Embarrassingly bad, low-budget Italian-made war movie set in Holland in the dying days of WWII. A tedious, plodding storyline concerning a plot to steal some diamonds from a German HQ, awful acting and dreadful editing make this movie a prize turkey from the opening scene right through to the cringeworthy oh-so-60s `romantic' ending which will have you reaching for the puke bucket - that is if you haven't already reached for the `Off' button long before. The worst performances come from John Ireland as Captain O'Connor and the blonde female lead, whose name escapes me. She plays the `love interest' to our Rugged Leading Man. Perhaps it wasn't entirely her fault, as back then female romantic leads, especially in action movies, were often written as weak, wishy-washy, sobbing, super-sensitive emotional jellyfish. This one is no exception, and the second, supporting female character is just as bad. Simply nauseating to watch. Even the action scenes (which are few and far between, except towards the end) are boring and predictable. Most ludicrously, in the climatic battle, we have Rugged Leading Man and his two mates holed up in some sandbagged bunker and effortlessly gunning down endless attacking Germans right, left and centre. The Germans of course are all terrible shots and even seem to be eager cannon-fodder, as they make little or no effort to take cover, dying spectacularly in droves amid much flailing of arms and comic-book shouts of `AAAAARGH'. This is glorification of war at its very worst. Then suddenly - right in the middle of the battle - the resistance guy pulls up completely unmolested in a stolen German jeep and trots effortlessly along a convenient trench - which leads directly into the bunker and which somehow hundreds of Germans approaching from all sides have failed to spot - and calmly joins Our Heroes inside the bunker. Another scene of crass stupidity that really must be seen to be believed has Captain O'Connor flying over the German lines in a reconnaissance plane which, with the help of some clumsily-inserted old newsreel footage, is suddenly and miraculously transformed into a heavy bomber disgorging its massive payload from wide-open bomb bays and pulverising the Germans beneath, before once more instantaneously reverting to being a small reconnaissance plane again. The concept of an ongoing truce between the resistance fighters and the occupying German army also seems ludicrous to me, yet this is a central theme of the movie. The English title of the film was obviously inspired by `The Dirty Dozen' (which was made around the same time) but it doesn't deserve to be mentioned in the same breath. The original Italian title of this film (Dalle Ardenne all' Inferno), the sleeve notes for the English language video release are also grossly misleading. This film has absolutely NOTHING to do with the Battle of the Ardennes. The Ardennes isn't even in Holland - it's a part of Belgium - which indicates that the film-makers' knowledge of World War II events and geography was just as limited as their ability to make even a half-decent film. Don't waste two hours of your valuable time on this rubbish. One of the worst movies I've had the misfortune to sit through - and I've sat through some garbage!!
