Lucky Strike: Lurie’s Story of American Service and Survival

Today, it would be a scandal if the government supplied cigarettes to our troops, but during WWII, they were staples of K and C ration packages. At the time, the government and military figured they might as well give the soldiers fighting for democracy what they wanted, instead of telling them how to live. Can you imagine? Consequently, the Lucky Strike company played up its connection to the troops with its “Lucky Strike Green has gone to war” campaign. Indeed, Captain Castle goes through Hell with his brand of choice in Rod Lurie’s Lucky Strike, which is still playing in theaters.

The opening prologue fully and shockingly establishes the brutality of the Waffen-SS and the constant specter of death hovering over Allied troops during the Battle of the Bulge. Unfortunately, that is exactly the sort danger Castle must brave with his squad. Their orders are simple. Block a vital road to prevent German troop advances. The execution will be a you-know-what show. In fact, Captain Castle will be the mission’s sole survivor, unless you also count “Lassie,” the squad’s trusty Motorola SCR-300 radio, so-nicknamed for its reliability. As the voice from HQ tells him, Lassie will be his lifeline, until he reaches the extraction point, so he’d better protect it.

Getting to the rally spot will be a harrowing journey, as the older Col. Castle explains years after the fact to the somewhat confused Mrs. Caldwell. For reasons that are not immediately clear, he invited himself in and started chronicling his harrowing tale of survival. However, she will indulge him for a while, out of respect, since she also lost her son, a member of the 761^st Tank Battalion, during the Battle of the Bulge.

Lurie happens to be a Westpoint graduate, which gives viewers confidence he will treat his Army characters with the respect they deserve. Indeed, he and military advisor Jariko Denman (a fifteen-year-plus Ranger combat veteran) realized the warfighting scenes with a very high degree of historical accuracy, including the use of vintage tanks and vehicles that were authentic to the combat in the Ardennes. To his credit, Lurie skillfully stages battle scenes that are confusing and disorienting, in a deliberate, realistic kind of way.

World War Bigfoot: It is What it Sounds Like

For the men of the U.S.S. Indianapolis, sharks were deadlier than the Japanese torpedoes. Allied Prisoner of War in the Pacific also faced a similarly non-human threat from malaria-carrying mosquitos. However, in this fictionalized Ardennes, American troops had to contend with sasquatch-like creatures, as well as the Germans. Yes, this is one of those movies. There is plenty of hair, but, sadly, the fun is less plentiful in director-screenwriter Jason Mills’ World War Bigfoot, which releases tomorrow on VOD.

Given the campfire prologue, “Doc” obviously lives to tell his grandchildren this war story, thereby further reducing the potential suspense. Frankly, it is not exactly clear his small detachment was heading into the Ardennes. Regardless, it is a forested area along the front lines. Their objective is also vague. In fact, they have no idea what they mission is, but “Sarge” assures them it is top secret.

Inevitably, they clash with Nazi troops, whose commanding officer came for the same reason. He is equally obsessed with the Bigfoot-like creatures after seeing one first-hand. Apparently, during the late stage of the War, American sergeants and German junior lieutenants could just cut their own orders and requisition men, with no questions asked.

Indeed, their Bigfoot sightings drove both to psychosis. Doc even witnesses Sarge murdering one of his own men, who threatened to expose his madness. So much for the “Greatest Generation.” Mills prefers to depict the men who fought and died to save democracy as sadistic cutthroats—excepting of course, the conscientious objector medic, who quickly forms an alliance with his similarly enlightened German counterpart.

As a minimally-budgeted genre mashup, World War Bigfoot had two promising options. Go all in with outrageous gore and over-the-top comedy, or play it straight while inviting the audience to cheer for the American soldiers, against all enemies, foreign or cryptid. Instead, we get the worst of both options, a slow-moving, agonizingly self-serious film that openly posits a moral equivalency between the American and German Armies.

The best work comes from makeup artist-suit designer Anna Fox and fellow suit designer Robert M. Bravo. Their creatures look surprisingly great, despite the severe budget constraints. Honestly, this film does not deserve their inventiveness.

Palm Springs ’26: Battle of Oslo

Oberst (the Norwegian equivalent of Colonel) Birger Eriksen famously predicted “Either I will be decorated, or I will be court-martialed.” Both sort of came to pass, expressly because of his command to open fire on the Blucher, a German heavy cruiser that was part of the first wave of the National Socialist invasion of Norway. Of course, nobody in the Oscarsborg Fortress knew of the extent of the German operation. It was Eriksen’s call to make and he made it, as director Daniel Fahre shows in the historical drama Battle of Oslo (a.k.a. Blucher), which screens again during the 2026 Palm Springs International Film Festival.

In 1946, Eriksen is called before a formal military Investigative Commission to account for the decision he made—mostly his surrender of the fortress. Ironically, the commission’s star witnesses were the two junior officers who questioned Eriksen’s decision to open fire on the Blucher.

Admittedly, it was a tough decision. Nobody could confirm the nationality of the heavy cruiser sailing down the fjord towards Oslo. Magnus Sodem and August Bonsak argued against torpedoing the Blucher, fretting it could be construed as an act of war. However, Eriksen insisted they had a duty to protect Norway’s neutrality.

Obviously, Battle of Oslo is all about war, but Fahre and screenwriters Axel Hellstenius and Melike Leblebicioglu Kava emphasize the burdens of command rather than the shock-and-awe of warfighting. This is an unusually moody, but thoughtful war film. Frankly, it unambiguously suggests there are two sorts of officers: those who make decisions and accept responsibility, like Eriksen, who is contrasted with those who keep their heads down and CYA, as represented by Sodem and Bonsak. Consequently, Battle of Oslo will likely resonate with many vets, even if they are not experts in Norwegian military history.

Bjorn Sundquist portrays Eriksen with appropriate quiet dignity. The audience can feel the weight of every command he must deliver. He also conveys the officers’ deep sense of responsibility to his country, men, and family. In fact, the most notable supporting character is that of his daughter Borghild, a polio survivor, who worked as a civilian staffer at the Fortress. Andrea Berntzen delivers a smart, grounded performance that conveys the complexity of Eriksen’s relationship with her military father. We clearly get the sense that there are things only she can say to the Oberst that nobody else could—and vice versa.

Beast of War, on DVD/BluRay

The sinking of the HMAS Armidale was a lot like the tragedy of the U.S.S.Indianapolis. It was bad enough when both were sunk by the Imperial Japanese. Yet, for the survivors, fending off sharks in the water was even more horrifying. Everyone knows Quint’s monologue about the Indianapolis in Jaws. This is Armidale’s story, with a few dramatic liberties taken, in director-screenwriter Kiah Roache-Turner’s Beast of War, which releases tomorrow on DVD/BluRay.

Will seems ill-prepared for war, but he makes a good mate in Leo, an Aboriginal recruit who is probably the fittest for service, assuming he survives some of the racists also going through boot camp. Unfortunately, they will see little of the “proper” war, because they ship out on the Armidale, which is way too lightly armed and armored for the enemy-infested waters it set out to traverse. Their ill-fate led to a thorough review of such procedures, but that would mean little to Leo and Will as they watch a giant female great white circle their makeshift raft.

Of course, they are also stranded with Des Kelly, the worst racist of their unit, along Thompson, whose grave head wound makes his judgement dangerously unsound. It will be uncomfortably tight on that life-raft, but having a comrade to rely on, unconditionally, like Leo and Will, makes a big difference in their odds for survival. Indeed, that truly is the film’s takeaway.

Roache-Turner stays true to his genre roots by conceiving Beast of War as essentially a historically based sharksploitation horror movie. That is somewhat risky, considering many brave Australian servicemen died aboard the Armidale. It also shortchanges some of the heroes who fought and died valiantly, but it also forces viewers to confront the terrors they endured. Frankly, this is the sort of film that makes Quint look reasonable and justified.

Mark Coles Smith is also terrific as Leo. He seethes with anger, but also conveys a passion for life. Will is a much quieter, more passive character, but Joel Nankervis develops convincing and compelling comradery with Smith’s Leo, so viewers will enthusiastically root for them both to survive.

Prisoner of War, Starring Scott Adkins

In The Great Escape, Captain Virgil Hilts raced motorcycles before the War. Likewise, British Wing Commander James Wright studied martial arts according to the backstory of this film (starting with his youthful years in Hong Kong, if you were wondering). Both sports have timely wartime applications. However, there is no question putting his fist into the faces of the Japanese POW camp guards holds a special satisfaction for Wright. As a result, he doesn’t expect to live much longer, but he intends to go down swinging in Louis Mandylor’s Prisoner of War, which is now playing in theaters (and available on VOD).

We can tell from the prologue Wg Cdr. Wright will somehow survive—and he will not forget (or forgive) the treatment he received from camp commandant Ito. 1942 was a heck of a time to get shot down over Subic Bay, but obviously that was never Wright’s intention. Having enough of an idea of what awaits, Wright kills three Japanese soldiers trying to evade capture. Once apprehended, a junior Japanese officer orders his immediate beheading, but Wright also kills the execution party.

At this point, Ito develops an unhealthy interest in his prisoner. He hopes to humiliate Wright in his makeshift gladiatorial ring, but despite being outnumbered and facing unfair, unequal conditions, Wright keeps besting every Japanese soldier Ito throws at hm. However, he recognizes the situation is unsustainable. The prisoners have also heard rumors of the notorious death march, so they start hatching escape plans.

Essentially, Prisoner of War is like a martial arts remake of Unbroken. The trailer makes it look like Wright fights one cage-match after another, which slightly overstates the bloodsport aspects (even though they are certainly prevalent). Indeed, the themes of escape and survival with dignity are equally important.

Nevertheless, Adkins deserves tremendous credit for the fierceness of his performance. He is nothing less than spectacular in the fight sequences and there is a visceral physical intensity to his scenes enduring torture. He is sort of like the John Wick of the Greatest Generation, in the best way possible.

This is also the best work yet behind the camera for Mandylor (Adkins’ co-star in the wildly entertaining Debt Collector films). The camp and surrounding environment look convincingly oppressive, while the battle scenes are rendered with a fair degree of realism. Mandylor also nicely handles the stomach-churning cruelty inflicted on Allied POWs, often with a strategically panning camera, which spares viewers much of the gore while preserving the chilling emotional impact.

Monster Island, on Shudder

The original Creature from the Black Lagoon was found in the Brazilian Amazon. That is a long way from a tiny South Pacific island, but the similarly tropical climate would logically be habitable for similar gill-man-like creatures. Based on the fin on its head, the monster in question looks like a creature cousin, but one of the Japanese soldiers recognizes it as a mythical Orang Ikan. Whatever it is, it is hard to kill and the circumstances of WWII do not help much either in director-screenwriter Mike Wiluan’s Monster Island (a.k.a. Orang Ikan), which premieres this Friday on Shudder.

Frankly, things cannot get much worse for Bronson, considering he is an Allied POW aboard a so-called Imperial Japanese “Hell Ship.” The captain decides to execute him for a failed escape attempt, along with Saito, a supposed “traitor.” However, while the officers focus on executions and torture, the U.S. Navy sinks the ship.

Ironically, Saito and Bronson survive, washing up a little speck of an island, chained at the ankles. The first thing they do is fight each other, but the monster coming out of the water convinces them to fight together. Despite the language barrier, they come to an understanding that continues to hold when a group of more violently militant Japanese soldiers reach their island paradise.

Monster island starts with a nifty concept, essentially fusing Creature from the Black Lagoon with Hell in the Pacific, which Wiluan and company execute quite well. It is a tight, tense film filled with peril. The design of the Orang Ikan is several steps up from the vintage Creature, but it looks familiar enough to pay homage.

Dean Fujioka and Callum Woodhouse (a world away from All Creatures Great and Small) are also both terrific as Saito and Bronson. They must convince viewers quickly that their characters can agree to an alliance, which they do, with great success. They also look believably haggard, beat-up, frightened, and generally wrung through the wringer. This is not a buddy-movie, it is an extreme survival film, and both thesps truly act like survivors.

Wiluan’s screenplay is not particularly complex, but it fully explores the implications of the wartime setting. Given the circumstances, this might be the most dangerous island yet, eclipsing Skull Island, because of Saito’s ex-comrades. Very highly recommended, Monster Island starts streaming Friday (7/25) on Shudder.

WWII: Operation Phoenix

Witold Pilecki heroically agreed to go undercover in the Auschwitz concentration camp to smuggle information back to the Polish Home Army. In recognition of his heroism, the Communist government executed him for espionage. Pilecki volunteered for his inconceivable mission. Major Murphy will order two recent Allied escapees to be re-captured, whether they like it or not, as part of a desperate plan to free a spy with critical intel. His team isn’t so “dirty,” but they have Dirty Dozen-like odds of survival in Wesley Mellott’s WWII: Operation Phoenix (a.k.a. Talons of the Phoenix), which releases tomorrow on VOD.

As a protégé of secretive Henry Tasquer Finn, former Continental socialite Katherine LaRue uncovered blockbuster information. The Gestapo burned through their entire network, but she temporarily escaped on a neutral freighter, the John Knight, until a U-boat caught up with her. The Allied brass needs her and her intel, which seems to involve nuclear secrets and shipments of heavy water, but their double-talk always keeps intentionally vague.

Regardless, Major Murphy must devise and execute an unlikely rescue operation, codenamed “Phoenix,” with the help of the all-woman Resistance field unit, who have sheltered the two escapees. To really complicate matters, Captain Rand has quickly fallen for one of his hosts, so he is less than thrilled to return to his former POW camp.

The limited resources really show throughout Phoenix, which is too bad, because it features some surprisingly colorful performances, especially among the Allies. Marcus Lawrence is oddly, but entertainingly flamboyant as Sgt. Major Colin Lackley. Screenwriter Darrin Archer hams it up as debauched Captain Jack Travis, their pilot, whose essentially chose the mission over the brig. Eric Supensky is also more than sufficiently hardnosed as Major Murphy.

Blitz, on Apple TV+

Most Americans cannot imagine what it was like in London during the Blitz and simply couldn’t handle living under such a constant threat of death. There is one nation that can identify with survivors of the Blitz—Israel, a nation that endured ceaseless suicide bombings well before October 7^th. To a degree, viewers get a taste of the crushing enormity of the National Socialists’ indiscriminate bombardment in director-screenwriter Steve McQueen’s Blitz, which premieres tomorrow on Apple TV+.

After watching the first ten minutes of Blitz, it is easy to understand why Rita Hanway secured a place for her son George aboard one of the last trains evacuating children to the countryside. However, he resents his single mother supposedly unloading him, so his parting words are terrible. Yet, he will probably better understand her reluctant decision after the events he will witness during the film.

Indeed, he feels rather guilty once the train steams away, so he soon hops off, to make his way back to her. Of course, the journey hopping rails hobo-style would be rather unsafe, even under ordinary circumstances. With the Luftwaffe carpet-bombing the East End, it is downright perilous. Even when he makes it back to London, the dangers are not over, especially when Albert’s Dickensian gang of corpse and bombsite looters get their claws into him.

Meanwhile, as Ms. Hanway pines for her son and his Caribbean immigrant father, whose life might have been ironically saved when the authorities deported him, she is drawn to the socialist preachings of the leader of a makeshift alternate bomb-shelter.

There are huge set-pieces in Blitz that are nothing short of brilliant. The opening prologue is truly jaw-dropping and a later sequence, showing Ken “Snakehips” Johnson’s final performance up until and past the point a German bomb falls on the swanky night where he was performing is probably even more devastating.

Weirdly, Blitz probably would have been stronger if McQueen had de-emphasized the narrative and concentrated on the viscerally tactile recreations of the devastation unleashed on London. There are images in this film that are truly unforgettable.

On the other hand, the mother-son melodrama comes across as forced and even rather contrived, in comparison. Plus, McQueen’s attempts at class-conscious social commentary ring with pettiness, given the wider circumstances. Frankly, in both cases, the dialogue sounds rather wooden.

Arguably, Blitz would have been a much better film if it talked less and showed more. Young Elliott Heffernan is very strong throughout the film, but McQueen’s decisions only truly let him shine in a handful of gem-like scenes. One standout example would be his late-night encounter with Ife, a sympathetic air-raid warden of West African descent, played with aching sensitivity by Benjamin Clementine. His relatively small supporting performance is absolutely beautiful and a highlight of Blitz.

The Story of G.I. Joe, Restored on BluRay

There was a time when G.I.’s expected war correspondents to be on their side. That was during WWII and maybe sometimes the Korean War. Nobody had more sympathy for the grunts in harm’s way than Pulitzer Prize winner Ernie Pyle. Sadly, Pyle was killed-in-action during the Battle of Okinawa, two months before the film based on his newspaper stories was released. We missed the humanity of his journalism in future wars, while Pyle missed out seeing his words done justice in William Wellman’s The Story of G.I. Joe, which has been freshly restored and released on DVD and BluRay, by Ignite Films.

When Pyle first embeds with Company C (18^th Infantry) in Tunisia, the GIs see an undersized middle-aged pencil-pusher, but they respect him when he proves he is tough enough to keep up with them. Subsequently, they immediately accept as a foxhole-mate when he rejoins them in Italy. Pyle remembers them all well, especially battle-hardened Lt. Bill Walker, who is now Capt. Walker, because he “outlived” the other Lieutenants.

Mired underneath an ancient monastery serving as a German observation post, Pyle serves as a sounding board, counselor, and too often a eulogist for Walker’s men. Sgt. Steve Warnicki constantly fiddles with a victrola, hoping to hear the special pressing his wife sent of his newborn son’s voice. Pvt. Dondaro is a Jersey ladies man, who conveniently speaks Italian. In contrast, Pvt. Robert “Wingless” Murphy will marry his sweetheart, “Red,” a Red Cross nurse (played by Wellman’s uncredited wife, Dorothy Coonan Wellman. However, this is war, so not everyone will live to see the end of the film, just like the real-life Pyle did not survive to cover the end of the war.

The Story of G.I. Joe was added to the National Film Registry and it earned Robert Mitchum’s only Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Capt. Walker, so it is hardly an unheralded film. Nevertheless, if you discover it by watching Ignite’s stunning restoration, you might rightfully wonder why rarely appears on all-time best lists.

Seriously, this is a masterwork. Although Wellman largely maintains an intimate squad-level focus, there are realistic battle scenes that still hold up post-Saving Private Ryan. It presents war with brutal honesty, making it clear every starring or supporting character could very easily fall in battle. The writing is consistently sharp and sometimes even hilarious, as when Pyle humors the men with ribald Hollywood gossip, which the sound of artillery “censors” for viewers.

Burgess Meredith is famous for classic The Twilight Zone episodes, the Rocky franchise, and dozens of other films, but Pyle might be the greatest screen performance of his entire career. He has the perfect look for the 43-year-old journalist, even though he was specially discharged from the Army expressly for this film. When he talks in-character about war, viewers believe he speaks from experience, which indeed was true for Burgess on a personal level.

Murder Company, Co-Starring Kelsey Grammer

Phonies talk tough, but the truth is no group killed more fascists than the American military. They were also fighting real, heavily armed fascists, who fought back. It was a brutal, bloody business—and this would be an appropriate day to thank them. A ragtag group of soldiers are in for a particularly rough mission in Shane Dax Taylor’s Murder Company, which releases in theaters and on demand and digital this Friday.

After an unusually unfortunate jump, most of Sgt. Southern’s company are dead or missing. However, he soon finds Pvt. Coolidge, a friend and comrade separated from a segregated unit and supposedly reassigned to Southern’s. Gen. Hastings lumps them together with several other strays for a dangerous assignment, under the command of Lt. Smith.

It is a two-parter. Rescue French resistance Daquin, who will then guide them to Major General Erik Ramsey, the National Socialist officer in charge of military transportation for all of Europe. The goal is to decapitate him before the D-Day landing. Yes, this is technically an assassination mission, but Daquin, who happens to be a crack shot with a sniper rifle, will handle the killing. Some of the men still have qualms, but viewers won’t after watching Ramsey’s skill as a torturer.

Purportedly, Jesse Mittelstadt’s screenplay is based on a “true story,” but that probably just means American did indeed fight Germany in WWII. It is hard to imagine Coolidge integrating a regular platoon and it is even tougher to figure how Haskel could have men holding a bridge for Americans coming from Normandy Bridge, but whatever. It is a WWII movie in which the Americans are the good guys. The bad guys are the Germans and they are particularly bad. In fact, they are part of the so-called “Murder Division,” so if Smith’s company bests them through covert action, they can take the “Murder” name for themselves.

Murder Company was definitely produced on a frugal budget, but it wisely leans into its grunginess, eschewing explosive spectacle. Most of the warfighting consists of close-quarters ambushes, sniper attacks, and fire fights at either the squad or platoon level. (Frankly, the Murder Company really isn’t big enough to be a company.) Regardless, the combat tends to be personal and very deadly.

Although Kelsey Grammer is best known for Fraser Crane, he has also portrayed several military officers. Arguably, the steely decisiveness of his performance here will make Haskell the kind of general many junior officers would wish they reported to. His grit matches that of the film in general and Joe Anderson and William Moseley, as Smith and Southern, in particular.

The Cold Blue, on TCM

The Memphis Belle is one of the most famous planes in both American and movie history, right up there with the Spirit of St. Louis and Air Force One. William Wyer captured the B-17’s flight crew in action in his classic The Memphis Belle documentary, which has since been preserved on the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry. However, Wyler and his cameraman shot a lot more footage of B-17s than he included in his 45-minute doc. Fortunately, those outtakes survived in the National Archives, waiting to be rediscovered, restored, and incorporated into Erik Nelson’s The Cold Blue, which airs Sunday on TCM.

Frankly, there might be more interest for The Cold Blue now, thanks to the success of Masters of the Air and its companion doc, The Bloody Hundredth, than when it first released. The title is no joke. Both the sky and the sea in Wyler’s previously unseen footage appear eerily blue. This color film has that vintage 1940s look, much like that of the Oscar-winning Marines at Tarawa. The Flying Fortress could also be a brutally cold, sub-zero ride. In fact, several of the surviving vets providing context for Wyler’s film clips have stories of crewmates who lost hands or fingers to frostbite.

Even if the commercial timing was not ideal. It is a good thing Nelson made this film when he did, because the Army Air Force veterans were not getting any younger. Sadly, Gunnery Sergeant Paul Haedike, one of Nelson’s funniest and most colorful commentators just passed away this March. His contributions are priceless.

Thanks to him and the rest of the Airmen, viewers really get a sense of what it was like to serve on the Flying Fortress. The iconic plane emerges as a bit of a contradiction. In many ways, it was a death-trap, particularly with respects to the freezing temperatures crew experienced and the thin aluminum fuselage that offered no meaningful protection from enemy fire. Yet, they also praised the B-17 for being a tough old bird that could withstand tremendous damage and keep on flying.

Gold Run: Norway’s WWII Gold Convoy

In 1940, Norway’s Krone had real value, because they had a gold standard. Of course, that meant the national bank had a lot of gold in its vaults, to back up its currency. When the Germans invaded, stealing that gold was a high priority. Bureaucrats from the central bank and finance ministry worked with the military to deliver Norway’s gold to the Allies for safe keeping. They are losing the battle, but the Norwegians complete their heroic mission in Hallvard Braein’s Gold Run, which opens tomorrow in New York.

Fredrik Haslund is a boring mid-level political appointee, but that is why his boss trusts him. Unfortunately, that means he gets the call when it is time to ferry Norway’s gold reserves to a British destroyer waiting not so patiently along the coast. The minister knows Haslund will meticulously account for each and every gold bar. That is also why he so annoys Maj. Bjorn Sunde, the crusty commander of his military escort, which includes a celebrity, former communist poet Nordahl Grieg. (To his credit, Grieg broke with Stalin and the Party when they signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Non-Aggression Pact). At least Haslund’s activist sister, Nini, a veteran of the Spanish Civil War, will lend her skills as a scout and English translator to his make-shift convoy.

Haslund is not an obvious hero, but Ingvar Berge from the finance ministry inspires even less confidence. However, he will be reluctantly paired up with Odd Henry, a grizzled truck driver, who is man enough for the both of them. They will all have to get their acts together and work as a team, because Major Otto Stoltmann is hot on their trail.

Gold Run is a solidly respectable war drama that sometimes feels more like the streaming/TV movie that it started its life as in Scandinavia, representing Viaplay’s first original film. It is a great story, especially when it shows two undeniably heroic professions, soldiers and economists, working together at a time of national emergency. However, most characters are just deep enough to give them an internal crisis to exploit during critical turning points.

Although the battery of three screenwriters never really delve into Grieg’s politics (he was an honest anti-fascist, instead of a Party stooge), the depiction of the national bard is still far from hagiography. He often appears somewhat full of himself, but his “first reading” of his classic wartime poem is pretty stirring stuff.

Reveille

They were not exactly great hosts, but Germany and Italy better adhered to the Geneva Convention than their fellow Japanese Axis. Perhaps reciprocity was a reason—the fear that mistreatment of Allied POW’s would lead to mistreatment of their own. Such reciprocity will be a very real concern for one German patrol in director-screenwriter Michael Akkerman’s Reveille, which releases this Friday on-demand.

In the first act, Sgt. Jens Artur’s platoon capture a rag-tag group of American GI’s. Their treatment of the new POW’s is somewhat questionable, but probably not worth our outrage. Soon thereafter, Staff Sgt. Walter Brander, a WWI veteran called back into service, takes a small group out for some recon. This time, the Yanks have the drop on them.

Brander wanted to find the Americans and that is exactly what happens. It is a one-sided battle, with only Artur, Brander, and new rookie (who is as green as Kermit) are gravely wounded, but the rest are KIA. As he should according to the military code of conduct, “Sarge” prevents his redneck private from finishing them off. Instead, they take them prisoner. He duly sends for medics, but because they are pinned down by Germany artillery, the men instead must watch their German POWs slowly and painfully expire.

The inherent irony of the German POWs’ situation is ripe for drama. Unfortunately, Akkerman’s verbose screenplay literally talks around it. A talky film can be engrossing, sort of in the Playhouse 90 kind of tradition, but the dialogue in Reveille often feels tangential and unfocused.

Secret in the Mountain, on MHz Choice

The picturesque Austrian village of Altaussee probably boasts the only working mine that also features an art exhibit. There is a good reason for that. During WWII, the salt mine served as the secret hiding place for art looted by the National Socialist regime. You might remember scenes of its liberation in George Clooney’s The Monuments Men. Screenwriter-director tells the story from the perspective of the miners in Secret of the Mountain, which premieres Tuesday on MHz Choice.

Sepp Rottenbacher keeps himself to himself, but not his childhood friend, Franz Mittenjager, who is widely known to supply food to the band of deserters encamped in the mountains. That secret is a little too open for his own safety, but his equally rebellious wife Leni would not have it any other way. Slowly but surely, the villagers are also becoming more defiant, as they receive news of the Axis’s military defeats.

The mines might not seem like a good place to store art, but the temperature and humidity in the deeper shafts were almost perfect. Their depth also provided protection from Allied bombing runs. Unfortunately, Hitler decided to destroy the Altaussee mine and all the art stored within, as part of his scorched earth strategy. Blowing up the art would also obliterate the village’s primary source of employment. Of course, the fanatical National Socialists do not care, but the catastrophic prospect finally shakes Rottenbacher out of his apathy.

Even though Secret in the Mountain was produced for Austrian television, but it is a high-quality period production, with some surprisingly sophisticated characterization. Unlike many “reluctant heroes,” who cannot hardly wait for their awakening of conscience, Rottenbacher’s change of heart is a bitter, hard-fought process. Likewise, the miners’ “courtship” of SS Officer Ernst Kaltenbrunner to countermand the Altaussee’s standing orders for destruction gives the film an ironic twist. However, it is worth noting Zerhau’s screenplay largely lets the mining village off the hook for collaboration, while short-changing the efforts of the American Monuments Men to secure the imperiled art beneath Altaussee.

Come Out Fighting: The 761st Tank Battalion in Germany

Gen. George S. Patton was not exactly woke, but he was generally well-remembered by the black soldiers of the 761^st Tank Battalion who served under him. For most of the film, the so-called “Black Panthers” will be on their own, behind enemy lines. That wouldn’t be so bad, given the hostility of some of their fellow soldiers, were it not for the crazy German officer setting ambushes for them. However, a downed American pilot will be happy to tag a ride with them in Steven Luke’s Come Out Fighting, which releases Friday in theaters and on-demand.

Maj. Chase Anderson is the kind of commanding officer Lt. Robert Hayes can respect. Obviously, Anderson is cool, because he is played by Dolph Lundgren. Unfortunately, the captain between them is a racist trying to blame Hayes for his mistake. The captain is also an incompetent, who gets his convoy back to HQ hopelessly lost and quickly ambushed by the unhinged Captain Hans Schultz.

Hayes is the only survivor, trying to cross back over enemy lines by himself, until Lt. Frank Ross blunders into him. Ross survived a dogfight with the Luftwaffe’s newly redesigned fighter plane, so top brass would like to debrief him. That is how Maj. Anderson convinces Gen. Patton to sign off on the previously unsanctioned rescue mission Hayes’ sergeant, Sgt. A.J. “Red” McCarron was planning, with the help of Black Panthers tanker Sgt. Warren Crecy. Hayes’s platoon and the 761^st are still largely on their own, but they are highly motivated.

Weirdly, Come Out Fighting does not feature the most famous 761^st veteran, Jackie Robinson (or it’s the briefest of name-checks that you could easily miss). Regardless, the gritty, fatalistic attitude of most of the troops rings pretty true. However, there is the big credibility issue when it basically lets McCarron and Crecy get away with “taking their own initiative.” Chain of command is critically important. They do not take too kindly to it if the generals want your men one place, but you decide to move them someplace else, but hey, it’s a movie.

It also seems like the Germans never had a chance, since we have Michael Jai White and Lundgren in uniform. White definitely looks and acts like a leathery tough NCO. Lundgren is suitably commanding as Anderson, continuing to gracefully transition into less physical, but still ultra-manly action-support roles.

Freaks vs. the Reich

The National Socialists had two weird obsessions: purity and the occult. It therefore rather follows that a group of super-heroic circus freaks would be their nemeses. Yet, an increasingly unhinged Nazi pianist has a mad dream of harnessing their powers to save the regime. That sounds like an unlikely Hail Mary scheme, but he knows Germany’s defeat is likely from his drug-induced visions of the future in Gabriele Mainetti’s dark superhero fantasy Freaks vs. the Reich (a.k.a. Freaks Out), which releases today in theaters and on-demand.

Fulvio is the wolfman, Mario is the magnetic clown, Cencio is an albino with an Aquaman-like power over bugs, and Matilde harnesses the power of electricity. She is the real deal, not like Rooney Mara in the inferior Nightmare Alley remake. In fact, all their powers are real, but hers are potentially the most powerful. However, she has issues when it comes to using them to their fullest extent. Her conductivity also somewhat alienates her from humanity, since her touch is potentially fatal. Nevertheless, Cencio still carries a torch for her, which is also creepy, given their apparent age differences.

Nevertheless, the four circus freaks regularly dazzle audiences for old Israel’s traveling sideshow, until the war intervenes. The Germans have invaded their former Italian allies, but at this point of the war, it is not going well for either nation. Franz desperately wants to turn it around for the Reich, but he is probably lucky to be alive, considering he has six fingers on either hand, making him a freak himself. Through liberal ether-huffing, Franz has seen images of the future. As a result, he is convinced only Matilde’s powers can save the Reich.

This is probably the weirdest circus film since Alex de la Iglesia’s The Last Circus (a.k.a. A Sad Trumpet Ballad), which Freaks also resembles in tone. It is far more macabre than most superhero movies, but that is its strength, whereas its weakness is Mainetti’s inclination to excess, especially the two-hour-and-twenty-minute running time.

Be that as it may, Mainetti and co-screenwriter Nicola Guaglianone earn a lot of points for originality, particularly for their distinctive villain, Franz. He is a sinister psychopath, but it is easy to understand how living with his conspicuous “deformity” in German society helped warp him into the monster we see in the film. Those predisposed to object the film uses him to represent the physically different should keep in mind there is also a band of war-amputee partisans in the woods, waging guerilla attacks against the Germans.

Operation Seawolf, Starring Dolph Lundgren and Frank Grillo

By Presidential order, there were two U.S. Navy ships with majority African American crews during WWII, so the submarine chaser depicted in this film is not the total historical gaffe you might assume. The mission it is trying to foil is completely fictional, but not because the German U-boat corps would have had any issues targeting civilians. They just never made it this far in real-life. Time is running out for the Axis, but a strike on New York City could turn the tide of the war in Steven Luke’s Operation Seawolf, which releases Tuesday on DVD.

Captain Hans Kessler is a disillusioned old school officer, but even with his heavy drinking, he is the best man available for the last-ditch mission. However, it is hard for his new first officer to see it that way. Lt. Reinhart was demoted, to make way for Kessler. He is supposed to lead a wolfpack of U-boats close enough to the City to launch a V2 rocket attack from their decks, once they surface.

Fortunately, Commander Race Ingram knows their coming, so he will deploy the Tenth Fleet to stop them. For the first time ever, Capt. Samuel Gravely’s ship, based on the USS Mason (DE-529) will be part of the hunt. Luke fudges the historical record a little with that last part, but plenty of WWII films have taken greater dramatic license.

Dolph Lundgren gets to show more dramatic range than usual as Kessler. Indeed, he is perfectly cast as the commanding but world-weary (and super-blond) officer. On the other hand, Frank Grillo is grossly underutilized as Ingram, who basically spends the entire film in the war room, reading coded messages and barking orders. It wouldn’t really make sense for his character to come face-to-face with Kessler, but it is still disappointing Grillo and Lundgren appear in the same film, but never share a scene together.

Hiram A. Murray is similarly confined to the bridge of his ship playing Capt. Gravely. He also carries himself with a convincing military bearing, which rather makes sense, since he is a Marine Corp veteran. However, the sequences aboard Gravely’s Destroyer do not look as realistic as those within Kessler’s U-boat, which were shot inside the decommissioned and preserved USS Cod.

Battle for Saipan

Five Americans were awarded the Medal of Honor for their service at Saipan, all of them posthumously. A campaign was launched to upgrade Guy Gabaldon’s Navy Cross to the MOH, which still continues after his death. Such valor testifies to the battle’s high stakes and brutal conditions endured by tens of thousands of American soldiers, including my grandfather. The attack on an American field hospital in this film is fictional, but it is consistent with the Imperial army’s scorched earth “banzai” charge. A handful of soldiers and medical personnel must stand against several Japanese platoons in screenwriter-director Brandon Slagle’s Battle for Saipan, which opens tomorrow.

Like Gabaldon (who was raised in a Japanese-speaking family), Maj. William Porter speaks some of the local lingo, but it is never explained how he picked it up. Regardless, he overhears plans of an attack on the nearby U.S. Army field hospital while dodging a Japanese patrol. He finds a rag-tag facility lacking proper supplies for the many patients they have. Porter even brought another—the only other survivor of his scouting party. Vic, the lead surgeon, never expected to fight, but he completed basic like any other serviceman, so he and Porter will have to spearhead their defense.

There are a few reasonably colorful characters in the hospital, particularly, the demoted commanding officer, Gen. Jake Carroll, but the narrative still boils down to: the Japanese attack and the Americans defend. It is simple, unfussy, and pretty effective for what it is. This is hardly Hell to Eternity (based on Gabaldon’s story), but lead thesp Casper Van Dien bears some resemblance to Jeffrey Hunter.

Wolves of War: Another Final Mission Movie

Wars are like the old Knicks-Pacers games, in that they aren’t over until they are truly, officially over. Jack Wallace understands that only too well. Even though everyone knows WWII is down to its final days, he is still recruited for a potential-suicide mission in Giles Alderson’s Wolves of War, which releases tomorrow on VOD.

Wallace is the only parent his little girl has left, but he worries his success as a commando might have profoundly changed him as a person. Regardless, there is no guarantee he will survive this mission to see her again. Under the command of Captain Norwood, Wallace and his hodge-podge squad must parachute into no man’s land Bavaria, to rescue expat Professor Hopper from the National Socialist “Werewolves,” the fanatical remnants of the SS engaging in scorched earth guerilla warfare.

Supposedly, Hopper and his daughter Hannah were trapped in Germany when the war broke out, but he was never a regime sympathizer. Obviously, he is not a political science genius. As it happens, he is a physicist, who has developed a rival atomic bomb. If Wallace’s team can secure the professor and his notes, they can call in an airlift. Otherwise, it will become a carpet-bombing airstrike.

In some ways, Wolves of War is a throwback to old fashioned WWII films, but Wallace’s existential angst definitely feels contemporary. However, its stiff-upper-lip Britishness is appealing. The action is respectably gritty, but it lacks a big set-piece crescendo.

Burial: Stalin’s Macabre Trophy

The Soviets had a strange corpse fetish. To this day, you can still gawk at Lenin’s embalmed body in Red Square. Alas, poor Gorby probably won’t be getting that treatment. Stalin had something very ghoulishly different in mind for Hitler’s corpse. However, secretly ferrying it from Berlin to Moscow will be quite a tricky assignment for Brana Vasilyeva and her comrades in director-screenwriter Ben Parker’s Burial, which opens tomorrow in New York.

For a skinhead punk, rumors of Hitler’s body possibly surviving someplace were too tantalizing to ignore, even in 1991. However, when he breaks into elderly Vasilyeva’s London townhouse, she is the one who has the drop on him. When he comes to, handcuffed to the radiator, she decides to tell him the full story, because she knows it isn’t what he wants to hear.

Only Vasilyeva and her commander knew the exact nature of their mission. They are supposed to sneak Hitler’s body into the USSR clandestinely, but that means they will have to fight their way through the self-styled “Werewolves,” remnants of the National Socialist occupiers engaging into scorched-earth guerilla warfare. Unfortunately, when Vasilyeva’s commanding officer is killed in combat, the next senior officer is the cretinous Captain Ilyasov, who is more interested in rape and plunder than completing a mission he was not briefed on.

It is because of Soviet soldiers like him that the Poles are so hostile to the advancing Russians. Lukasz is a perfect case in point. As an ethnic German Pole, he suffered at the hands of both the Germans and the Soviets. However, Vasilyev manages to win his trust, but it does not extend very far beyond her and her trusted subordinate officer Tor Oleynik (so dubbed in honor of the Norse god, because of what he did to some Germans with a hammer).

Watching Burial, you have to feel sympathy for the Polish people. Time and again, Vasilyeva and Oleynik are confronted with the brutality of their own fellow Soviets and the resulting bitterness festering in the civilians, whose help they need. Parker never sugar-coats the brutality of either regime, openly suggesting something close to equivalency between them. Although this is a war film, it gets pretty intense and even spooky, given the way the “Werewolves” take their nickname to heart (and their weaponized use of hallucinogenic drugs).

Charlotte Vega makes a suitably quiet but steely action lead as Vasilyeva, but she is still no match for Harriet Walter, playing her hardnosed, butt-kicking senior citizen analog. (Reportedly, Dame Diana Rigg was originally cast in the role before her death, leaving some big shoes to fill, but Walter acquits herself impressively.)