The Devil's Brigade

Plot synopsis:
American Lieutenant Colonel Robert T. Frederick is summoned to Britain where he is authorized by Admiral Louis Mountbatten to raise a commando force comprising both American and Canadian personnel for operations in Norway.
Back in the U.S. Frederick receives his American troops — all are Army convicts. When the Canadian contingent arrives they immediately cause friction with the Americans and chaos ensues. By the time Frederick manages to overcome the national differences and to mould the 1st Special Service Force into a highly trained commando force, the Allied High Command have had a change of heart and offered the Norway missions to British troops. Left without a role, Frederick manages to persuade Lieutenant General Mark Clark in Italy to give his men a chance to prove themselves.
Clark asks Frederick for the 1st Special Service Force to reconnoitre a German garrison in an Italian town, but Colonel Frederick decides to go one better and capture the entire town. In the process, they earn the nickname "Die Teufelsbrigade" — The Devil's Brigade.
Convinced now of the ability of Frederick's men, General Clark gives them a task no other Allied troops have managed to accomplish — to capture Monte la Difensa. Facing severe obstacles, the Devil's Brigade attacks the undefended eastern side of the mountain by scaling a cliff the Germans believed could not be climbed. Reaching the top as a unit, they take the stronghold despite losses to the Force, allowing the Allies to continue their advance north into Italy.

Tags: cult, violence

Review:
REVIEW OF THE MGM REGION 1 DVDWith the huge success of "The Dirty Dozen", a popular theme began to appear in war movies: instead of focusing on good, clean-cut heroes, the main characters became misfits thrown into situations which made them heroes, whether they wanted to be or not.
The story of the Devil's Brigade is a true one about misfits turned into wartime heroes.William Holden plays Lt. Col.
Holden is forced to deal with two contingents of troops: a proud, professional Canadian unit under the command of career soldier Major Crown (Cliff Robertson) and an American unit comprised of misfits and criminals, led by crass Major Bricker (Vince Edwards).
From there, the men are no longer fighting each other they are deployed to Italy, rather than Norway, where they must capture a strategic hilltop from which Nazi artillery pounds the Allied advance.Veteran director McLaglen, who seems to always be able to throw together a satisfying film but never really made a classic, falls short once again  this time, he's trying to make a docudrama, but constantly falls back on established stereotypes and familiar situations rather than fresh, new material, almost as if he's afraid to try something new.
This scene is funny and well-executed, but never comes across as a very convincing  it's simply meant to be a humorous excursion, and proves that the men of the Devil's Brigade can operate better than any other American Army unit.
When compared to films of today, the final battle isn't very graphic, but does feature plenty of blood spurts and there is some use of a hand-held camera, making this a bit more realistic than some other war films of the time period."The Devil's Brigade" is a touching human drama, but easily fades into the sea of familiar unit pictures.
But it's also inspiring, especially in the last battle sequence, taking that hill by going up the hard way.When Bill Holden was cast as real life Lieutenant Colonel Robert Frederick, Mrs. Frederick was interviewed and said while she admired Mr. Holden's talent, she thought her husband was more the Gregory Peck type.
Nevertheless Holden does a fine job as a man who shoots down Lord Louis Mountbatten's idea of a combined American/Canadian special force and then gets command of it.
He's also a staff officer who had not seen combat and he was trying to prove something to himself.As good as Holden is, the best performance in this film has to be that of Cliff Robertson as Canadian Major Alan Crown.
Robertson himself was off his Oscar winning performance in Charly and The Devil's Brigade was a good follow up for him.The Canadians selected for this unit are the pick of the lot, while the Americans emptied their stockades of all the refuse.
Holden encourages competition among them and a really terrific sequence involving a bar brawl with some obnoxious lumberjacks welds a camaraderie among former feudees.Standing out in the cast are Claude Akins as a particularly rambunctious American recruit and Jack Watson as the Canadian sergeant.
Seen now though, The Devil's Brigade is a fine tribute to the Canadians and Americans who made up the First Special Service Force..
The Devil's Brigade was indeed made up of Canadian elite and American cast-offs at the formation of the first US Special Forces unit, and this movie gives us the beginning of their amazing story.
It's particularly nice to see the Canadian army portrayed with the respect it richly deserves.There's many amusing scenes in the movie, including my favorite, the mess-hall scene with the Canadian hand-to-hand combat instructor from the PPCLI and the oafish American soldier (who had been denigrating the Canadians up to that point).A great WWII movie, worth watching whenever it's on.
The Canadian History channel follows showings with an interview with one of the founding members of this unit, who vouches for the general portrayal of events (though he said he doesn't recall them marching into the Montana training camp on their arrival, as portrayed in the movie).
Dana Andrews, Vince Edwards, Claude Akins, Jeremy Slate, Richard Jaeckel, Andrew Prine, Jack Watson and dozens of other well-cast GIs. Add Gretchen Wyler, a spectacular fight with lumberjacks in a bar, judo training with a comedic intro, a twenty-mile hike and the mission itself where many exciting and tragic incidents happen to men the viewer has come to know- -war movies hardly get better than this.
The film has a realistic feel about it at all times; Akins as Rocky, Slate as a bespectacled unarmed combat type, Rennie, Jack Watson and Holden are standouts.
Not only was a mission to land on the island of Kiska in the Aleutians done to rid the island of Japanese (the Japanese were already gone), but they went on special missions to destroy hydroelectric stations in Norway and northern Italy, to destroy oil fields in Romania, and as well as different missions in Italy, such as the making and breakout of the Anzio beachhead to the south of Rome.So anyways, my point is first of all that this brigade did exist and were a strong military force, and second of all that it is nice to see Canadians in an American war movie, especially in 1968.
A good cast supplied with an interesting and action filled story make this one of the better efforts of the World War II films.
William Holden does a fine portrayal of a  brigade Colonel and his efforts to get his cast off misfits into the big war.
Fortunately, "The Devil's Brigade" is still a good film when you realize it is meant to be a piece of entertainment and not a true depiction of war a la "Saving Pvt. Ryan."Yes, there are weaknesses, including the Wehrmacht's employment of Patton tanks and blind and deaf sentries.
We are introduced to a lot of individual soldiers in "The Devil's Brigade," Canadians and Americans, and the film gives ample space to their interesting and divergent story arcs.Good performances abound.
On the American side, Akins does a nice job keeping a degree of audience sympathy even as he belittles "the Canucks," as he calls them, setting himself up for Slate's humility lesson, while Andrew Prine pulls you in as a troubled and sensitive soldier who wants the chance to prove himself but finds the business of killing hard.The first hour of the film is the best part, as the brigade is trained to Frederick's exacting standards while its American and Canadian components learn to deal with each other.
Are we supposed to believe an elite battalion of Germans can be captured by a dozen Devils without anyone firing a shot?There are lots of shots fired at the film's concluding battle, at once rousing and heart-wrenching, especially as McLaglen and scripter William Roberts make use of all the characters we had invested ourselves in by putting them in harm's way and not letting them all out.
It stars William Holden, Cliff Robertson, Vince Edwards, Harry Carey, Claude Akins, Andrew Prine, Richard Jaeckel, Jack Watson and Jeremy Slate.
Clothier.Based on real people and incidents, film follows the formation of the 1st Special Service Force (AKA: The Devil's Brigade), their training and subsequent mission to seize control of Monte la Difensa, a Nazi stronghold during the Italian Campaign in World War II.Somewhere along the path of war movie history there was a wind of change that saw the all heroic soldier of sincerity replaced by the anti-hero thug!
A year later came The Devil's Brigade, a film strikingly similar to The Dirty Dozen, yet unlike Aldrich's movie is based on facts, it should also be noted that the novel The Devil's Brigade was written in 1966.McLaglen's movie follows the tried and tested formula, men from all walks of life thrust together and expected to gel as one fighting force.
North's music is delightfully boisterous, the blend of national themes most catchy, Clothier's photography around the Utah and Lazio locales lurches nicely from the screen, while McLaglen, so often derided for some of his directing assignments, does a bang up good job for the two action sequences that finalise the movie.It doesn't break new ground, but for this line of formula war movies it comfortably keeps the fires burning.
This is a rugged WWII actioner concerning an unexperienced Lt Colonel (William Holden) , he's assigned by Lord Mountbatten (Patrick Knowles) to train a group of American misfits and Canadian soldiers .
While the Canadians who appear in a spectacular parade under Scottish bagpipes music , are disciplined and commanded by a Major (Clift Robertson) and a corporal (Jack Watson), but a new sergeant (Jeremy Slate) has joined the ranks of the brigade for training in combat .
While THE DEVIL'S BRIGADE seems to borrow heavily from plot elements of THE DIRTY DOZEN, in actuality it's based on a true World War II incident involving a brigade of Canadians and some American misfits on a mission in the Italian alps.
Only Vince Edwards as a cigar-smoking colonel has almost as much screen time as Holden.Lack of development among the character actors and a screenplay that takes too long to deliver a punch, makes this a lusterless action film, the kind that has been done before with much better results.One has to think back to the tense and taut melodramatics of Errol Flynn and Ronald Reagan on a mission against the Nazis in DESPERATE JOURNEY to get a hint of what this film should have been as far as pacing and tense situations go.Alex North's score is almost non-existent at major dramatic moments, another shortcoming of THE DEVIL'S BRIGADE..
The Devil's Brigade seems like an inferior copy of The Dirty Dozen, but in actual fact it's hard to justify such a view of the film because it takes many of its plot elements from a factual situation.
The brigade of the title, made up of proper Canadian soldiers and American misfits doing time in the military jail, really existed.However, despite the film's strong basis in fact, it's still a generally unsuccessful effort.
The mission which forms the main crux of the plot - a suicidal attempt to scale a heavily defended enemy hill - is filmed decently, but it takes a long time to get to that sequence (indeed, many would say too long).The Devil's Brigade is slightly too mechanical and uninspiring to be a worthwhile film.
I was surprised to learn that "The Devil's Brigade" is actually based on a true story and it's not some "Dirty Dozen" knockoff.
During WWII, there really was a special forces unit made up of American and Canadian soldiers and this film is a slightly fictionalized version of their formation and successes.The film begins with the Colonel (William Holden) being given command of a new special forces unit.
Both films have similar plots and were based on real-life WWII units -- "The Dirty Dozen" was loosely based on the Filthy Thirteen and "The Devil's Brigade" more tightly based on the 1st Special Service Force, AKA The Black Devils.Their plots are similar in that they each involve a group of military delinquents being trained for a big mission and then the execution of that mission.
They differ in that the 1st Special Service Force was comprised of both American and Canadian soldiers, rather than just Americans.Although "The Devil's Brigade" is based more on fact it's still a very Hollywood-ized depiction of events.
For instance, actual members of the unit objected to the way the film limits the groups warm relations with the locals of Helena, Montana, (the city nearest their training base) to a major brouhaha in a saloon.The first half of the film takes place mostly at the dilapidated base near Helena, but was shot at a base in Lehi, Utah, which is a decent substitute since it's only 350 miles due south of Helena.Generally speaking, "The Devil's Brigade" is not as good as "The Dirty Dozen", but that's only because the latter film is so great, plus it came first.
For instance, the final mission in "The Dirty Dozen" involves the unit's raid on an opulent German château, which -- while good -- is hardly a typical WWII combat scenario; the final mission shown in "The Devil's Brigade", by contrast, involves the brigade's taking of a German stronghold atop a rocky mountain in Northern Italy, an excellent battle sequence.Although it's next to impossible to beat Lee Marvin as the commander of the unit in "The Dirty Dozen", William Holden is very strong in the counterpart role in "The Devil's Brigade".
As if he wasn't prepared for the likely death of a fellow soldier in battle.FINAL SAY: If you're in the mood for a late 60s war flick in the mode of "The Dirty Dozen", "The Devil's Brigade" is a quality option.The film runs 130 minutes and was shot in Utah & Italy.GRADE: B.
This is the true story of how a group of American misfits were mixed with a first rate Canadian outfit, and how the leadership of Col. Frederick molded them into one of World War II's most effective fighting forces.
It`s an impressive battle sequence watching it today and I guess it must have been breath taking in 1968 so at the end of the day this could have been a very good war film if the producers had concentrated on bringing a few more facts to the story , but I guess they decided against it since " Too many died to keep it true ".
WWII story has William Holden looking distressed at playing an American Lieutenant Coloniel, assigned to the heady task of whipping a large group of delinquent G.I.s into shape within four months for possible battle in Norway; complicating matters on the training base is the inclusion of a Canadian military unit who must share the field--and the barracks--with the obnoxious Yanks.
A not-bad supporting cast (including Cliff Robertson, Vince Edwards, Carroll O'Connor, and an aged Michael Rennie and Dana Andrews) mostly takes a backseat to the soldiers-in-training, with Claude Akins' class-clown hogging a great deal of the spotlight.
However, it is very much a "poor man's" version of that film and has most definitely not stood the test of time very well.It's typical '60s war movie fair that - like most of its contemporaries - largely glamorizes combat.
Col. Frederick (William Holden) is a critic of Mountbatten's plan to train a joint Canadian and American commando unit to send to occupied Norway.
Released in 1968 - This expensive production set during WW2 may have featured a big-name cast headlined by William Holden, Cliff Robertson and Vince Edwards, but it lacked any real depth to its story and its characters were only regarded in the most superficial manner.It appeared to me that a good part of the time the actors seemed noticeably bored and distracted in their parts.
Once trained and ready for action these soldiers are assigned to attack and capture a strategic Nazi stronghold situated on a perilous mountain range.At an over-long running time of 130 minutes, The Devil's Brigade loses steam far too quickly and it contains one elaborately-staged brawl too many between the Canadians and the Americans..
This film is clearly divided into two parts: the first, depicting the training of the unit and the interaction among its men, is far more interesting (even with one brawl too many) than the second one, in which we follow the unit in its first two battle missions.
A platoon of these American and Canadian specialists can capture an entire Italian town full of German soldiers without losing a man, and they can make fools of the enemy while doing it.The training camp scenes make up two thirds of the footage and the template is that of "The Dirty Dozen." There are some amusing scenes, like the one in which the martial-arts expert, Jeremy Slate, takes down the ruffian Akins.
The Historical facts:The following is from the book Canadians at War 1939-1945.The First Special Service Force - or the force , as it was called - an elite unit of both Canadians and Americans was formed in 1942.
Robert Frederick, "the greatest fighting general of all time." The Force itself won the nickname "The Devil's Brigade," a term apparently inspired by the blackened faces members wore on patrols and in battle.
This film takes the true story of the First Special Service Force and links it up with a fair number of Hollywood clichés.
All US special operations combat forces are said to be descended from this unit.Cliff Robertson is masterful in the role of the Canadian commander.
Great historical war film about the development of specialized infantry units in the US and Canadian armies..
McLaglen's "The Devil's Brigade" is a factual World War II epic about the First Special Service Force.
Clocking in at 131 minutes, "The Devil's Brigade" covers a lot of ground from the formation of the unit to the rivalry between the American and Canadian soldiers,and finally their baptism by fire in Italy.
Lenser William Clothier captures the combat in several rugged settings and provides this war story will a virile look, while Alex North contributes an inspirational score.An American Colonel Colonel Fredericks (William Holden of "Picnic") with no battlefield experience receives orders to train a unit of American misfits and snappy Canadian troops for a mission that he had derided earlier as insane.
THE DEVIL'S BRIGADE is another men-on-a-mission war film to follow in the wake of THE DIRTY DOZEN.
Later, when the action hits it does so impressively, mixing quietly taut peril and suspense sequences with all out battle warfare.William Holden headlines the cast as the ultra-tough lieutenant colonel while Cliff Robertson and Vince Edwards play the two opposing majors under him.
Colonel Frederick knows that, despite heavy casualties, the fighting men of "The Devil's Brigade" will prevail...This wartime actioner from United Artists is placed in the capable hands of Andrew V.
The Devil's Brigade is a cracking combat movie that is grounded in fact.