The FRiday Night Movie - Stalingrad (1959)

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[DemforBush]

Tonight, an excellent West German war movie about the military disaster at Stalingrad. Joachim Hansen is Lt. Gerd Wisse, an idealistic young lieutenant who begins to see things very differently while on the Eastern Front. Includes several semi-historical scenes involving German command (Paulus, Hitler, etc.) and some of the best use of actual war footage I've seen in a movie.

In German with English subtitles.

[DemforBush]

Full title: Stalingrad - Dogs, do you want to live forever?

This one is dang good. It's unusually accurate in terms of explaining the realities of the situation (supply shortages, lack of anti-tank equipment for Rumanian and other allied forces, etc.) 7.7/10

[DemforBush]

Previous offerings:

The Stranger7/10

Decision Before Dawn7.5/10

The Woman in the Window8/10

Plunder Road6.75/10

The Hitch-Hiker7/10

The Big Heat8.5/10 (Now blocked by youtube)

Stalag 178/10

The Enemy Below7.5/10.

Kiss of Death7.25/10

The Killers8.0/10

Stagecoach8.25/10

DOA7.5/10

Breaker Morant8.5/10

Detour7/10

The Flim-Flam Man7/10

[DemforBush]

Ping.

[SkyDancer]

As a parallel I liked “Enemy At The Gates” same theme, battle of Stalingrad.

[Wyrd bið ful aræd]

Also based on a Soviet propaganda story, which knocks down its standing considerably in my book.

[SkyDancer]

Ya, I got it as propaganda but I’ve read stories about the fight - this one follows the story about the famous sniper in Stalingrad and true, a bit romanticized but .....

[WKUHilltopper]

for later

[Scrambler Bob]

M4L

[yarddog]

The Russian sniper was a real person but the famous duel with the German was a false story.

A guy who used to post on FR actually met the Russian Sniper in Moscow. Zaitsev? not sure of the spelling either admitted the story was not true or maybe just refused to confirm it. Anyway research after the war confirmed there was no Major Koenig who was supposed to be the German sniper.

[jocon307]

Pinging PJ, who was asking for accurate movies on another thread.

[SkyDancer]

Wow. I’ve read several stories on that. The German guy was supposedly the top sniper instructor.

[yarddog]

I actually read that story in “The Saturday Evening Post” probably around 1960. It has been repeated so often that it is now just accepted as history.

[LibFreeUSA]

Thanks. I just finished watching it (being a war buff), it’s great to see it from the German perspective.

[DemforBush]

Glad you enjoyed it! Another German film about Stalingrad came out in 1993. I don’t think it’s quite as good as this 1959 film, but it does have one of the most intense, heart-in-your mouth scenes you’ll see of a Russian tank assault:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvLzJsny0DM (some graphic moments, btw)

There’s also a Russian-made Stalingrad film that came out just last year. I’ve not seen it, but I’ve heard it’s unfortunately rather poor, with a love story taking front and center in the plot. Basically Pearl Harboring the story. Bleah.

[Silentgypsy]

Thank you!

[woerm]

mark for later

[Ax]

A couple of years ago, I spotted an interesting-sounding movie at Blockbuster. It was made by the Soviets about the anti-Nazi partisans. It’s called “Come And See,” in Russian and German with English subtitles. It was pretty brutal. The partisans asked no quarter and gave none. I thought it was worth a couple of hours.