Great W.W. II Movies (A Walk in the Sun / We Dive at Dawn / The North Star)

Rating:
Summary: Great deal for World War 2 buffs!
Review: I love war movies, and here you get three pretty good movies from the 1940s on one dvd. First, there's the classic "A Walk in the Sun", with stars like Dana Andrews, John Ireland, and a very young Lloyd Bridges. Despite the AWFUL theme song, it's a very effective war movie. It focuses on a single platoon (or maybe company, I forget) that's ordered to capture a farmhouse heavily guarded by German troops. Along the way, however, they must deal with German fighter planes as well as a German armored car. This is my personal favorite of the three movies on this disc.

Next, we have the forgotten submarine movie "We Dive at Dawn" starring John Mills (father of Haley Mills). The plot is simple: the British submarine "Sea Tiger" is ordered to sink the German battleship "Brandenburg". The dialogue isn't that dated at all and the action scenes are impressive. This movie is realistic in that there are plenty of dull moments where the sailors simply talk or train for battle. Life on a submarine in WW2 didn't mean action and excitement 24/7!

Finally, we have the corny, unrealistic "North Star", made at the request of President Roosevelt to boost America's military support of Russia. Even though it has stars like Walter Huston, Dana Andrews, Erich von Stroheim (who always made a great villian!), and the very hot Anne Baxter, the cheesy script and unrealistic battles will have you rolling on the floor in laughter! This movie is about a small peasant village in the Ukraine that comes under attack from the German onslaught of Barbarossa. The men hide in the mountains where they gather weapons and form into a guerrila force. This film is pure propaganda, but it is surprisingly entertaining!

The picture quality of these movies isn't very good, but for such an inexpensive price why complain? The bonus features include filmographies, biographies, and trivia about the movies. Overall, I highly recommend this dvd to fans of WW2 movies.