This is not a large scale multi-million dollar epic of World War Two. No thousands of extras, no wide panoramic sweep of battle scenes. This says more about The Battle of the Bulge than the movie of the same name. It's just an ordinary black and white M.G.M. production. What it lacks in size and scope it makes up for in impact.A simple story very well told, of a squad of GI's of the 101st Airborne Division, thrown into the maelstrom that was the German offensive in the Ardennes in December of 1944 against the Allied ground forces.
It's hard to believe that this film was not shot on location; but on a Metro sound stage. And Metro's Culver City was turned into the only outdoor location for the snow-covered, rubble-strewn town of Bastogne under siege, which was tenaciously held by the 101st, under the command of Brig. General Anthony McAuliffe.
With the exception of Van Johnson as Pvt. Holly who was high profile on the Metro lot in his time, and George Murphy as Pvt. Stazak, the rest of the cast were character-type actors who filled their roles perfectly. James Whitmore as Sgt. Kinnie is drilling the squad in the opening scenes.
The squad members talk of an enjoyable furlough in Paris which is suddenly cut short by the German breakthrough in the Ardenne. Ptv. Stazak hopes of going home are dashed because his authorised documents have not come through before the squad moves up front. Douglas Fowley as Pvt. Kippton seems to be the best in the squad at bellyaching.Maybe it's his dentures that make him a sourpuss. But Fowley's dentures turn into a class act; clicking away to the old song, "I Surrender Dear," through the courtesy of a German propaganda broadcast heard over the radio in a Sherman tank. Denise Darcel comes as a welcome relief of feminine pleasure; not out of place in the town of Bastogne itself. In an indoor scene, Pvt. Holly's eyeballs go into left-to-right overdrive as he stares at Denise's buxom rear end descending a flight of stairs. Then there's Holly again, nursing stolen newly-laid eggs, as valuable as gold nuggets. He's about to scramble them over a fire when the squad is told to saddle up and move out. Not for the first time does Johnson (Pvt. Holly) yell, "oh no!" A expression he's used in past movies also. The broken eggs in his upturned helmet are now a problem. In the end it's disaster. The German artillery scramble the eggs for Holly. Problem solved!
On a three man patrol, Holly, Hodiak as Janness, Montalban as Rodriguez, intercept and force a jeep carrying a Major and two sergeants to stop and identify themselves. The knowledge that Germans are infiltrating in GI uniforms has made the patrol suspicious so the Major is asked how the Dodgers made out in 1944. The Major hesitates,but the Sergeant in the rear seat asks Holly who Betty Grable is married to. Montalban shouts back, "Cesar Romero". The Major says Romero is out. "Betty Grable is married to Harry James". The tense atmosphere relaxes. The patrol is convinced they're friendly.
What is displayed authentically on this studio sound stage is the icy, bone-chilling atmosphere of the battlefield. The men hunkered down; the deeper the better, in their foxholes. Throughout nearly all this movie there is the constant rise and fall in the background of continuous artillery fire, like a rolling thunder. It never seems to cease. Sometimes it's close, sometimes distant. That, along with the freezing fog hanging like a thick whitish-grey blanket in the air, enveloping everything, gives off an atmosphere of crisis; a feeling of fearful tension. The men endeavour to dispel the fear with humour. Waiting and wondering when the enemy will appear ghost-like out of the mist-shrouded forest.
Near the end of the movie, Leon Ames gives a good performance as a Army Chaplain. Trying to explain the reason for this necessary trip to Europe, to kill off a murderous political system that has already killed off millions. Before the end, the tables turn in the Allies favour. Sergeant Kinnie notices his shadow against the snow. The sun is breaking through and the mist rises. Allied tactical air power is back in business again with a vengeance.
Veteran director William Wellman was not found wanting when he directed this movie. He had already proved himself with, "The Story of GI Joe", in 1945. Antiwar film? Any war film well made and convincing can be antiwar, and you do not need blood all over the silver screen to prove it. Antiwar or not, World War Two was a "popular" war. The reasons stuck out a mile. The Army Chaplain said so in so many words.
The Ardennes offensive caught the Allies unawares. By late 1944, battered the German forces may have been. But they still had a few nasty shots in their locker to scare the living daylights out of the Allied Command. We thought the Germans had run out of fighting steam, but old Field Marshal Gerd Von Rundstedt thought different.
A heroic fantasy about an artist’s destiny at the tumultuous time of social transformations. One of director Alexander Mitta’s best films. The south of Russia, 1920. In a town square, a mono-performance is on, based on Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar”. The film’s hero who took the pseudonym “Revarm”, which stands for “Revolutionary Art for the Masses”, is seriously interested in theatre. The real life and the stage one are intertwined in his destiny. In a provincial town where the power continuously changes hands, going from the Reds to the Whites, from the Whites to a band of the Greens, this youthful stage reformer, endowed with the gift of persuasion, attracts people to his cause, leaving no one indifferent.…
汤玛斯(大卫•鲍伊 David Bowie 饰)和其他人看起来并没有什么不一样,但其实,他是来自另一个文明高度发达的星球的人类。汤玛斯原本在他的星球里有着自己的家庭、亲戚和朋友们,一次他发现了地球这颗充满水的星球,出于对水的迷恋,他离开了自己那个缺水的星球,来到了地球。在这里,汤玛斯利用他所掌握的先进技术创办了公司,很快就成了百万富翁。在地球上呆的时间长了,汤玛斯开始想念自己原来的星球、原来的家,但地球对他的诱惑实在太大了,汤玛斯最终将如何选择?
在大洋深处的南礁,以大白鲨里诺(罗伯特•德•尼罗 Robert De Niro 饰)为首的鲨鱼黑帮横行霸道,不可一世,其他鱼类对他们又恨又怕,时刻希望有人(鱼?)出来主持公道,消灭这群恶棍。里诺虽然邪恶,不过却格外疼爱他的儿子弗兰奇(Michael Imperioli 配音)和兰尼(杰克•布莱克 Jack Black 配音)。与凶暴的父亲和哥哥不同,兰尼心地善良,平易近鱼,甚至还是个素食主义者。 吊儿郎当的清洗店小职员奥斯卡(威尔•史密斯 Will Smith 饰)欠下老板钱财,债台高筑。被五花大绑的他遭到弗兰奇的追杀,而弗兰奇却被突然出现的铁锚砸死。喜好吹牛的奥斯卡因此宣称弗兰奇死于他之手,他还间接和兰尼成为朋友。然而,这却引起鲨鱼黑帮的愤怒……
Alaska Rose has had a difficult few years since her mom left the family four years prior; acting out, rebelling against her single dad, Conner, getting into trouble in school and worse. But when she turns eighteen, Alaska finds herself in front of a judge in adult court for some of the same out-of-control behavior. In lieu of a jail sentence, Alaska is ordered to do community service in an assisted living facility where she is assigned to Mrs. Foster, an elderly resident who is unapproachable at best and hostile at her worst. Will Mrs. Foster be Alaska's undoing or will she simply be another obstacle on the road to the headstrong girl's freedom As Alaska tries to minimally fulfill her court obligation and dodge actual jail time, she deals with peer pressure, static from her family, outside influences and demons from her past. Can she navigate the tumult and re-discover a relationship with God and her family or will she remain caught in the cycle of bad choices and lose what little of either is left