During the 40s and 50s at MGM the all American GI whether it was Battleground, Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, A Guy Named Joe, or Command Decision the role inevitably went to Van Johnson. And he's all American here in The Last Blitzkrieg as well, as all American as Peter Graves was in Stalag 17.
Not only was Van Johnson cast against type, but so was Kerwin Matthews as they play a pair of English speaking Germans who are masquerading as regular GIs during the Battle Of The Bulge. The idea being to disrupt American battle plans and cause havoc behind the lines. It was a last gasp maneuver of the Third Reich, much as The whole Battle Of The Bulge was just that.
Johnson was doing this work already as a spy among American POWs just as Peter Graves was in Stalag 17. But he gets called to this assignment and he and Matthews and two others are sent together.
For a bit he gets some good luck as he keeps the name and ID he had at the prison camp because he runs into Dick York and Larry Storch who were in the same camp, but who were two that managed to escape. They vouch for Johnson, but then some rotten luck descends on the platoon where York is the sergeant.
Johnson is a torn man, he's really not a National Socialist and thinks this is all for nothing. Matthews however is a true believer and he as well as Johnson is cast against type. And Kerwin Matthews delivers a pretty good performance in the part.
If it were not for being the first Darrin Stevens on Bewitched, this might be Dick York's career role as well, though some would opt for what he did in Inherit The Wind. Of all in the cast I was most impressed with what he did. Especially since on Bewitched he's always the butt of the comedy there. York happens to be a soldier of German background who speaks that fluently which comes in very handy.
The Last Blitzkrieg was shot in the Netherlands where a lot of this action really happened. Nice use of newsreel battle films was used and the players are fine. For a Sam Katzman production this one was all right.