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8
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1 |
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10
= Highest Rating |
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It's
a tragedy, really, because this fine, often overlooked
action-drama deserved much, much better.
Cross Of Iron
is a powerful, offbeat antiwar film with a literate
script, featuring interesting performances. War
is not an adventure in this story. There is no
heroicism on the muddy, bloody Golgotha of the
Eastern Front. There is only the crucifixion of
the ordinary German landser on the altar
of Hitler's madness. Based on the 1956 novel by
World War II veteran Willi Heinrich, this European
co-production was filmed in English by acclaimed
American director Sam Peckinpah (The
Wild Bunch,
Straw Dogs). Set
in southern Russia in 1943, the story follows
the embittered German Sergeant Steiner (James
Coburn, in one of his strongest dramatic roles)
as he and the men of his platoon struggle to survive
both the attacking Red Army and the scheming duplicity
of their own glory-hungry battalion commander,
the haughty, aristocratic Captain Stransky (Maximilian
Schell). Steiner hates officers, especially incompetent
ones, and makes the mistake of openly showing
disdain for Stransky. A terrible 'friendly fire'
incident ensues when the captain deems it advantageous
for his career if Steiner's men don't make it
back from behind enemy lines.
Expect the slow-motion ballets of death that
Peckinpah is most famous for in combination with
his unusual editing style. Pacing flags in the
middle but direction is solid throughout. Authenticity
is first-rate; the movie was shot on location
in Yugoslavia (a good stand-in for the Soviet
Union) using historically accurate weapons. A
must-see for anyone interested in World War II's
Russian Front —
a very rare subject of English-language cinema.
(Can you you name another English-language Ostfront
film besides 2001's Enemy
At The Gates?)
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| Hen's
Tooth, unfortunately, totally dropped the ball with
its DVD release of Cross
Of Iron. It's
presented full frame (1.33:1) rather than letterboxed,
an injustice since since the film has never been
available in the U.S. in widescreen format. Adding
insult to injury, the video transfer is quite muddy
and grainy as hell... Shit would be the best
term to describe the disc's visual quality. The
mono audio track is barely adequate. The disc's
only bonus feature is a ridiculously small photo
gallery taken from a German press kit. Bottom line:
long-time fans of the movie will be extremely pissed
off, and this abysmal Hen's Tooth presentation won't
be winning it any new ones. If the DVD had been
priced under ten bucks then maybe I could cut it
some slack... On second thought, nein! 4/06/01 |
| UPDATE
In April 2006 (five years
after this review was written), Hen's Tooth released
a widescreen special edition of Cross
Of Iron, complete with
audio commentary. You can read our updated review
HERE.
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