Days of Glory

During the 1941 invasion of Russia by the Nazi's the odds are overwhelming as the German army marches across the land. However resistance among the brave Russians makes up with heart what it lacks in sophistication and size.

One such outfit is a small group of guerrilla soldiers lead by Vladimir. The new arrival of an 'outsider' creates tensions within the group but the capture of a German soldier offers the possibility of information and the potential for a demoralising strike at the invading army as well as his attempted escape helping the group trust one another again.

Perhaps understandably the Russian/German front has been largely ignored by Hollywood in the past few decades and even now it is possible that Days Of Glory is only increasing in circulation because the embarrassment factor has faded. During the cold war, nobody really wanted a WWII propaganda piece that shows the Russians (our enemy) as upright, heroic and American (!). However now we are all in the War on Terror together, I notice this film has started being seen more than it was ten years ago. I was attracted to this by the director and the presence of Peck – however this is far from being one of Tourneur's famous films and Peck was in his first screen role. Essentially this is a big 'thank you' to the Russian soldiers by putting them in a story where they talk endlessly about why they are fighting while falling in love, looking heroic and sacrificing their lives. It is as basic and uninspiring as all that sounds and it smacks of a film that puts propaganda first and entertainment second.

This is not to say that it doesn't try because it does, with some action, some human drama and the standard wartime romance. It is not terrible but it does get a little dull at times and has far too much heavy handed preaching while the emotional music swells in the background. The cast features a surprising amount of people in their screen debuts – I'm not sure if that was deliberate but it doesn't show that much. Peck shows the sort of furrowed brow and screen presence that made him a famous leading man while the rest of the cast do OK in average characters who are either jovial, heroic or brave depending on what point the film is trying to get across.

Overall this is an interesting film because it is unusual to see an American propaganda film bigging up the Russians. It has some involving action towards the end but mostly it is too talky and preachy, relying on music and heroic sacrifice to pull our heartstrings rather than writing real people who we can get emotionally involved with and care about.

This tribute to Russian resistance in World War II gave Gregory Peck his opportunity for a starring film screen debut. No walk-ons, or bit parts are in Peck's career resume. He was billed a star from the beginning.

Not that Days of Glory was the greatest of debuts. In fact it was only in his second film, The Keys of the Kingdom for which he got his first Oscar nomination that made him a big star. Still Peck as the stoic and brooding Russian peasant resistance leader certainly had star quality written all over him.

Now that the Cold War is over we can appreciate the Russian contribution to defeating Nazism without getting hung up over Communism. The Russians took a quick study in what defeated Napoleon and applied those lessons to World War II. Where you see the German Army in the Ukraine in Days of Glory is roughly how far they advanced into the Soviet Union. Those partisans that Peck heads are on the cutting edge as factories are being transported and rebuilt in the Urals and east of same and the Red Army is being reorganized. Joe Stalin is also looking a military leadership team to beat the Nazis.

The Russian people took a tremendous toll and it was the great worry of both Roosevelt and Churchill up to the Allied invasion of Normandy that Stalin might just make a separate peace. If he had the world would be very different.

Peck's love interest was dancer Tamara Toumanova who plays a dancer caught up in the partisan movement. As an actress she's a great dancer, she's seen to better advantage in Alfred Hitchcock's Torn Curtain where she concentrates on dancing.

Days of Glory did get an Oscar nomination for Special Effects, but despite that it's essentially an A picture from a B picture studio, RKO. Still it's not a bad last stand story and a decent enough debut for Gregory Peck.

Patriotic Hollywood movie about a Soviet Union guerrilla when Russia was invaded by the ruthless Nazis ; subsequently , brave Guerrilleros fighting back . And presenting the motion picture debut of a cast of new personalities. The flick is set during Nazi onslaught , on June 22, 1941, the Fuehrer sent his war machine , an armored attack crashing across the frontiers of the USSR , unleashing a furious Blitzkrieg. The Fuehrer,-known his hatred for Bolshevism-, described the assault on Russia as a crusade against communism, but he obviously was motived by a need for wheat, oil, and mineral supplies to enable him to defy the British blockade. This is a flag-waving and propaganda film but at the time US and USSR were allied , it deals about some idyllic Soviet people . As their peaceful existence is brutally interrupted when they are suddenly attacked by German planes, in the first wave of the Nazi assault on the Soviet Union. As most of the men flee to the hills to form a guerrilla unit . The first part describes life of a little rebel group led by Vladimir (Gregory Peck) who falls for Ballerina Nina (Tamara Toumanova) , all of them are good people (Alan Reed , Maria Palmer ,Lowell Gilmore , Glen Verdon , Hugo Haas) who bravely fight against the violent encroachment . There happens the Nazi invasion and they're surrounded and bombed . By the way , protagonist Peck making the romantic interludes with Tamara Toumanova playing a Catholic Ballerina from Bolshoi who joins the godless guerrilla . The second part is quite starkly moving developing account of deeds that befall about the freedom fighters and when they go into action , including impressive battles . Burning with Love and Hate! A rolling wall of hell that couldn't be stopped... A handful of men who had to stop it!

The interesting and quite beautifully made film with implecable credits results to be a gripping war story dealing with the Germans overrunning the Eastern Russia with valiant , courageous villagers facing on Nazis and starring Gregory Peck/Vladimir almost single-handely battling as well as resisting the brutal enemy .This picture has presented a cast of new personalities starring , cautioning as opening credits , as closing credits . Peck making his debut as a Russian guerrilla in one of these propagandist WWII tributes to Soviet Allies which caused much embarrassment after that . In addition , there was a clutch of newcomer players . Casey Robinson's thought-provoking screenplay , based on an original story by Melchior Lengyel , is much more concerned with their doggedly upright , gallant resistence under siege than with any jingoist or political purpose . This unnerving epic depicts the horror war as Nazi atrocities and as the resistance fighters roam the Russian countryside attacking during the cruel invasion . Although melodramatic moments in overall effects, also has moments of astounding power with some overwhelming sequences. No one had much to tell for the movie by the time , but it is surprisingly convincing , intriguing , thrilling and sober . The picture has great actors , being film debut of Gregory Peck, Alan Reed ; the credits specify all in the credited cast were making their screen debuts , although Maria Palmer, Hugo Haas and Tamara Toumanova appeared in films in earlier years . This ¨Days of Glory¨ bears remarkable resemblance to ¨The North Star¨ (1943) by Lewis Milestone with prestigious actors as Walter Huston , Dana Andrews, Farley Granger , Anne Baxter, Erich Von Stroheim as usual official Nazi, Dean Jagger, among them . Cinematography is well supplied by Tony Gaudio , being filmed in Cedar City, Utah, and RKO Studios , Gower Street, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California . As well as atmospheric and evocative score by Daniele Amfitheatrof .

The motion picture was professionally directed by Jacques Tourneaur , though the film never rises above tub-thumping , and being unforced and natural , at times .Tourneur directed all kinds of genres and he was an expert on terror cinema (Cat people , Leopard man, I walked with a Zombie , Night of the demon) , Western (Wichita , Great Day in the Morning, Canyon Passage , Stranger on Horseback) , Film Noir (Berlin Express , Out of past , Nick Carter master detective) and adventures (Flame and the arrow , Marathon battle , Appointment in Honduras , Tombuctú , City under the sea) .Torneur knew the imagination was stronger than anything filmmakers could show visually and played on it with breathtaking results . Rating : 6.5/10 . Decent wartime movie . It will appeal to Gregory Peck fans .

Gregory Peck is the leader of a group of Russian Guerillas who are fighting the invading Nazis. Peck is the leader of the group but there isn't that many people in the group, they even have a teenager and his younger sister helping out. They also have a woman sharpshooter and several other members. They go out at night to do some damage and hide out by day. They take in a ballet dancer who doesn't want to kill but winds up killing an escaping Nazi. Peck and the dancer end up falling in love and have several love scenes together. They blow up an ammunition train and they also have to hold off some Nazis when the Russians want to do a counter-attack. This was Gregory Peck's first film but this wasn't his best film.

Days of Glory was the first relatively big budget film Jacques Tourneur was given opportunity to direct after success of his horror trilogy (Cat People, I walked with the Zombie and Leopard Man).

The particularity of this picture is that it was a debut film for all of it's cast of actors including Gregory Peck who later became one of Hollywood's major stars. Days of Glory is also one of those few openly pro-soviet films that were made in Hollywood during WW-2 when United States and Soviet Union were allies in fighting against Nazi Germany. But this fact doesn't diminish the quality of the film, though some propaganda elements are present in the story, which is about a group of Russian partisans fighting guerilla war against German Nazi troops in occupied Russia.

Overall, Days of Glory is an interesting WW-2 drama with a good story and a cast of interesting characters brought to life by a group of wonderful actors in their first starring role in a film. 7/10