The Last Blitzkrieg

This story of a German commando team operating behind American lines during the Battle of the Bulge has a fair amount of potential, but it never quite comes together, partially due to some less-than-stellar performances (Larry Storch, I'm looking in your direction) and a silly Hollywood ending.

Those with a keen interest in WWII and overall movie history can appreciate this effort. Although there are the "never would happen" situations, such as the officer's rank insignia's on their battlefield helmets being displayed in a nice bright white, the main storyline of German infiltrators into American lines is based in historical fact.

Something that the movie touches on is the fact that many Americans who fought in the war were of German decent and did so while having many relatives who still lived in Germany. It is my guess that this was mentioned in the film due to the fact that the director, Arthur Dreifuss, was born in Germany and moved to the U.S. before the war in 1928. First he worked in the entertainment industry as a dance instructor and then, beginning in 1939, in Hollywood where he made numerous B-level films including the "Boston Blackie" series.

Entertainment historians will appreciate seeing Dick York, who played the original Darren Stevens in the "Bewitched" television series, and Larry Storch, who played Corporal Agarne in the T.V. series "F Troop", in fairly prominent roles playing foot soldiers. Storch's southern accent is especially amusing and those familiar with Storch's Agarne character in F-Troop will see a tinge of it when, upon learning of the prospect of German infiltrators, he exclaims "Don't talk that way - it's disheartening!".

Perfect for a rainy weekend afternoon.

THE LAST BLITZKRIEG works as it offers something a little different from the usual American WW2 film in terms of plot. The main characters in the movie are actually Nazi soldiers who are disguised as American troops and sent on an intelligence-gathering mission during the Battle of the Bulge. Therefore the characters we have to identify with are actually antiheroes and even the bad guys while the heroes are the enemy.

The film was shot on a low budget in the Netherlands by producer Sam Katzman so it has more authenticity to it than most. Van Johnson is the lead actor and does well with a complex role; that he comes off kindly and likable despite everything is a testament to his acting prowess. Kerwin Mathews is also here too and playing a slimy villain; in every other film I've seen him playing heroic characters so it made a nice change of pace for the actor.

This film has a short running time which flies past without ever flagging and there's plenty of suspense inherent in the set-up. Some have criticised the climax as being unrealistic but I found it quite fitting even if it is morally heavy-handed. War fans looking for something a little out of the ordinary are sure to enjoy the plot twists and turns of THE LAST BLITZKRIEG.

Hard to understand how Van Johnson got railroaded into this B-movie trash, except he was on the downhill grade by then and his agent had bills to pay.

As it happens he was involved with Clover Productions again.

Clover's enviable slate of schlock - some now total classics:

It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955) The Giant Claw (1957) Zombies of Mora Tau (1957) Don't Knock the Rock (1956) The Houston Story (1956) Rock Around the Clock (1956) New Orleans Uncensored (1955) The Enemy General (1960) The Werewolf (1956) Creature with the Atom Brain (1955)

Director Arthur Dreifuss, German by birth had an enviable B-movie list behind him, and certainly the background touched home with him. But obvious budget restrictions lead to basically intolerable errors: German officers with British Sten guns. Or German troops using Browning machineguns. Plus Arthur isn't a natural adept of the 'action genre'.

If they had a combat 'technical advisor' he was drunk on the job. NOBODY would last 10 seconds with this kind of 'action'.

On the other hand there would still be a large number of combat veterans from WW2 & Korea in 60's audiences, so anything more 'realistic' and brutal might cause traumatic memories to return they preferred to try to forget. (But if so, why go to a war movie???)

There's a message but like most of the swathe of 'Battle of The Bulge' outings from the 50's and later like the pitiful 'Ardennes Fury' (2014) why waste time even looking for them?

Skip it – This B-quality WWII movie stars Van Johnson as a German soldier recruited to spy on the Americans because of his fluent English. He begins the movie by infiltrating a POW camp and foiling an escape attempt. He is then dropped behind enemy lines during the Battle of the Bulge to disrupt the Allies and prepare the way for the German advance. The message of this film seemed to be that there were millions of Germans who were good and decent people who didn't want war either. Which is true, but this movie is mediocre at best. The acting is horrible and there is no combat until the last 30 minutes. And the ending is just plain unreasonable.