La dernière chance

This film tells the story of a troupe of escaped prisoners and persecuted minorities on the run in Italy during WW2 trying to make it to freedom in Switzerland. The location setting stands this film apart as well as the fact that we never see a German Nazi's face. They are only seen from a distance or passing by outside. We do get betrayal within a group of villagers, a priest who shelters refugees, and an escape plan that has to constantly change. Ultimately, the film is predictable and some characters can be annoying. Something else to consider is that the 3 main characters were all real-life soldiers who had ended up in Switzerland. Two of them were prisoners of war who had escaped from Italy and 1 had to make an emergency landing after a bombing mission and was detained there. It is this fact that swung the balance in favour of keeping onto this film to view again as we get a slice of reality. Unfortunately, the sound quality is poor.

It's always interesting to learn something new about WW2 and I never knew the role of the Italian Resistance on their home turf. So, I appreciate the topic.

This is a wonderful movie. The copy I saw was not good, but that did not detract from the emotional and realistic story. It provides, as much as anything can, what seems to be a legitimate sense of the desperation that these refugees must have felt as they were driven from their homes by the war around them. Exceptional story in a raw but effective production.

"The Last Chance" is a production by the European branch of MGM and has a most unusual cast. None of the actors are particularly famous and they speak many different languages.

The film is set in Italy just after the ouster of Mussolini. The country is excited to see the Fascist regime go...and for two stranded soldiers, an American and British one, who are thrilled that they can finally relax and not worry about being captured. However, their joy is very short-lived, as the Germans soon pour into the country and they take control. Now the two men need to be on their guards again. Along the way, they meet many lovely Italians who assist them as well as many other refugees seeking freedom in nearby Switzerland. What's to become of all these displaced people?

The movie came out about six months after the war in Europe had ended and it brings attention to refugees...who were seldom talked about in movies of the day. Well written, compelling and worth seeing.

I think that pretty sums up this film.

The other reviews say it very well. And to them, I say "ditto" to those reviews that praise this film. But you want something more specific, don't you? Fair enough.

It's a story of refuges trying to get away from the Nazis, and we begin with a British and American soldier for much of the film, as they make their way into a village. Later, they are joined by a British officer and civilian refuges.

Along with the other characters, we are treated to some very believable people, as three dimensional as you get, and the directing and camera work lets us follow the story, as well as the people and their emotions, in this odyssey.

There are heroics, but these are incredibly believable heroics, and we get the full "motivation" for everything that happens. The camaraderie of the times is beautiful, and is something missing in today's movies.

This is a "smart" movie. Not only do we get awesome intellectually stimulating ideas, drama, and story, but we also get awesome camera, directing, and action. This is well paced, certainly more fluid and active than 95% of the movies that have been made since 1965, if I am to pick a year in which a modern era begins.

Thumbs up. If you get a chance, this is a movie that will excite you on all levels, for all audiences.

In the chaos surrounding the Italian campaign, an American flier and a British officer meet after having escaped internment. They make their way north towards Switzerland. They are aided by ordinary people. When news comes that Mussolini has escaped the partisans, a local Fascist rats them out to the Germans and they have to make a run for it over the wintry mountains, leading a desperate band of refugees.

This Swiss movie was directed and co-written by Leopold Lindtberg. He knew something about being a refugee. He began his career in the theater and the movies in his native Vienna, but in the early 1940s, his Jewish religion forced him to flee to Switzerland. By chance he was able to cast this movie well: two of the "escaped British officers" were precisely that, and professional actors to boot; the American was a flier whose plane came down in Switzerland, and was being held there until matters could be sorted out.

Although there are dramatic, theatrical moments, the setting in the mountains and towns of Switzerland, and the casting of locals lends a humanist air to the movie that made me think of Pressberger & Powell's movies of the period. the camerawork is extraordinary; instead of using rapid cutting to create excitement, cinematographer Emil Berna uses a moving camera, with fast, long movements to produce a sense of panic.

Although this sort of movie was almost a commonplace of the era, it's ANABASIS-like plot of trying to escape -- only this time, it's to Switzerland, instead of the sea -- and its fortuitous casting makes it extraordinary.