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Cross
of Iron
(Widescreen
Edition)
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Review
by
Brian Lindsey
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8
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6 |
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10
= Highest Rating |
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Replaces
EC's April 2001 review of the fullframe edition |
Danken
sie Gott!
Hen's
Tooth Video totally dropped the ball with their
February 2000 release of this film. Presented
fullframe (1.33:1) rather than in its correct
aspect ratio, the transfer was an appalling piece
of scheisse to boot. Adding to the
frustration, a far superior DVD was subsequently
released for European markets, demonstrating that
proper elements were indeed available. Well, it's
certainly been a long wait, but Hen's Tooth FINALLY
got it together and assembled an edition that
should prove acceptable to fans.
Cross
of Iron
is a powerful, offbeat antiwar film with a literate
script, featuring interesting performances. War
is not an adventure in this story, which focuses
on the German experience in World War II. There
is no heroicism fighting for the Third Reich on
the muddy, bloody Golgotha of the Eastern Front
—
only
the crucifixion of the ordinary German landser
on the altar of Hitler's madness. Based on the
1956 novel by World War II combat veteran Willi
Heinrich, this European co-production was filmed
in English by acclaimed American director Sam
Peckinpah (The
Wild Bunch)
with an international cast. Set in southern Russia
in the autumn of 1943, the story follows embittered Sergeant
Steiner (James Coburn, in one of his strongest
dramatic roles) as he and 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 and his
men don't make it back from behind enemy lines...
Mostly
eschewing the politics of the film's time period,
Peckinpah and writers Julius Epstein, Walter Kelley
and James Hamilton nonetheless give Cross
of Iron a strong antifascist/anti-nationalist
theme. The story may be told from the viewpoint
of men ground up in the cogs of the Nazi military
machine, but its cynical critique is aimed at
a much broader —
indeed, universal —
target. Speaking of the nature of war, Steiner
speaks of an eternal battlefield, of trenches
scarring the earth a thousand years hence. "Take
off one uniform and there's always another one
underneath," he says. Coburn does a fine
job capturing the grim weariness of this 'Eternal
Soldier', the veteran warrior who retains his
humanity and individualism despite all the horror
and brutality he's experienced. This is the guy
you'd want leading your platoon:
tough but fair, with no use for supercilious bullshit,
and genuinely concerned for the welfare of his
men.
Supporting
Coburn in the nearly all-male cast is an eclectic
band of British and European actors, including
James Mason (20,000
Leagues Under the Sea, The
Blue Max) as chivalrous regimental commander
Colonel Brandt, and David Warner (Straw
Dogs, The Omen) as
Brandt's enlightened, darkly cynical adjutant
Captain Kiesel. Schell is the very picture of
a cultured but shallow, and
ultimately murderous,
martinet/popinjay. (His Stransky is an utterly
contemptible creature; this villainous performance
is my
favorite by the great
Austrian actor.) The lovely Senta Berger,
who also appeared in Peckinpah's Major
Dundee (1965), has the only significant
female role — albeit a small one — as a nurse
who provides the wounded Steiner with a brief
respite from the front.
As
for the visuals, expect the slow-motion 'ballet
of death' montages that Peckinpah is most famous
for in combination with his preferred crosscutting
editing style. A
reduced budget forced him to scale down the battle
scenes but they're given
a gritty horror and intimacy; unheroic carnage
is experienced in reality-contorting 'Peckinpah
Time'. Pacing flags in the middle but direction
is solid throughout. The surreal, ambiguous ending
is a bit different for Peckinpah (and turns out
to have been hastily improvised when the production
ran out of money to complete the shoot). Authenticity
is first-rate, explaining the film's appeal to
serious history buffs; the movie was shot on location
in Yugoslavia, a good stand-in for the Soviet
Union, using historically accurate weapons.
Cross of Iron is
a must-see for anyone interested in World War
II's Russian Front,
an extremely rare subject of English-language
cinema. And it's the last truly great film helmed
by the legendary Sam Peckinpah.
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As mentioned, the new Region
1 special edition from
Hen's Tooth is something of a redemption for the
fullscreen atrocity the company released six years
ago. The anamorphic transfer is much cleaner and
sharper, with significantly better detail and
color balance. Just as importantly, the film is
presented widescreen (1.78:1) — Peckinpah's
compositions are now much more properly balanced.
Having regrettably never seen the film on the
big screen (and I don't own an All-Region DVD
player), this new disc is the best I've ever seen
the film look. While a modern, high-end 5.1 Surround
mix would be awesome if done properly, the original
mono tracks provided (English and French) are
at least adequate to the task, clear
and distortion-free. There is no subtitle
option.
Also differing from
the best-forgotten 2000 release is the inclusion
of extras, such as the rather prolix U.S. theatrical
trailer — apparently it was deemed necessary to
inform clueless Americans that WWII in Europe
was not fought only on the Western Front
— and an image gallery of German lobby cards.
A solid audio commentary by Stephen Prince, author
of Savage Cinema: Sam Peckinpah and the Rise
of Ultraviolent Movies, should please
fans of the film, its director and even World
War II buffs. (He certainly "hit the trifecta"
with your humble correspondent!) Virtually without
pause, Prince covers Cross
of Iron's financially troubled production
while expounding on Peckinpah's influences, themes,
and signature post-Wild
Bunch style. He also goes into great detail
contrasting the film with Heinrich's classic novel,
pointing out exactly where the screenplay differs
from the book. (The chronology of events is flipped,
for example; the literary Steiner is a young man
of 25 rather than a grizzled vet pushing fifty.)
Prince additionally touches on the historical
aspects of the film, although
in this regard he's less successful and sure of
his facts — he incorrectly places the 1943 Taman
Peninsula campaign in the spring of that year
instead of the fall, and refers to the highest
German military decoration as the "King's
Cross" instead of Knight's Cross.
5/17/06
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