La Débâcle des armées allemandes devant Moscou

A few days ago I saw this movie, which got "Oscar" prize in 1942 and was much impressed. I saw many rare vehicles in movement. Such as T-35, T-40 tanks, old trolleybuses, trams, cars... Can't miss common KV-1, T-34, BT-7, T-60s. Also different sorts of aircraft (IL-2, IL-4, PE-2, Yak-1, MiG-3) and guns (45-203mm). Also armored train, balloons, different fortifications can be seen. presented. I think most valuable is not the sound, but pictures, shown there. Of course, the quality of my copy is not ideal, but taking into account what time it spend in archive, it's quite acceptable. Highly recommend to those, who are interested in modeling different Soviet vehicles, small arms, guns and other weapons.

Regards, Alex

One of the most striking World War Two documentaries I have ever seen.

As a child of the cold war I've grown accustomed to seeing the Soviet Union portrayed as "The Evil Empire". This documentary, shot in the early '40s at the height of the war against Nazi Germany shows Russia and her republics in quite a different light. Beginning with a youth celebration in 1939 and a military parade in November 1940 the film focuses on the events surrounding the liberation of Moscow from the Germans in October 1941 through January 1942. The stark vistas of a Soviet winter creates the backdrop for a portrait of a region at war. The bright, clean Soviet youth at the celebration and the starched, uniformed soldiers at the military parade stand in stark contrast to the bedraggled and weary survivors later in the film. With shots of the Nazi's carnage on the city (including numerous shots of the dead and injured) the film gives a clear picture of the hardships endured during that long winter.

The film itself, while released in the west by Republic with narration by Edward G. Robinson, was shot entirely by Soviet cameramen. The film appears to have been shot with both 1940's "contemporary" and early hand-cranked silent cameras. The editing is at times frenetic, almost modern, with quick and jarring edits.

While watching this film I was repeatedly struck by the equipment being used by the Soviet soldiers. Artillery that was obviously left over from World War One along with Cavalry on horseback (with swords!) stand in stark relief with the equipment being used by all sides only a few short years later.

Moving, well shot and definitely deserving of the Oscar it received, "Moscow Strikes Back" should be on the "must watch" list of anyone interested in what the Soviets called "The Great Patriotic War".

WWII was very weird for the USA. Up until the war, the US government was antagonistic towards the new Soviet Union. In fact, while folks today don't know about it (since most folks are woefully ignorant of history), the Americans (and several other nations) occupied parts of the USSR during the Russian Revolution. After WWI ended, a multinational force came to ostensibly protect their citizens--but in essence, they came to help (unsuccessfully) the Czarist forces to fight the Communists. However, after decades of antagonism or ambivalence, the US found themselves in a strange position--of being allies with the dreaded Ruskies! While this was not at all consistent with US policy both before and after WWII, the government tried very hard in the early 40s to convince the Americans that we LOVED the Soviets and always did! It was simple pragmatism--the enemy of our enemy (the Nazis) was our new friend. Propaganda efforts to put forth this new view of the Soviets was understandable, BUT "Moscow Strikes Back" is, like many pro-Soviet American films utterly ridiculous--even if it DID win an Oscar.

The film originally was a Russian propaganda film. However, the film was given new narration (by Edward G. Robinson) and it drips with glowing praise for the Soviet people and especially good 'ol Uncle Joe Stalin (even if he was responsible for the murder of millions, he was now a regular fellow in this film). And, the film even tries to convince the audience that the Soviets were 'lovers of liberty' and referred to them as 'free people'! Most sane folks today would beg to differ! Stalin was a nut--and ranked just below Hitler on the old evil scale! Because the narration is so unabashedly servile and transparent, I truly hated the film. It's a shame and my bet is the original Soviet version is a lot better (where you'd expect glowing talk of Comrade Stalin). It's also a shame because all the footage was excellent and did a wonderful job of portraying the battle for Moscow as well as documenting German atrocities. But, because the film is so dishonest, I cannot recommend it to anyone unless they understand history and can filter out what is true and what is pure drivel.

By the way, if you DO watch this film, also try watching "The North Star"--a fictional film that portrays Russian folks fighting the Hun. It's actually unintentionally funny and full of silly clichés.