BelSports
This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.
Philippa
All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.
Jenni Devyn
Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.
RanchoTuVu
An engrossing WW2 film set somewhere on the Russian Front with Paul Muni as a member of a Russian assault team who is trapped in a collapsed building with seven German soldiers, one of whom is an officer. Along with him is Margarithe Chapman as a Russian partisan. His character is in the lead part of a big Russian counter-attack that is to be launched across a river on a bridge that's being built eighteen inches under the surface of the water. The setting in the collapsed building with the German soldiers whom he has captured and is trying to extract information from is beautifully done with tension and humor amidst fading light, all captured by cinematographer James Wong Howe, one of the greats of B&W photography (and color, too if you've seen Picnic). Maybe Muni was a tad bit better in I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang, but he's awfully good here as a crafty Russian fighting sleep deprivation and fading light. The Germans are great as well, each getting enough lines to establish himself. Margarithe Chapman's part as Muni's comrade captures the idea of equality in the ranks among men and women. She's tough but tender.
verbusen
Not much a "counter-attack" but a "stuck behind enemy lines" movie. I also saw this on Turner Classic Movies and that's probably the only place you'll ever see this movie as it has little main stream appeal. Think of this as a remake of "Sahara" without all the cool action, just the constant diatribe dialog. Released (according to IMDb) less then one month before the fall of Nazi Germany, this movie was clearly a propaganda war movie among all the rest to motivate the masses in America. Except I question who or even where this film would have been shown to. I guess like where most of the previous reviewers here live, it was shown in the North East (mainly New York City) and probably in Chicago. Since Communism was still a slightly mainstream political movement in America, I guess it was also made for those people in America to help support the war effort more. In only about one year things would dramatically change starting as soon as only a few months when Russia would not declare war on Japan until less then a month before the A bomb and total surrender so they could take part of the spoils. Then of course the Iron Curtain would go up and well, I'm sure surprised this film was even found in the vaults after all this time. One chilling scene if I can just point it out, is when the Leader says that a word does not exist anymore and that you cannot find it in the dictionary anymore, and Muni crosses out that word in his pocket dictionary. This would be reprised in the movie "Alphaville" where the society's leader erases words and the people can no longer use the word "love". It's hard for me to root for one s-bag group that is only slightly less s-bagish then the other group. Anyway, I like Muni and I liked Korda in some of their other works and I like war movies and had never seen this one, so I gave it a try. It's not out of line with anything else done at the time, it's just that there aren't many good war movies made during the war because they are all done for propaganda. 5 of 10, I see many others enjoy this but they are probably Travelers so take that into account.
bkoganbing
Counter-Attack, a film celebrating the Russian contribution to the victory of Nazism, earned a place in history for the blacklisting of screen writer John Howard Lawson, member of the Hollywood Ten and a guy who really was a Marxist. He never denied it during his lifetime.Nevertheless the Russian contribution was certainly real enough and red enough and that's not a political statement either. Paul Muni and Marguerite Chapman play a pair of Russian soldiers who get trapped on the wrong side of the front in a cellar with seven members of the German Army of varying feelings about their leader. Muni and Chapman are on an advance mission to obtain intelligence and they're certain one of their 'prisoners' is an officer in disguise. How to ferret the information from these men is the question.The film is one claustrophobic exercise and on stage it was done only on the one set of the cellar. It was based on a Russian play Pobyeda and ran under the name Counter-Attack on Broadway during the 1943 season for 85 performances. Morris Carnovsky originated the role Paul Muni has in the film. Since both sides have no idea who will rescue them eventually it becomes quite a cat and mouse game with Muni and Chapman fighting fatigue. Yet they have a few tricks of their own.Counter-Attack is a well acted film with Paul Muni under a lot of effective directorial restraint and the ever present helpful hints from his wife Bella. They were one interesting combination, Bella knew her man well and was his best critic. Of course directors getting the idea that they were in charge did not want her around. Harry Cohn got her off the set of A Song To Remember and without her there, the result was Muni's hammiest performance. Counter-Attack is not a great war film and it got buried during the McCarthy era. Still it's decent enough wartime propaganda and we can view it now with the history of the times in mind.
jmatrixrenegade
Recently saw this movie on TCM. Very powerful. It concerns a Russian soldier (Paul Muni) and a female resistance agent (well played by Marguerite Chapman, who I'm not familiar with) trapped in a bombed factory (?) with seven Germans. The director has some better known films, including "Four Feathers." Muni is well known. The others appear to be character actors.It becomes a battle of wills, most of the action taking place in a condensed space -- the small area they are trapped in. But, meanwhile, we also get some excellent shots of the happenings outside in the battlefield and thereabouts. These add a nice touch to the movie, realistically so as well (a sort of newsreel feel in some cases).The movie has a 1945 publication date but is played basically straight. It is always interesting as well when Russians are the good guys.
