Tanková brigáda

This film begins in 1944 with the Soviet army advancing toward the German-occupied Czechoslovak border. Also fighting with the Soviets is the First Czechoslovak Tank Brigade which is led by a man named "Major Milos Stasek" (Otomar Krejca) who--although he officially reports to the Czechoslovak government-in-exile in London--has to rely heavily upon Moscow for his logistical support. And it's because of this reliance, that the Czechoslovak government-in-exile sends a delegation headed by "General Hasel" (Ladislav Bohac) to disrupt Major Stasek's ability to form a cohesive unit that might happen to embrace communism in the near future. To that effect, General Hasel embeds an officer named "Captain Renc" (Martin Ruzek) within Major Stasek's headquarters to further his nefarious agenda. So, when Major Stasek asks for more tanks to continue his advance into Czechoslovak territory, General Hasel simply refuses. In the meantime, Captain Renc is also doing everything he can to stir up dissension within the unit as well. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this film had some of the best battle scenes I have seen in a long time--especially considering the fact that it was produced in 1955! It really suffers, unfortunately, from the rather obvious propaganda which depicted the Czechoslovak government-in-exile as being little better than the occupying German forces, while the Soviets were apparently sent from heaven. Likewise, some of the acting could have used improvement as well. Be that as it may, I still thought that this film was good enough for the time spent and I have rated it accordingly. Average.