We're sticking with World War Two for the moment, and tonight I found an epic film entitled "Decision Before Dawn"(1951), directed by Anatole Litvak and starring Oskar Werner (pronounced Vare-ner) as a captured Luftwaffe medic who volunteers to spy on his own country for an American intelligence mission. The time is January 1945, shortly after the Battle of the Bulge. A U.S. unit in France is using German prisoners of war to gather information on Panzer Division movements. The feeling is that, if the tanks can be located and neutralised, the war - which is rapidly turning in the Allies' favor - can be brought to a swift end. Richard Basehart leads the spy unit, but needs the help of his prisoners, because the SS and Gestapo at the borders can see through any attempt by French or American agents to impersonate a German. Basehart needs the genuine article, but he's not sure which prisoners he can trust. After interviewing several, he settles on a Wehrmacht sergeant nicknamed "Tiger" (Hans Christian Blech, a familiar face in war films), and Werner, whose character is nicknamed "Happy" because of his serious nature.
Tiger is of dubious trust, a man with no allegiance to anyone but himself. But his abilities as a soldier and his desire to "be on the winning side" (now that he's aware of imminent German defeat), mark him as a selection for Lieutenant Basehart. The two of them will parachute behind enemy lines and meet up in Mannheim with Happy, who will be operating solo under an assumed identity. His job is to find the location of the 11th Panzer Divison. Richard Basehart trusts him implicitly.
Director Litvak was a supreme Hollywood craftsman who made many excellent films, and with "Decision" he created the kind of sweeping chronicle that gives you not only the action of a major Hollywood war extravaganza, but has the emotional impact of an Oscar winning drama, and indeed, the movie was nominated for Best Picture. For me, a feeling of Deja Vu occurred about halfway through. I realized I'd seen it before when a very memorable character appeared, a nosy and excitable SS messenger played by Wilfried Seyferth, another familiar face. When he showed up, I said "wait a minute, I know this flick", but I've seen so many movies over the past ten years that I can't always recognize a repeat in the first five minutes.
Nonetheless, chances are that you haven't seen "Decison Before Dawn", and you should see it because it's up there with the best World War Two films ever made. I wish you (and I) could watch it in a theater on a giant screen, as it was filmed in the actual post-war locations of Nuremberg and Mannheim, which were still in a state of destruction from the Allied bombing. I constantly harp on this because it's not enough - and not right - to simply move on with the teaching of history and cancel out what a current generation might feel is not important to be learned.
In truth, nothing could be more important, for young people to know the history of the world. ////
Well, that's all I've got for tonight. I did watch a another film last evening, called "The Way To The Stars"(1945), a Veddy Brrrittish production about an RAF Squadron based in Suffolk. I was expecting another nail-biting ride inside the Lancaster, as we experienced in "Appointment In London", but the movie - while well executed - was instead mostly a romantic melodrama about life on the airbase. There was almost no action in the skies. Worth a watch anyway. ////
The Rams lost, though it was not unexpected, playing beat up as they were, and against Aaron Rodgers at the top of his game. I like Rogers, but from here on out, I will be rooting for TB12 and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Yeah, it's ironic. Brady was formally my most hated player ever, due to his beating the Rams in the 2001 Super Bowl (and his six Super Bowl wins and his general Brady-ness), but as time has gone by, there's no denying he's the G.O.A.T., and it's incredible that he's not only still playing at age 43, but playing at a championship level.
So yeah........Go Tom Brady. I like Josh Allen, too. He's the new John Elway, big yet mobile, and with a rocket arm. That would be a great Superbowl matchup, Bills vs. Bucs, Brady vs. Allen, Watch you some football tomorrow.
Tons of love. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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