L'inferno degli uomini del cielo

September 1944. Operation Market Garden, the Allied plan to advance into Germany via Holland through the use of three airborne divisions and an armour-lead corps, is underway. The point of furtherest Allied advance is the town of Arnhem, held by the British 1st Airborne Division. This is its story.

Easily the most famous depiction of Operation Market Garden is A Bridge Too Far (1977). Grand in scale, lavish in production and featuring an all-star cast, A Bridge Too Far is a superb war drama, covering all facets of the operation and combining historical accuracy, action and character engagement.

Much less known is this film, Theirs Is The Glory, made over 30 years previously. Made shortly after the end of World War 2 in Europe and about a year after the actual battle, it is far less ambitious in scale, focusing just on the Arnhem battle. It shows well the heroic stand of the 1st Airborne Division, holding out for several days against overwhelming odds.

Great dramatisation of the battle, so well done at times you think you're watching documentary footage, rather than a re-enactment. Very realistic, helped by having on hand actual German tanks, Tigers, Panthers, Panzer IVs. One of the advantages of filming within months of WW2 ending! A Bridge Too Far had to make do with the usual pre-CGI thing of using US tanks as German ones.

On the downside, the acting is a bit wooden. The actors can be forgiven as they were often not professional actors but actual participants of the battle, playing themselves! The locations used were the actual locations of the battle, so you can't get much closer to the real thing: original participants playing themselves in the actual locations of the battle.

Overshadowed by A Bridge Too Far but still a good film to watch.