User Reviews

To this day there's no shortage of movies about Nazi-Germany, but movies from Nazi-Germany are rarely shown. In spite of the need for re-evaluation allegedly felt by modern filmmakers, the real dope still seems to be a bit too much.

The reason is obvious: Showing how these people saw themselves, not as monsters, but as vanguards of Civilization, are simply too close for comfort. And STUKAS is indeed shocking.

There are no SS officers, nor even any mention of National Socialism, only those brave boys fighting for their country. There's not one HEIL Hitler in the entire movie – as opposed to the literally thousands in any "historical film" – but the soldiers occasionally do go HEIL-HEIL, with about the same intonation as "See you around!"

An officer invariably greets his men with MEINE HERREN, his manner being approximately as when, in the course of the frequent dinners, he proposes a toast to his comrades (never the Fuhrer) and their response JAWOHL HERR HAUPTMANN is delivered with a smirk suggesting that he's just told a dirty joke. All in all, there's more military discipline in SOLDATERKAMMERATER.

Apparently, Germans only want to have fun, and the Luftwaffe is just the place for that sort of thing. Only military targets are hit, and apart from an occasional headache, no one is seen to be wounded, let alone maimed, suggesting that the fallen comrades are transported to their final destination by VALKYRIES.

Even when you're trapped behind enemy line, there's still time for a bit of fun with a French mademoiselle, pretending to be English. Not that the French really hate the Germans, you see – after being routed to the accompaniment of the Marseillaise, the boorish soldiers refuse to fight a useless war.

And about that civilization: Watching an American war movie invariably gives you the impression that GI Joe is an illiterate psychopath, or at best a poor bum, who just wants to go home for Christmas. In STUKAS the men are being entertained by their officers playing classical music on a BECHSTEIN piano.

Of course, ES WIRD LANGSAM ERNST, as one of them is heard remarking. Yes it does, but no letters need go out to heartbroken mothers, they themselves expressing their elation at their sons' demise, inspiring one of the officers to quote HÖLDERLIN.

Nevertheless, toward the end our hero loses his spirit, being committed to a military hospital. You know, one of those institutions, where soldiers are sent for a good rest and a fling with a pretty nurse.

Of course, she knows just the thing to cheer him up, accompanying him to Bayreuth. In fact it turns out that Wagner might have spared himself writing ten hours of "music", since it only takes about two minutes of the VORABEND overture to send him back to his comrades (apparently running most of the way) who are just about to play a little joke on the English.

Where do we enlist? In short, STUKAS is required viewing for anyone going to Afghanistan to fight for queen and country!

"Stukas" is a German movie that had its 75th anniversary last, so this one is from 1941 and this year in combination with Germany tells audiences with an interest in history immediately that this black-and-white sound film is a Nazi propaganda movie. It is one of the most known works by director and co-writer Karl Ritter and the cast also includes a handful actors that had careers also long after World War II, such as Raddatz and Hasse. I can't really say too much about the story and plot here as it was never interesting enough to truly make a lasting impression, but the most interesting thing about the film is once again the propaganda aspect and how they were depicting German soldiers, especially the fallen ones, as heroes who gave their lives for the Vaterland. And the concept of Stukas, i.e. Sturzkampfflugzeuge, namely planes that do most damage while they are literally torpedoing towards the ground or a target is very fitting as it is very close to suicide to be the pilot in such a plane. Also the ending is pretty telling when a German man realizes his only true destiny is to fight (and possibly die) for his country next to his fellow soldiers and not risk at home (even if he isn't healthy and well) while doing nothing that helps Germany. So yeah, it is a prime example of a propaganda film really, even if the message is more than simple and also more than despicable by today's standards. In terms of attention to detail or the story in here and the plot, it is an incredibly mediocre film. It is all about the pathos and with all the deficits in other areas I just cannot recommend seeing it to general audiences. Thumbs-down from me. Watch something else instead of these 1.5 hours.

STUKAS 1941

There are two ways to take this 1941 German production. First would be as a overt propaganda film with action thrown in, or as a war film with dollops of propaganda between the war scenes.

The film follows the actions of a Stuka Gruppe (36 to 48 aircraft) during the invasion of France in 1940. The early days of the offensive are wildly successful with target after target being destroyed. It all seems like great fun for the airmen as they hardly see any French or English fighters.

This all changes the closer the fight gets to the coast, as the Gruppe experiences its first losses of aircraft and personal. The Stuka unit ends up flying multiple sorties a day as the Army asks for air support. The Stukas are called up to save the day when a French armoured counterattack comes close to breaking through.

The unit experiences more losses as aircraft maintenance and personal fatigue start to take their toll. Several pilots and aircrew are shot down and captured, while others try to evade the enemy and head toward the German lines. There is now a bit where the Stukas get involved in free for all with British Hurricane fighters. (Early Me 109 B models painted up in British colours) One of the side plots has a captured German pilot convincing his French captors to surrender to him. There is another bit with a wounded pilot in a Berlin Hospital suffering from a bad case of shell-shock. The unit commander also gets wounded and is laid up for a while. The action comes to an end after the assault on the ships evacuating the troops from Dunkirk, and the surrender of France.

The action scenes are quite well handled with good combat footage worked in with fine model work. There is plenty of captured French equipment on display throughout the film. Several dozen French tanks are used to good effect during the depiction of the armoured counterattack. There are also plenty of Junkers 87 Stukas on display. A must see for WW2 aircraft buffs.

While some will find the Nazi propaganda a bit much, the production as a whole is a quite watchable war film. It is really no different than the flag wavers put out by all the countries, Allied, or Axis that were involved in the conflict. If you have ever seen a Soviet era war film, you know of which I speak.

When I just saw this mild propaganda war film, as mild as Die Grosse Liebe. As with traditional titles in German films not showing who were in the picture at the end credits, this one didn't show the credits of who were in it in the beginning . But I recognized one face, "Carl Radatz.It wasn't a good print so most of the faces didn't register with me. Later, after I saw it, I looked up the IMDb about the picture to get a better understanding of what I saw. I could not believe it Fritz Wagner played a small part in it. I didn't recognize him in the picture. I couldn't believe it. He went back that early? The actor who played Robert Murphy, Inga's fiancé in Au Brunnen Vor Dem tore was middle aged in 1952? Old enough to be Sonja Zimmermans young uncle ?No wonder in the 1955 Auf Der Reeperhan Nachts Um Halbeins, his acting role was even less, he was 40. An early reviewer stated it focus on a death wish group. Just wanting to fight to die. Well, so did American soldiers in world war 2. All soldiers want to die for their beliefs of their country when it comes to war. This film could be compare to our Twelve O clock High, On the shores of Tripoli,40 seconds over Tokyo ex-cetera. But this is their side cause they thought they were right. The focus is a group of Nazi air force pilots in fighting for their Furor ,unfortunatly. In their invasion of France. When they aren't fighting. They have a piano and start singing folks songs and any songs as long it's not swing and jazz. Every Break their seems to be a piano so they can play Wagner. In the beginning you see the air force pilots after fighting eating lunch with their leader Carl Radatz , in a long table with a white clean cloth with bottles of wine and fine food Out doors next to the planes. Then you see others drinking milk and eating sandwiches. They must be the lower squadron fighters.The whole movies focuses on the personal characters and problems of the Nazis squadron fighters. There's one scene where all the higher ups are sleeping in one gigantic elegant bed, all four , under a tent, until every one has to get up and fight. The fighting scenes includes one where they are bombing tanks that are not fighting back. Four comrades are trapped in France, poor Nazis. They have to wait to be rescued. In the mean time they have to put on a french accent to survive until they are rescued. Wait they got their Nazi uniforms on! How can they not give themselves away? They break in an old ladies house and steal her food cause they are hungry. They start to fraternize with some of the French citizens who are escaping from the bombs. The four sleep in an abandon building, then the next day a french women notices them in the building, played by Marina Von Ditmar, of Munchasen fame and G. P. U. ,speaking perfect french to them not noticing their uniforms. Some of them get rescued. One walks all the way back to camp. Earlier one soldier ends in a crash and has gotten mentally effected by the war. He's recuperating at the hospital. But the doctor and nurse knows a sure cure. Take him the the Wagner concert festival and listening to it and he will be cured. He gets cured.In real life, in spite of Goebels ban on jazz and swing,The real soldiers during their breaks would be listening on their two wave radios the jazz and swing music being played from the Switzerland radio station that were playing American records.Goebels would force German swing bands to go to the front and entertain the soldiers , some times forcing celebrities , like Heinz Ruhmann , To go with the band to entertain them too. I can imagine those soldiers with their helmets off and coats off doing the Lindy hop and Jitterbug dancing to Kurt Widman. Very Ridiculous! 12/27/12 Great news It was restored from an original 35m.m. nitrated print.It's sharper.although some scenes form nitrate print were missing was replaced by scenes from a degraded print, it was just a few seconds piece.The sub titles makes it more clear.It includes the history of the film,also the inventor of the Stuka bomber plane,his autobiography.They don't have the info about the restoration.Now available, from international historical films