Commando de la mort

One of the best war movies ever made, directed by Lewis Milestone (All Quiet on the Western Front), this movie is distinguished by its depiction of war from the soldier's individual point of view. Unlike most war movies, this is infantry combat as seen through the eyes of several members of a platoon as it walks through the Italian countryside in 1943 on its way to seize a German observation post. In all the action sequences, you never see anything that the individual soldier (German, Italian or American) depicted on the screen doesn't see. You only see what is happening around him as he sees it. I've seen them all, and no other director ever approached war filming this way. And I can tell you personally that this is the way it was in combat. The only errors in the entire movie involved grenades: you don't blow bridges with them and you don't pull their pins with your teeth--that's the best way I know of pulling out a tooth w/o a dentist's helping hand. A landmark movie made during the war and only released after the war ended in 1945 because of the final scenes. Matched only by William Wellman's "A Story of GI Joe," this is the best film on infantry combat produced from World War II. Yes, yes, I've seen "Saving Private Ryan." Except for the shock of the first 20 minutes, it's Steven Spielberg's three-star remembrance of his boyhood comic book war stories.

This is one of the great war films ever made. Yet there are few combat scenes, and no mock heroics. What makes this movie successful is its depiction of war from the viewpoint of the men in the platoon. The film takes place primarily during the course of a walk from the beach at Salerno, Italy where the platoon has landed to a farmhouse they are to capture 6 miles away.

Although Dana Andrews is listed as the nominal star of the film, the scenes are divided up equally among several men each with their own take on the mission and ultimately the war.

Other than Andrews(approaching the peak of his career as Sgt Tyne)the rest of the cast were young up and comers, many who went on to great acting careers. They included Richard Conte, Lloyd Bridges(his first important role), John Ireland, George Tyne, Huntz Hall(on hiatus from the East Side Kids films and very effective) and Norman Lloyd(bitterly brilliant as Archambeau). There is an understated narration by Burgess Meredith and a folk ballad score sung by Earl Robinson. They all perfectly fit in to the picture

The key player in all of this is director Lewis Milestone. A veteran of films since the twenties, his credits included "All Quiet On The Western Front", "The Front Page", and "Of Mice and Men". In "A Walk In The Sun" a Milestone independent production he incorporated the successful elements of the other three and the result is one of the greatest of it's genre. It is a movie not to be missed.

I just like the movie. The first time I saw it was in 1948 and I did not see it again until a few years ago when AMC and the History channel started to show it again. I watch it every chance I get. The cast is excellent with many of the actors becoming more popular in later years. This movie offers excellent insight into what makes people tick. The platoon making its way inland during the invasion of Italy offers insight into what a farmer, school teacher, etc. considers important in life. One scene which I believe describes the futility of war is where the farmer determines that the soil is worthless. The cerebral fellow (John Ireland) states simply that it is because too many soilders have walked over it for too many years (centuries).

I especially like how John Ireland "writes letters" in his head and hopes to write them on paper later. I also like the part where Lloyd Bridges starts laughing because he suddenly feels like a little kid when planting explosives on a bridge. The confident Sergeant ( Dana Andrews) shows fear when about to give the command to launch the attack on the farmhouse.

The fast talking dialogue between Richard Conte and his buddy remind me of people we have met. This is an excellent movie. I believe that most people would appreciate this movie, whether or not they watch war movies. This movie offers a lot of insight into human nature.

The movie is practically void of blood and gore and leaves it to the imagination of the viewer, such as when the Lieutenant is seriously wounded while on board the landing craft, with half of his face missing. You can imagine it and don't have to see it.

I really enjoyed the book "A Walk in the Sun", finding it printed in its entirety in "The Giant Book of WWII Stories". It is a classic story and an equally classic movie. The movie sticks quite closely to the book with only a few changes. Some of the dialogue is lifted straight from the pages of the novella. It is the story of a platoon in WWII trying to capture a farmhouse. The characters are all strong and what they talk about while in the middle of a war is what grips you. I highly recommend both the book and the film.

This movie is beyond criticism. Within its celluloid record there clambers cold history. The tanks are real. The planes are real. The people are real. This was a contemporary war movie to the actual war, without the layers of myth laquered by years of failing memory.

Unlike recent high budget over-the-top productions and the copious blood spattering within, this little epic tends to mute the violence into the pathos of the moment of death. That being the death of heroes. And the emphasis appears to hinge on the suddenness, the randomness, and the tragedy of men dying hard. It is a stark memorial to the courage and sacrifice of the World War II soldier.

Amazingly, and very much in contrast to most other war films of the period which demonized the enemy, this film provides a neutral texture to the foe. Here the German soldiers are but shadows on the cave wall. The stray Italian soldiers appear as comic sidekicks in the maelstrom of a nation at peril from two sides. The enemy appears to escape the moral condemnation that other films embraced. This is war and this is what it is by those who fought it.

The film describes the landings of an infantry platoon on the Salerno beaches in Italy. All of a sudden they are left leaderless as two of the senior officers meets a soldier's fate. The beach scene remains a descriptive detail of what a soldiers paradox in modern warfare was. They bring the war but they do not know where it is, where they are, whether the war will visit them, or what lies in front of them. Without the need for special effects the director garnishes the film with the fog of war skillfully.

A startling moment is when the third ranking leader, a noncom sargeant succumbs to panic and shell shock. It is perhaps the kindest treatment of the condition ever presented cinematically during that period. The rest of the platoon appears to be supportive to the fallen insane sargeant. But the war goes on. They move on.

Rallied by a solid sargeant the platoon moves onto its objectives, a bridge and a farmhouse at a cost. The objectives are difficult and the angst of leadership and follower play the scene well. And unlike most war movies where heroism goes beyond definition, these heroes are all very much afraid.

The film has a solid core of young actors of the period. Dana Andrews, a very young Lloyd Bridges appear to anchor the cast. The black and white format suits this tiny epic. The cinematography, stunts are solid and consistently well done. It is a darkish film very much worth seeing.