Essentially working for TV , Jean-Jacques Vierne made only three theatrically released movies ;the first one was was an adventure of Tintin with actors in the flesh ("Tintin et le mystère de la toison d'or")
His sophomore work could not be more different ,dealing with the Spanish civil war (1936-39).
A young man Michel,(Van Eyck) of Ukrainian origin, after fleeing the Red Army, he enlists in Perpignan in the International Brigades which fight Franco. A stateless person, he's lost his family and he seems to have seen it all before.
He falls in love with an American journalist (Daliah Lavi );this love affair is arguably the low point of the whole movie ;too much time is given to bed scenes and the chemistry between the actors is weak, to put it mildly; Lavi is particularly mediocre, complaining and whining .
After the first fightings (in which he loses a new friend (Roland Lesaffre ) ) ,the ruthlessness of his brothers in arms hurts him ,and,urged by his lover, he deserts .
He falls into the hands of the other faction - a warning is issued before the cast and credits-whose enemies are commies as much as general Franco;so he's arrested for being at the same time Russian, communist and deserter.
FIne score ,consisting of nostalgic Spanish guitar melodies.
José Bénazéraf ,who co-wrote the adaptation of the novel,became the father of French hard-porn .
