first contact which forced D Company to fall back also. This left Easy’s flank uncovered. It held up until D and F returned to their positions. The key to Easy being able to hold its hedgerow was the work of their mortars (as portrayed in the episode). On Easy’s right, units of the 502nd Parachute Infantry were hit hard and almost broken. After some intense fighting, tanks from the 2nd Armored arrived to tip the balance.

 

NOT HISTORICAL LICENSE: Welsh and McGrath did go into no man’s land to use a bazooka against a tank. A tank was vulnerable in their belly.

 

The book does not have Blithe shooting a German who is wearing some edelweiss.

 

When Blithe is shot, he was part of a five-man patrol led by Guarnere.

 

The poem about Smith stabbing Talbert was unavailable to Ambrose for the book.

 

What happened to Blithe? The series gets the Blithe post-script wrong, partly because some of the veterans thought he had died in 1948, not having fully recovered. In fact, he was actually hit in the shoulder and fully recovered. He stayed in the Army and rose to Master Sergeant. He served in Korea. He died in 1967, the father of two.

Y is for "The Year of Living Dangerously"

 

What war movie that begins with the letter Y best exemplifies the war movie genre? I have chosen "The Year of Living Dangerously" because it represents the subgenre of war journalism and it is one of the best in that subgenre. 

 

“The Year of Living Dangerously” is a member of the journalists at war subgenre. It is an Australian film directed by Peter Weir (Gallipoli, Master and Commander). It was based on the novel by Christopher Koch who based it loosely on the experiences of his journalist brother during the attempted overthrow of Sukarno in Indonesia in 1965. The title comes from the phrase “living dangerously” which was a favorite of Sukarno’s. He used it in his Indonesian Independence Day speech in 1964. The movie was to be shot in Indonesia, but the plot caused the government to refuse that option. The movie was banned in Indonesia until the year 2000. Instead, Weir moved to the Philippines where the production received death threats from Muslims because of a perceived anti-Islam bent. The last week of the six-week shoot was moved to Australia. The movie ended up costing $6 million which at the time made it the most expensive Australian movie ever made