L'urlo dei giganti

Among the numerous low-brow WWII adventures to emerge from Europe around this time, the film under review also proved one of Jack Palance's not infrequent across-the-water excursions; typically, the film comes with several titles – the misleading Spanish original translates to ZERO HOUR: OPERATION ROMMEL (even if the Field Marshall does figure prominently in the narrative, his role in the failed July plot to assassinate the Fuehrer and his eventual suicide, thus bringing to mind the similar but inferior UCCIDETE ROMMEL from the same year), the Italian one (its co-producing country) to the generic THE CRY OF GIANTS and, for English-speaking consumption, it ended up with the imitative moniker given above! Anyway, the movie presents a typical 'impossible mission' scenario with the lock-jawed star as the cynical leader of a specialized outfit parachuted behind enemy lines; the group even includes a German officer(!) and, when they purposefully crash the plane, are also joined by the pilot. What is unusual – but also rather silly in the long run, given its pointlessness – is that each member of the squad has a specific function to perform which, however, is known only to himself…so that each of them is constantly, albeit unnecessarily, looking over one another's back!; for obvious reasons, the former Nazi is especially suspected in this regard, even more so when his instructions dictate for him to return to the fold (to further complicate matters, he meets his sweetheart – played by Rosanna Yanni – just then, and she takes him for a traitor to their cause of fighting the Hitler dictatorship)! Eventually, it turns out that Palance and his men were intended to divert enemy attention from a strategic point to another location – so that the German forces are deployed to this other section of the battle zone, thus facilitating the Allies' entry; the military-minded Colonel in command initially objects to the move given their opposition only involves five men – but another officer embroiled with the Nazi hierarchy imposes his will, once the ruse is discovered, to his ultimate chagrin. The combination of expected ingredients – plenty of action (where the expertise at baseball of one of them comes in handy when throwing hand-grenades during the final enemy onslaught!) and hard-boiled dialogue (most amusingly, when Palance complains about the terrible quality of the cigarette he is smoking while a bullet is being removed from his arm sans anaesthetic) – and novelty aspects (the obstacles, eventually surmounted, to camaraderie already mentioned and the suspense inherent in the jigsaw-puzzle structure) make it a mildly enjoyable offering as these things go.

During World War II, a tough officer Major John Heston (Jack Palance) is assigned by Gen. Moore (Giuseppe Addobbati as John Douglas) to organize a commando raid into Germany . Heston leads a group of expert officers on a risked as well as strange assignment , these are the followings : Captain Agamemnon Geeves (Andrea Bosic) , Lt.Steve Bloom (John Gramack) , Capt.Stuart Latimore (Carlos Estrada) , Lt. Thomas Mulligan (Antonio Pica) , Lt.Robert Mills (Mirko Ellis) . The relentless and complex assignment is set against strong training , risked adventures and hazardous feats . The mission: search out Rommel (Manuel Collado and his wife played by Maruchi Fresno) and to destroy enemy , after the D-Day invasion . The volunteer commandos , misfits from the American army do not care how its done and will run over anyone who gets in their way .

Jack Palance as Major Heston assumes the character of commando leader in this ordinary wartime movie regularly directed by Leon Klimovsky . This moving film packs frantic thrills , perilous adventures , relentless feats , and buck-loads of explosive action and violence . The noisy action is uniformly well-made , especially deserving of mention the rip-roaring final scenes in which the motley group is really besieged , including some spectacular shootouts and bombing . The first half of the film allows the colorful cast of character actors to have their fun as they get their tails whipped into shape and develop shaky relationship with their leader . The final part is all action , as the brave commando wreak havoc and then run for their lives . Apart from the values of team spirit , cudgeled by Palance into his misfit group , the film is full of feats , suspense , and thrills . Rough Jack Palance is leader of the motley pack together thwart the Nazi schemes , he gives an overacting and puts faces and grimaces . Palance dominates this adventure war with his hysterical performance as a merciless officer with only one thirst : to carry out the dangerous and puzzling mission . Palance played several exotic/historical characters in ¨The Silver Chalice¨, ¨Attila¨ , ¨Rosmunda and Alboino¨, ¨The horsemen¨ , ¨Barrabas¨, ¨The Mongols¨ , among others . As well as the largely secondary cast formed by a lot of Spanish/Italian secondaries , all of them ordinary from Peplum and Western such as: Antonio Pica , Mirko Ellis , Carlos Estrada , Alberto De Mendoza , Gérard Tichy , Rosanna Yanni and with special mention for Jesus Puente as nasty German General . This one belongs to Klimovski's trilogy about WWII , including tarnishing Hollywood stars , such as ¨The legion of no return¨ with Tab Hunter , and ¨Command attack¨with Michael Rennie . Atmospheric and functional musical score by Armando Trovajoli , adding an attractive but repetitive leitmotif . Mediocre cinematography in Eastmancolor filmed by Vicente Minaya , a perfect remastering is extremely necessary . Being filmed on location in Casa de Campo, Madrid , Getafe airport , Getafe , Madrid, Navacerrada mountains , and Pelayos de la Presa , Madrid, Spain . This is a wartime typical vehicle and into the ¨warlike commando genre¨ , in USA style which also belong the American classics as : ¨Dirty Dozen (Robert Aldrich) ¨ Where eagles dare(Brian G. Hutton) and Kelly's heroes(Hutton), Tobruk (Arthur Hiller) , Devil's Brigade (Andrew V McLagen) and many others .

The motion picture was middlingly directed by Leon Klimovsky . This Argentina born but nationalized Spanish filmmaker was a craftsman who directed all kind genres , as Terror for Paul Naschy (Marshall of hell , Rebellion of dead one , Orgy of vampires , Werewolf shadow,Dr Jekill vs. the werewolf) , Warlike (June 44 attack force Normandy, A bullet for Rommel, Bridge over Elba) and Western (Badland drifter , Some dollars for Django , Torrejon city , Death knows no time, Two thousand dollars for Coyote). Rating: 5 ; regular but entertaining.

Competent war film for its time. The story is OK though pretty generic.

Palance puts in his usual performance of sneering, preening and making weird faces at the camera, rasping out the dialogue.

However... this movie has one serious flaw that should have been foreseen from the very beginning...

The major drawback is that the helmets all look like they are made of clay of something. The sight of Jack Palance running around a war zone with a massive piece of pottery on his head is one of the funniest sights i have ever seen. It ruins (or makes) the movie, depending on your perspective.

Jack Palance was reason enough to see any film, and he was my reason for watching The Fall of the Giants. The film is not great and could have been much better too, but it is also not bad at all, certainly much better than Legion of the Damned(aka Battle of the Commandos), another war film starring Palance made at a similar time.

The Fall of the Giants looks good, while the photography is not mind-blowing it is hardly low-budget TV quality either, the sets are handsome and reasonably authentic in alternative to limited, the scenery with the countryside, woods and rivers is truly stunning and the editing is coherent and above average. Not all the costumes work though, with the helmets looking like over-sized pottery and Palance's uniform looked like it had shrunk a few sizes in the wash overnight. The music score is appropriately rousing and melancholic, and fits with the film quite well. The story is reasonably well-paced with some nice turns and remains interesting until the final 10 minutes, the battle scenes are appropriately tense(as is the build up to the final battle) and coherently edited and the direction gets the job done competently. The performances are good on the whole, with fine support from Andrea Bosic and John Grammack, Mirko Ellis in suitably heroic mode and Gerard Tichy brings authority to his General character.

As great an actor Palance was, this is not one of his best performances here. He gives his absolute all and he certainly commands the screen well, but it did feel like he was trying too hard(think his hard-nosed performance in Legion of the Damned except even less subtle) and it felt out-of-kilter at times with the rest of the film. The conclusion could have been powerful and moving, instead it went down the human sermon route and dealt with it very heavy-handedly, and that the characters are very one-dimensional, one-note and underdeveloped in the film(as well as drifting in and out) makes it less easy to really care for the ending or for them. Where The Fall of the Giants really falls down is the very pedestrian script that lacks any kind of pace or nuance and the dialogue is constantly corny and trite.

Overall, not bad with clearly some effort and professionalism gone into it, but rather bland. 5/10 Bethany Cox

Skip it – You've heard of "spaghetti westerns." Behold the "spaghetti war movie." Also known as "Hell's Brigade" or "The Battle Giants," the title is misleading because the mission has nothing to do with assassinating Rommel. During WWII, a small group of commandos disguise themselves as German soldiers and parachute behind enemy lines. The objective of the mission is unknown to the soldiers, but each of them is given their own specific task. They must put together the pieces of the puzzle while causing mayhem behind enemy lines. While the battle scenes near the end are entertaining, it's hard to overlook the rest of the movie, which is confusing, poorly made, and corny. 3.5 out of 5 action rating.