Product description

Battle Of The Bulge [1965]

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Average customer rating: 3.5

Binding : DVD
EAN : 7321900110860
Label : Warner Home Video
Manufacturer : Warner Home Video
Publisher : Warner Home Video
Release date : 2006-06-05
Title : Battle Of The Bulge [1965]
Actor : Array
Audience rating : Parental Guidance
Format : PAL
Languages : Array
Number of items : 1
Original release date : 1965-01-01
Region code : 2
Running time : 163
Studio : Warner Home Video
Theatrical releaseDate : 1965

Customer reviews

review by: date: 2008-11-19 rating:

Tankfest for kiddies
If there is one film about the Battle of the Bulge you need to see, it has to be 'Battleground', which focuses on the 101st Airborne's defence of Bastogne. It was made barely 4 years after the events it described.

This film was made 20 years after Hitler decided to decorate his bunker with his brains before he had to witness a hostile makeover by the Soviets. It covers the breadth of the battle, in necessarily less detail. However it does distort and merge the story somewhat and ends up like the curate's egg - good in parts.

Covering a battle that lasted over a month from multiple points of view was always going to be hazardous, but the inconsistent feel (snow/no snow etc) gets in the way. There is excessive exposition and the combat scenes are dull. The use of unauthentic armour does mean this film is not meant for the military enthusiast - I enjoyed watching it when I was 8, but that was nearly 40 years ago. I was disappointed on seeing it as an adult.

Essentially the definitive film covering the Ardennes offensive has yet to be made. This isn't it.

review by: date: 2008-04-29 rating:

A Well-Restored Bulge
A sequel of sorts to "The Longest Day," (same director, some of the same actors like Fonda playing different characters), this is one of the best restorations of a film I've seen in recent years. The picture and sound have been digitally remastered and 17 minutes of previously-unseen footage has been added (you even get a hilarious 1960s intermission card onscreen halfway through, how's that for restoring everything!). The film looks and sounds brand new again and there are new things to enjoy.

Having said that, the film itself doesn't do justice to the real Battle of the Bulge or Ardennes Offensive as it is also called. The real battle was fought in blizzard conditions, there are scenes in this film that look like summertime with not a flake of snow in sight. The tanks are also not the gigantic German Tiger and King Tiger tanks that were used in reality. Of course, it was hard to find all the real elements when making this movie 21 years later, but I'd love to see a Saving Private Ryan-style remake where they could put realistic-looking Tiger tanks in with CGI.

Robert Shaw gives a strong performance, even if he does look like the stereotypical bleach-blond, blue-eyed Nazi. The Malmedy Massacre is well-handled, which is unusual for a film from 1965. There are also some interesting black-and-white interviews and "Making Of" documentaries from the time included on the DVD.

I don't think the average viewer will worry about the historical inaccuracies too much. They'll just see an entertaining, old-school, all-star Hollywood war epic of the kind they don't make anymore. Recommended.

review by: date: 2008-04-14 rating:

Suspend your disbelief
Anyone who wants an historical version of the Battle of The Bulge look away now

Anyone who wants a classic war film, then look no further

What makes this a good film is the actors and the action sequences and it would rate as one of my top WWII films of all times

One fly in the ointment is the interview given by the films producers where they claim that the German tanks used in the film ( Which are in fact American tanks from the 1950's / 1960's ) were found all over Europe and that they where the actual tanks that fought against each other - Whoops !

But it matters not - This is a classic

Enjoy !

review by: Roborob date: 2008-04-08 rating:

A Fine film if you ignore history
I like the cast the story and the effects but I too can see the errors but none of that matters this is a film for amusement It is good guys v Bad the bad guys have a new thing that gives them an edge but the good guys come up with a way around it. A familure story from Zulu to Star Wars. If you want reality I suggest a documenrty or Band of Brothers but if you just want a fun but not too serious war movie then The Battle of the Bulge is one of the best

review by: skenn1701a date: 2007-11-04 rating:

Inaccurate and contrived - but still a little fun to be had
Infamous as the war movie denounced by Eisenhower for its woeful inaccuracies, anyone approaching this movie should be well aware of its pitfalls. However, if you can overlook them or at least partake with a generous pinch of salt, there are still some treats to appreciate.
The battle of the bulge was set in one of the bitterest winters on record in 1944, when the Germans used the bad weather to confound the Allies air superiority to launch a massive all out attack designed to splinter the Allies and change the course of the war. As the disclaimer at the end of the movie says, this film is a highly compressed, fictionalised version of that, with all the characters merged and renamed.. in other words, it is a fictional version of what happened - and it shows.
The bitterest Winter is hinted at in a few moments of the movie as during the initial battles we see some pockets of snow and men stamping their feet to keep warm - however, as the movie progresses, the films actual shooting location in Spain becomes more apparent as we see dusty desert and sweaty men. Worse, the two environments are poorly spliced together leading to woeful continuity, and almost the entire movie is plagued by incongruously sunny weather. The tanks bear no resemblance to those used, and the grimness of war is covered over, with death conveyed in the old fashioned `throw-up-your-hands-in-the-air-and-fall-down-dead' approach to moviemaking. Now that the movie is over, I am hard pressed to remember a single moment that actually showed blood. One would think that having directed on `The Longest Day' (a far superior film) Ken Annakin would have learned some lessons in the importance of historical accuracy, and how it can bring an audience in. Here, the contrivances which have Henry Fonda almost single handedly figure out the whole sequence of events and be in all of the major battle scenes, serve to disengage the viewer.
So that's the bad out the way - but in fact, from a one star movie, a sort of watchable movie is rescued thanks to two things - Firstly, the cinematography - shot in Ultra-Panavision, a process designed to give an epic widescreen image, enough to project onto Cinerama (a process which used 3 curved screens, and in its true form, 3 synchronised projectors, to create an all encompassing experience). This movie has clearly been made with this process in mind, as scenes of trains hurtling along tracks and cars weaving down slippery roads are shown at some length from point-of-view angles... the end result is rather like watching a movie shot in 3D in its 2D form - the action seems contrived. However, the aerial, crane and dolly shots in this magnificently restored version use the widescreen to dramatic and exciting effect, and should only be watched in widescreen...the reputation of this movie has suffered greatly from too many years in pan-and-scan format designed for the TV screen.
And secondly, the magnificent performance of Robert Shaw as the fictionalised panzer commander, based on Colonel Peiper - the youngest man to reach full Colonel in the German army. His is a complex character, showing humanity to his aide, and passion for the process of war - and yet disdain for the hierarchy that sends him to battle.
Apart from Shaw, there are a few other moments which attempt to add some humanity to the proceedings, with heroism being forged from tragedy, such as the young lieutenant who survives the infamous (and historically accurate) massacre of prisoners at Malmedy, and becomes galvanised to lead the fight as a result. However, the pluses are outweighed by the clumsy script, inaccuracy and dusty desert filling in for frozen Belgium. The unlikely ending at the fuel dump serves as the nail in the coffin.
Has a certain boys-own appeal perhaps, or to watch to enjoy the incredible amount of Franco's hardware on display...but in this day of Saving Private Ryan and other of its ilk, an audience have come to expect much more. Worth a rent perhaps, but not one to watch twice.

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