A Brigada do Diabo

You may sometimes get the feeling that Hollywood thinks that World War II was won entirely by commando units. But The Devil's Brigade is one of the better "Special Forces" films. William Holden is chosen to meld a group of American misfits with an elite group of Canadian Army troops. The results are sometimes predictable, but nevertheless, interesting and humorous.The well-chosen cast makes the film what it is, with Jeremy Slate turning in a understated but splendid performance as the hand-to-hand combat instructor. The Devil's Brigade is good entertainment.

Critics do not respect this tough-minded and character-rich WWII mission film; it might be subtitled the dirty hundreds because it has so many trainees being readied for combat. The only persons who like this are those who enjoy a stirring action picture with many interesting participants and good actors. The script is by fine veteran William Roberts, direction by Andrew V. MLlaglen, a stellar job. Add music by Alex North of "Spartacus" fame and gritty, superior art direction by Alfred Sweeney and you have a fine start. The training takes place somewhere in the US, the mission in the Italian Alps to boot. Actors shining in the large cast include William Holden as the leader, Cliff Robertson as as a needlessly stiff Canadian, plus Michael Rennie. 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. But Roberts' script, McgLaglen's taut direction and North's music make this a superior film whatever genre it is classified within.

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. Most people are probably unaware that the Canadian army had such an influence on the initial training of this unit.

A lot of Americans probably won't like how their countrymen are portrayed at the outset compared to the Canadian "hand-picked, best-trained men in the best-trained army in the world" (in the word's of the unit's American commander, portrayed by Holden). But they should be proud of what they were raised up to become, and how they acquitted themselves in battle. 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). The takeover of the German unit in the town was somewhat fictionalized, too, and is a composite of several events (but that's the movies for you).

REVIEW OF THE MGM REGION 1 DVD

With 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. Frederick, who derives a plan for combining Canadian and American troops into an assault force which will attack the Germans in Norway. 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). The men instinctively hate each other, and spend their months of training bickering with one another, until a huge bar fight forces them join forces against unappreciative lumberjacks. 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. That aside, this is one very entertaining movie, and its' success rests largely on the capability of a huge cast of character actors.

Of the three leads, Robertson is most convincing. He manages to make Crown an admirable hero, with guts and determination. He cares about his men but pushes them to their limits because he knows that when they face the Wehrmacht, they will be better off for it. He is calm and collected under pressure, whether it is pressure from superior officers, attitudes of the men under his command or in the tense heat of battle. Likewise, Edwards breathes vibrant life into Bricker. Bricker is a witty officer with a short temper towards misbehavior in his unit, and little respect for the dregs he commands. We know he's unhappy with his assignment from the moment we meet him; only gradually does his attitude change. Holden is actually the least believable of the three leads. He never seems to be acting with much passion or concern for his character, and never comes across as a real, living human being. His role as commander is strictly one-dimensional, and this is probably the lowest-grade role I've seen him in to date. This is where flaws in the script begin to take their toll, because most viewers have seen Holden act so much better, but that's because he's had much better material to work with.

The supporting cast is filled with familiar faces, several of which deserve mention because they are so good. One standout is Claude Akins as Rocky Rockman, easily the most rebellious of the Americans. He's physically rough, profane, and won't hesitate to pick a fight with anyone, anywhere. But during the aforementioned bar fight, he finds himself allied with Peacock (Jack Watson), a Canadian he holds in highest contempt. Peacock is a staunch, stiff NCO who makes discipline and respect his #1 priorities, and naturally, he and Rockman don't get along… until they have to fight alongside each other to gain respect from some angry lumberjacks, and realize that maybe they can get along as comrades in arms, and maybe even friends. The course of this relationship builds realistically throughout the course of the entire film, making one scene during the final battle incredibly moving.

McLaglen makes the final major encounters with the Germans, the highlights of the film. The first major encounter involves the brigade's probe of a German village, in which they manage to capture an entire German battalion without taking a single casualty. 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. The on-location filming looks great in this sequence, though – it was shot in a real village, not on a set, and the exteriors look fresh in every shot. McLaglen uses a lot of pans and zoom-outs to show the progress of his characters, too, making for some nicely composed sequences.

The final mountaintop battle is brilliantly executed from start to finish. Beginning with a perilous sequence of the brigade rappelling up steep cliffs, the sequence builds to a bloody, hand-to-hand encounter with German infantry. Most of the battle is shot from the grunts' perspective, and the camera occasionally rises above the action to show us what progress the men have made – but essentially, this isn't an epic battle with a bunch of extras battling it out. McLaglen is interested in telling a human drama from the start, and doesn't abandon his characters in favor of scope. Instead, he tells the story of the fight as the men see it, and does a very good job. 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. There is nothing to really set this apart from that sea, but director McLaglen and the actors work well together, making the story riveting and enjoyable. There are ample doses of humor and satisfying amounts of humor, action and character drama to make this a recommendable war film.

By 1968, the public was becoming less enchanted with World War II movies as news footage from Vietnam spilled into their living rooms, and films like this one paid a price. Reading a contemporaneous review in the New York Times, it's hard not to feel the sneering contempt at Andrew V. McLaglen's engaging if light take on a group of American and Canadian commandos. But which has dated more, the film or its critics?

It's hard to judge "The Devil's Brigade" fairly when you grew up watching it as I did on television, courtesy of Channel 7's "4:30 Movie" in New York City. If you watch a war movie that thrills you as a kid, you try your best to overlook its flaws as an adult. 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. The only Canadian that sounds like Richard Dawson does here is Michael Myers when he's playing "Shrek." As the unit commander, Lt. Col. Frederick, William Holden seems disengaged from the rest of the film, dyspeptic and hung over, which he may well have been. Maybe his mind was on that new Peckinpaugh script in his trailer…

But what you get here is better than you might expect, delivered by McLaglen with a near-expert blend of mounting tension and comic finesse. 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. Cliff Robertson as Major Crown is the straight arrow Canadian commander who escaped Dunkirk and longs for a second crack at the Germans. If anyone but McLaglen was directing, Crown would be a thankless role, but McLaglen was in tune with the straight and narrow and gives Robertson the room and tone to play the part well, which Robertson does.

Other Canadian characters shine, too, like the gruff but lovable Cpl. Peacock (Jack Watson) and Jeremy Slate as a self-defense instructor whose impromptu demonstration at the expense of Claude Akins is a comic highlight. 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. It all comes together in a raucous bar fight which is a McLaglen specialty and the film's highlight, a rousing celebration of Canadian-American togetherness at the expense of a few bigmouthed lumberjacks who pick the wrong time to kid Dawson about his kilt.

"I know nobody invited the Canadians," Akins sneers. "But what burns me up is just who the hell invited you?"

Alas, when we get to the war itself, we are initially treated to a silly combat sequence involving the capture of an Italian village by a patrol. It all comes too easy, and McLaglen's attempt to marry the comedy of the first half with some gritty battle reality is miscalculated. 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. After the bar fight, it is the film's best section, especially with William H. Clothier's sterling cinematography making ample use of a blue-mountain vista.

Maybe I am too prejudiced in favor of movies that thrilled me when I was young. Maybe "The Devil's Brigade" isn't as good as "Lawrence Of Arabia." But it's a solid adventure film that makes me happy I had the good luck to see it when I was a little more naive.