User reviews

All tough i rated the movie pretty low i thought it was pretty good . i found the story and acting very good for its time. and i think you should 100% watch it. i do not like old movies at all because they are boring however this movie was boring for a 1 minute and that is it.

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.

Messy War, messier film.

This movie presents as little more than an extended piece of patriotic propaganda. It is very definitely a product of its times, and it has not aged all that well. The film is not helped by a cliché ridden script, some cardboard cut-out characters such as the German general, a couple of wooden performances, most notably Jana Ditetova (Nurse Olinka), and one totally over the top performance by Julius Pantik (Juraj Klimko). Jurja and Olinka are involved in an on again, off again relationship, a sub plot that does little to move the story forward, apart from laying on more of the self sacrifice for the motherland theme. The most interesting part of the movie is how uncle Joe and the Russians are perceived. Generally they are seen as liberators, and friends, who supplied the brigade with brand new tanks. Much is made of the Czechs not becoming communists, but that part of the plot is difficult to follow. I wonder how the director felt about the Russians when they invaded Hungary the year after the film was made, or how he felt about Russian tanks rumbling down the streets of Prague in 1968. Probably not the same way as they are depicted here. The director has an unenviable task juggling three or four story lines throughout, as a result some of the stories lack development and resolutions feel rushed. All in all it is a bit a mess, and l won't be viewing it again.