Santos e Soldados: Missão Berlim

This is a classic "B" movie, one that would be shown in the 1950s as the second half of a theater double feature or on the late, late, show on TV. It is the follow-up to the director's not-so-bad "Saints and Soldiers," which dealt with a handful of GIs trapped behind enemy lines in the Battle of the Bulge. Using a similar plot, this time it's a handful of airborne soldiers also behind enemy lines during the battle for Southern France, which followed the D-Day invasion of Normandy. Unfortunately, I found little to like in this film. The low-budget production values, bad casting, poor acting, and convoluted plot aside, I was particularly bothered by the battle scenes between the U.S. paratroopers and their French Resistance allies against numerous German patrols, including one with a Panzer tank at its disposal. I am no expert on small unit battle tactics, but it seemed highly unwise for the soldiers to attack their surprised enemy in a single bunch. This would make them an easy target for a grenade or machine gun fire to knock out many or all of them at once. To me it would make more sense to split up, with one group attacking and then when the enemy's attention was diverted, have the others catch them in a crossfire. Also, it was never clear why they felt the need for the near-suicidal attempt to destroy the Panzer tank in the first place. Why not just slip past it and continue on their way to linking up with their main force several miles away?