Contraataque

Counter-Attack, a film celebrating the Russian contribution to the victory of Nazism, earned a place in history for the blacklisting of screen writer John Howard Lawson, member of the Hollywood Ten and a guy who really was a Marxist. He never denied it during his lifetime.

Nevertheless the Russian contribution was certainly real enough and red enough and that's not a political statement either. Paul Muni and Marguerite Chapman play a pair of Russian soldiers who get trapped on the wrong side of the front in a cellar with seven members of the German Army of varying feelings about their leader. Muni and Chapman are on an advance mission to obtain intelligence and they're certain one of their 'prisoners' is an officer in disguise. How to ferret the information from these men is the question.

The film is one claustrophobic exercise and on stage it was done only on the one set of the cellar. It was based on a Russian play Pobyeda and ran under the name Counter-Attack on Broadway during the 1943 season for 85 performances. Morris Carnovsky originated the role Paul Muni has in the film.

Since both sides have no idea who will rescue them eventually it becomes quite a cat and mouse game with Muni and Chapman fighting fatigue. Yet they have a few tricks of their own.

Counter-Attack is a well acted film with Paul Muni under a lot of effective directorial restraint and the ever present helpful hints from his wife Bella. They were one interesting combination, Bella knew her man well and was his best critic. Of course directors getting the idea that they were in charge did not want her around. Harry Cohn got her off the set of A Song To Remember and without her there, the result was Muni's hammiest performance.

Counter-Attack is not a great war film and it got buried during the McCarthy era. Still it's decent enough wartime propaganda and we can view it now with the history of the times in mind.

An engrossing WW2 film set somewhere on the Russian Front with Paul Muni as a member of a Russian assault team who is trapped in a collapsed building with seven German soldiers, one of whom is an officer. Along with him is Margarithe Chapman as a Russian partisan. His character is in the lead part of a big Russian counter-attack that is to be launched across a river on a bridge that's being built eighteen inches under the surface of the water. The setting in the collapsed building with the German soldiers whom he has captured and is trying to extract information from is beautifully done with tension and humor amidst fading light, all captured by cinematographer James Wong Howe, one of the greats of B&W photography (and color, too if you've seen Picnic). Maybe Muni was a tad bit better in I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang, but he's awfully good here as a crafty Russian fighting sleep deprivation and fading light. The Germans are great as well, each getting enough lines to establish himself. Margarithe Chapman's part as Muni's comrade captures the idea of equality in the ranks among men and women. She's tough but tender.

It's 1942 and the Soviets have fallen back under German attack. The Soviets are secretly building a bridge to launch a counter-attack. They sent paratroopers to help partisans in enemy territory to locate German forces. With intel of impending German reinforcements, they launch a surprise attack. Paratrooper Alexei Kulkov with local guide Lisa Elenko take seven German soldiers prisoners but become trapped under a collapsed building.

This was shown at a time when the Soviets were still Allies. Aside from the war action scenes, this is essentially an one room play. My only concern is that I don't see these characters talk so easily. The writing is definitely trying to be smarter than most. Alexei should definitely force the prisoners to sit down. There is a few things about this that rings a little false. It wouldn't matter as much if this isn't reaching for the higher levels. This is not the standard war movie. It's trying to be more and the little annoyances hurt.

Most of "Counter-Attack" takes place in a collapsed factory building in which 2 Russians and 7 Germans are trapped. Ordinarily, in a picture of this type, the action comes to a screeching halt and the film becomes a talkathon. But the story benefits greatly from the presence of Paul Muni, one of America's great actors, as the Russian soldier who is holding the 7 German soldiers captive until rescuers arrive.

The Russians are trying to drive the Germans from Russian soil, and have sent a handful of paratroopers ahead to gather information on troop movements, and the group is trapped after an explosion at a factory doubling as a German messaging outpost. That the film does not perish from Death by Dialogue is a tribute to Paul Muni's superior acting ability as well as an excellent script. If it comes on soon, catch it and see if you don't agree.

I was 7 years old when I saw this movie in 1945. the war swirled around me and this was a movie about success against an enemy of America. At 7, you have no political insights as to what is going on. It's the "good guys vs. the bad guys", the "cowboys vs. the indians" from a little kids perspective, and I was for the good guys, which in this case were the Russians. I guess it was OK to root for the Russians as long as we had a common enemy. This was my first exposure to propaganda movies, but not my last. When Paul Muni and Larry parks were identified as "Commie supporters" after the war was over, they paid a price for what they believed in. With the Communist conspiracy lurking, this hysteria impacted and destroyed a lot of people, a sad day for our country. Obviously, this movie made an impact on me, as it still is one of my favorites, all politics aside. From a historical perspective, it showed, that the Russians weren't always our enemies, a fact we would rather not acknowledge today. I guess it will always hold true, that "the enemy of my enemy, is my friend".