Of all the WWII movies I watched as a child, this one made the deepest impression. In fact, I suffered through bad dreams afterward, but I'm not sorry I saw it. Since I haven't had the opportunity to view it as an adult, this is not so much a review as a testimonial to the power of the film. The message that stayed with me: Children can be heroes too. Fighting for one's country may cost your life, but it's worth it. I remember the film as shot in grainy black and white, almost like a newsreel. It felt real because we knew what actually had happened in Stalingrad, as the Russians, defending their city, fought the invaders house to house. Some scenes were shockingly brutal--Nazis shooting a child in the stomach comes to mind. But it was a story about courage that I will never forget.
2 Reviews
Once you get past the lack of accents, you can't help but fall I love with these brave children.
mark.waltz8 November 2019
Warning: Spoilers
There are five of them, four Russian and one British, joined together by one common goal: the gate of the evil Nazi's who destroyed the Russian village where the four lived and brutally executing the father of the British child (Steven Muller). Scotty Beckett is the only familiar name in the film, joined by Mary Lou Harrington, Bobby Samarzich and Conrad Binyon as the other Russian children of various ages, strengths and weaknesses, yet determined to defeat the Nazi's before they can do any further damage.
There's no time to mourn during wartime, although they take a second to honor the victims. The group displays a bravery that would escape many adults, and it's obvious that the innocence of the children takes into account the love of freedom and peace. there is an intense sequence with one of the children being confronted by a Nazi officer and leading that officer into a clever trapped with the other children. It is at that moment that you might find yourself as I did screaming at the screen for them to just do away with the officer, but I guess these children are smarter than me in the needs of wartime as they do what they can to get information out of him.
It is obvious too, that the officer being held by the children is petrified of what they will do, and what they do end up doing is very well planned out, showing that sometimes the little children can lead the way and teach the adults what true heroism is all about. Having seen many movies about World war II made during that time about different aspects of history, I am surprised that I never heard of this one, but it ranks as an instant classic and a terriffic find in my film history research.
There's no time to mourn during wartime, although they take a second to honor the victims. The group displays a bravery that would escape many adults, and it's obvious that the innocence of the children takes into account the love of freedom and peace. there is an intense sequence with one of the children being confronted by a Nazi officer and leading that officer into a clever trapped with the other children. It is at that moment that you might find yourself as I did screaming at the screen for them to just do away with the officer, but I guess these children are smarter than me in the needs of wartime as they do what they can to get information out of him.
It is obvious too, that the officer being held by the children is petrified of what they will do, and what they do end up doing is very well planned out, showing that sometimes the little children can lead the way and teach the adults what true heroism is all about. Having seen many movies about World war II made during that time about different aspects of history, I am surprised that I never heard of this one, but it ranks as an instant classic and a terriffic find in my film history research.
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