Battle of the Bulge [Blu-ray]

Director: Ken Annakin Ken Annakin

Overview

This WWII film travels pretty far from the actual historical recountings of the famed battle. However, it does contain exciting battle scenes. The plot involves a U.S. Colonel who strongly suspects that the Germans are preparing for a major offensive, but he's unable to convince his superior officers.

Product Details

Release Date:	05/15/2007
UPC:	0085391142621
Original Release:	1965
Rating:	NR
Source:	STUDIO DISTRIBUTION SERVS LLC
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	2:49:00
Sales rank:	1,281

Special Features

New digital HD transfer from restored picture and audio elements; Audio commentary; 2 vintage featurettes: The Filming of Battle of the Bulge/History Recreated; Soundtrack remastered in Dolby Digital 5.1 ; Theatrical trailer

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Henry Fonda	Lt. Col. Kiley
Robert Ryan	Gen. Grey
Dana Andrews	Col. Pritchard
George Montgomery	Sgt. Duquesne
Ty Hardin	Schumacher
Pier Angeli	Louise
Barbara Werle	Elena
Hans Christian Blech	Conrad
Werner Peters	Gen. Kohler
James MacArthur	Lt. Weaver
Karl Otto Alberty	Von Diepel(as Karl Otto Alberty)
Telly Savalas	Sgt. Guffy
William Conrad	Narrator
Jack Gaskins	Janet Brandt
Max Slaten	Carl Rapp
Robert Rietty	Announcer
Richard Baxter	Actor
John Clark	Actor

Technical Credits

Ken Annakin	Director
Dino De Laurentiis	Executive Producer
Sidney Harmon	Executive Producer
Milton Sperling	Producer
Philip Yordan	Producer

Editorial Reviews

German tanks pulverize everything in their path in this 1965 motion picture chronicling the Third Reich's counteroffensive against allied troops marching across Europe. Though the script is so-so, and the personal stories fictionalized, the battle scenes are spectacular. The star of the film is the panzer: a tank wrapped in a thick hide of heavy metal. It is the new Achilles, seemingly invulnerable, a battlefield terror that lays waste with surgical precision during a campaign in the Ardennes region of Belgium, Luxembourg, and France between December 15, 1944, and January 15, 1945. A German war room tracks the progress of the tank commander, Col. Martin Hessler Robert Shaw, a ruthless taskmaster who loves war. Arraying his tanks on a hilltop, he reduces an American-occupied town to cinders, smoke, and fear. Defending troops retreat, helping to create a backward "bulge" in the allied line, and in the process, ascribing a name to the battle. There is only one problem: Hessler's tanks are running out of gas. Shaw is fun to watch, and hate, as he fashions Hessler into a monomaniac willing to risk everything for the pleasure of the kill. His raw recruits, many mere boys, are ready to die for him, and they even break into a rousing song, the "Panzerlied," that whets his craving for blood. Henry Fonda portrays an American colonel who flies reconnaissance in heavy fog to find Hessler. He and other old warhorses (Robert Ryan, Dana Andrews, George Montgomery, Telly Savalas, and Charles Bronson) give adequate performances. Hans Christian Blech portrays the most interesting character in the film: Hessler's toady, Corporal Conrad. Realizing that Hessler is a madman, he dares to reproach the panzer commander, condemning his brutality. In doing so, he shows that a German soldier can think and feel the prick of conscience. Of course, he loses his stripes. But he marches back to Germany drawing his coat about him -- and his integrity. The musical score by Benjamin Frankel is brilliant.