Battle of the Bulge
by Ken Annakin
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DVD details
Actor: Dana Andrews, Henry Fonda, Pier Angeli, Robert Ryan, Robert ShawDirector: Ken Annakin
Brand: Warner Brothers
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; German (Original Language)
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: Widescreen, Unknown
Running Time: 170 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-05-03
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Model: 11086
Studio: Warner Home Video
Product features:
- Nazi Panzer forces stage a last-ditch Belgian front offensive that could turn the tide of WWII. Henry Fonda, Robert Shaw and Robert Ryan in the spectacular recreation of a crucial campaign.Year: 1965Running Time: 170 min. Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE Rating: NR Age: 085391108627 UPC: 085391108627 Manufacturer No: 11086
DVD Reviews of Battle of the Bulge
DVD Review: FINALLY, THE UNCUT VERSION IS ON DVD!
Summary: 5 Stars
This concerns the DVD. The rest of the review is taken from my war movie web site: www.angelfire.com/film/eurowar/
I picked up Warner's new release of BATTLE OF THE BULGE today, which is finally on DVD. Fans will LOVE this disc.
First off. The video print has been fully restored. Colors are right on target, the image is sharp and free of edge enhancement. There is hardly any damage. It looks like it could have been filmed recently!
Even better, it's presented in the PROPER 2.75:1 aspect ratio of the Cinerama exhibitions. The versions on TCM and laserdisc were 2.20:1.
The audio is an English mix using the original music and sound effects, remixed in Dolby Digital 5.1. It sounds FANTASTIC. The tanks, the gunfire, the dialogue, the Frankel score - wow.
Ok now for the best parts. Most everyone knows that in 1984, when the film was released on video, it ran a mere 141 minutes. Then in the early 1990s it was re-released at 156 minutes. Well, that's still not full length.
This disc runs 170 minutes and includes all four famous missing scenes PLUS another one which expands the conflict between Ty Hardin and George Montgomery - a scene which nobody seemed to know existed!
Extras include a 5-minute trailer packed with alternate takes and dialogue snippets that never made it into the final cut.
There are two grainy black-and-white features about the making of the film which are inconsequential, but for a 1965 film, I think the extra material is quite substantial.
This classic finally got the right treatment. THANK YOU WARNER BROTHERS!
This big, bloated epic re-creation of the battle which turned the tide of World War II manages to be on the most historically inaccurate and over-blown adventure pieces ever produced. It's also one of the most entertaining war movies to grace the big screen. The combination of heroics and history shouldn't work as well as it does.
Writers John Melson, Philip Yordan and Milton Sperling remain faithful to the broad outlines of the real battle, and then fill their story with several important fictional characters, and director Ken Annakin uses a combination of Hollywood heroics and historical accuracy to deliver an entertaining tale. The film relies solely on the excellently-shot action sequences and superb acting by the leads to hold it together.
Veteran director Ken Annakin knows how to make this film work. In the lead, Henry Fonda ("Midway") seems to be having plenty of fun as Colonel Kiley. He gets to argue with people, shoot at Germans, fly in a plane, and even help fend off a Panzer attack - not bad for a civilian-turned-soldier, eh? On the flip-side, Robert Shaw ("Force 10 from Navarone") is fantastic as the fanatical Colonel Hessler, a devoted Panzer officer who will stop at nothing to accomplish his mission. Hessler brings new meaning the Hollywood-Nazi-type: he's brutal, nasty and dedicated despite the fact that he knows Germany cannot win the war.
The supporting cast is filled with the familiar faces of Charles Bronson, Ty Hardin, James MacArthur and Telly Savalas - but the real star is Hans Christian Blech ("The Longest Day"). As Conrad, the war-weary, aging German Corporal, it's his best work in a war film. Conrad wants to go home and is devoted to Hessler, until he realizes that his commander's dedication sits precariously on the edge of madness. His facial expressions - bug-eyed outbursts, sad frowns, frightened glances at strafing airplanes - have never been more convincing.
This epic was shot for the big screen using Cinerama, and the only way to appreciate the action sequences is to see this movie in widescreen. Pan-and-scan prints cut it down from a 2.7:1 ratio to 1.33:1 - that's losing more than half of the image! It was shot on the vast plains of Spain, and although it looks nothing like the brutal winter in the Ardennes forest, this scenery makes from some very impressive landscapes for which to shoot colossal battle scenes. Annakin shows tanks facing off with each other on the plains and in the snow-encrusted woods and shows hand-to-hand fighting in the streets of a French city. These scenes are set to an excellent, rousing Ben Frankel score, which only adds to the excitement. There are hundreds of extras running about, as well as several dozen loud, clanking tanks. Annakin often places his camera on the front end of a tank, train or moving car to give the viewer a "you-are-there" perspective, a technique which is ruined with the pan-and-scan process.
The dramatic effect of the serious scenes is severely hampered by preposterous Hollywood heroics and some incredibly poor special effects. Quite often, the combat and destruction look incredibly real, but there are some truly laughable shots of exploding model tanks and roaring model trains, too. The battle scenes, notably a huge tank vs. tank battle and a conclusion involving an attempted German capture of an Allied fuel dump are incredibly corny and false-looking, adding a forced jingoistic feel and over-reaching heroism which really destroyed the credibility Annakin had been working up to. A strong subplot involving an American tanker, Guffy (Telly Savalas, "The Dirty Dozen") and another, centering on the Malmedy Massacre, help to offset this cheesiness.
"Battle of the Bulge" is a true Hollywood epic in every sense of the word. It may not be historically accurate, but it's probably the most entertaining and engaging war film I've had the pleasure to watch. The characters are fleshed out, the scope is amazing and the direction borders on brilliance.
Description of Battle of the Bulge
A RECREATION OF THE FAMOUS OFFENSIVE MANUVER BY NAZI PANZER TROOPS ON THE BELGIAN FRONT SURING 1944-1945.Bestsellers in DVD
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