4 dans une jeep

Set just after WWII in Viena, in the 4 different districts, French, English, American and Russian. The viewer follows a jeep with one military of each country. They help a woman who searches her husband, played in too much melodramatic way for myself (played by Swedish Viveca Lindford). The main interest for me is the casting of Ralph Meeker as the American (in his first movie and yet a solid presence) and Dinan as the dynamic french military (and Paulette Dubost as his even more dynamic wife, her numéro with policemen searching is funny). The Swiss director Leopold Lindtberg does competent work, he has directed a few other movies on WWII. The sequence of the return of prisonners of war is interesting.

(1951) Four In A Jeep ESPIONAGE WAR DRAMA THRILLER

A part of history based on fact with a fictitious set up, that after WWII 4 different power consulates would send one official to Vienna to monitor tensions arising in Vienna- one American, Sgt. William Long (Ralph Meeker); one Englishman, Sgt. Harry Stuart (Michael Medwin); one French, Sgt. Marcel Pasture (Albert Dinan), and one Russian, Sgt. Vassilij Voroshenko (Yoseph Yodin). And they would ride together side by side, driving them around the city, until one of the officials who was an American, intervenes with the Russian dignitaries case regarding an escaped prisoner, cross examining her Franziska (Viveca Lindfors) about a Russian POW is when things get pretty heated.

The history part is more fascinating than the commotion, escalated by the American dignitary who felt that it's everybody he was riding with, should've been allowed to say something as well! Liked the realistic aftermath wreckage from WWII but didn't care too much about the budget constraints and at times shows.

... But this is NOT "Four Jills In A Jeep". That was a musical comedy and this one is a post-WWII melodrama set in Vienna in the years just after the war. Like Berlin, Vienna was divided into fourths; American, French, Russian and British. The picture captures the tension between the four powers as well as the desperation of the Viennese, trying to get on with their lives and serve four masters at the same time.

There are some heartbreaking scenes at the train station as relatives wait for their returning sons and husbands, recently released POWs - some are waiting in vain but don't know it until the train arrives. There are also stark scenes of wrecked and ruined buildings that were bombed during the war, but are nevertheless occupied by hard-up tenants.

In the midst of this destruction Viveca Lindfors waits for her husband, uncertain whether he will be released. American MP Ralph Meeker takes an interest in her predicament, but mostly in her. Meeker is the nominal star but the acting honors go to Ms. Lindfors, who acts circles around Meeker, who was in only his second picture. All other actors are very competent but are no-names.

This is an excellent movie and holds interest throughout. Like "Decision Before Dawn" which came out the same year, there is an aura of realism about it which war pictures made during the war did not duplicate, and gives it a little more bite. My copy was poorly done, with uneven clarity and a sometimes garbled soundtrack. The website says it is coming out on DVD in Oct.'10. It is worth whatever it costs as it is a cut above many pictures, war or otherwise.

This movie is not exactly a household name. In fact, this movie may be one of the best kept secrets in the pantheon of movies. Has anyone ever heard of this movie besides me? I guess not. So I'm doing this critique for an audience of one - me. Oh well, might as well proceed. This movie is about four soldiers, one American, One Russian, One British and One French, patrolling in post-war Vienna, Austria, in the period immediately after the end of World War Two and how they interact with each other, and with a certain woman who wants to leave the Russian zone. The American is played by the excellent, and regrettably forgotten actor Ralph Meeker, which gets to the point of this essay. Ralph Meeker was a great actor and he proves it in this movie. Mr. Meeker is one of those stars who shown brightly for a little while and then for reasons unknown his stardom burnt out. This is an obscure movie, and perhaps does not deserve any more attention that it has received thus far, but if that's the case, it's not because of Ralph Meeker, whose performance in this movie deserves at least some consideration, even if the movie itself deserves none.

In 1941, the Jeep company was formally established, and it initially produced cars with military-specific features. The era of SUVs began with the mass production of the first four door vehicle, the Jeep.

Because the government chose a vehicle based on the style of the Bantam Car Company, this Jeep was given the name Willys. Due to a lack of manufacturing capacity on Bantam's part and a need for suppliers on the part of the military, this variant of Jeep was built by Willys in the late 1940s.

Jeeps are incredibly robust and long-lasting automobiles. They are capable of navigating both paved highways and the roughest off-road terrain. Jeeps are very easy to maintain; they don't require a ton of time or effort to stay in tip-top shape.

On Armistice Day (also known as Veteran's Day), Willys-Overland gave the prototype "Quad"-named for the 4x4 system it possessed-to the American Army. Incredibly, the design was finished in under 75 days.

The Army chose the larger Humvee in the late 1980s, which is when a Jeep vehicle served its final military duty.

As a Jeep Fan loved the depiction of the Military Jeeps.