Five Branded Women (1960)

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

Powerful

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Martin Ritt's only war movie is a strange hybrid which has the thumb prints all over it of producer Dino De Laurentiis - whose bright idea the inevitable communal nude bathing scene doubtless was, and saw to it that his wife Silvana Mangano gets most of the close ups - but comes a very poor second to the same year's 'La Ciociara'; also a gritty Italian war movie, which won Carlo Ponti's wife Sophia Loren the Oscar for best actress.While all given Yugoslav names, the five women of the title are plainly cast with the international box office in mind; although neither of the American contingent - Vera Miles & Barbara Bel Geddes - get sufficient screen time to make much of an impression. With the exception of Richard Basehart's Good German, the principal male characters all come across as creeps. Van Heflin's partisan leader is a sanctimonious bore, while Harry Guardino's overactive loins (SPOILER COMING) directly lead to Miles' death. (He plainly made no attempt to enlighten the court martial that it was entirely him who was responsible and it that it was he who left his post to get his paws on Miles; instead he just brags about all the Germans he's killed. The other partisans meanwhile are far too quick to stick her in front of the firing squad along with him.)The whole thing leaves a pretty bad taste in the mouth, and you certainly come away from it feeling soiled at the waste and squalor depicted, although not necessarily in the ways that the film's makers intended.

This film is one of the least known gems to come from producer Dino de Laurentiis. Five women in war-torn Yugoslavia have their heads shaved for having intimate relations with a German soldier. The five bond and eventually join the partisan group who punished them back in their village. The film documents their fight against the enemy of their homeland, and their internal feelings of remorse, love, and hate. The women all give stellar performances--Silvana Mangano, Barbara Bel Geddes, Vera Miles, Jeanne Moreau, and young Carla Gravina. Van Heflin and Harry Guardino also deliver fine performances, as the leader of the Yugoslav partisan group and the troublemaker of the partisans, respectively. But perhaps the most touching performance comes from Richard Basehart as the German Captain Erich Reinhardt. In the little screen time he has, Mr. Basehart delivers a gem, bringing poignantly to life a gentle widower, plucked from his comfortable life as a university professor to fight in the war. He is captured by the partisans, and bonds with the 5 Branded Women who have been accepted into their group. He had shown sympathy for the women in the beginning of the film after their disgrace was made public, and in captivity, he bonds with them, particularly Mira (Carla Gravina),(whose baby he delivers) and Ljuba (Jeanne Moreau),(who finds herself in danger of falling for him). It takes a special talent to make you care for a character who is supposed to be a "bad guy", and to do it in less than ten minutes of total screen time is an art form. Mr. Basehart was indeed an artist. This is just one touching instance of the emotional exploration of the characters in this movie. Each character comes to life. A very little known film, but a must see. The action and emotion is raw and realistic throughout.

This relatively unknown gathers a very impressive cast of both European and American actors and actresses. Silvia Mangano gives a fine performance as the leader of the titled women. These women are casted away from a little town in Yugoslavia 1943 because they have slept with a Nazi Sargent (except innocent Vera Miles who didn't go beyond kissing but anyway is accused as the others), not before they are humiliated by their own people by cropping their hair.The girls bound together and they wander around the country until they resolve to join the partisans despite their initial resilience. The women will form relationships with the partisans and a captured German Captain (R. Basehart).But it's wartime and this is no Hollywood movie: there are no happy endings or black and white feelings or situations. The movie is gritty and somehow cruel. The movie has its flaws, the pacing could be better and some characters feel underdeveloped, but all things considered, this is a very good movie. It's not released on DVD, but you can find it over the Internet. It's well worth the search.

Director Martin Ritt had reportedly disowned this sleeper. If true, that's perplexing because it's a well-made, exceptionally acted anti-war film. In WWII Yugoslavia, five women are accused by partisans of consorting with the enemy (in this case, callous Nazi stud Steve Forrest). Run out of town, the women trek through the countryside having one brutal encounter after another. Soon, they show their collective courage and rejoin their compadres. Silvana Mangano, Vera Miles, Jeanne Moreau, Barbara Bel Geddes and Carla Gravina are the women and while they're all fine, Mangano is the standout as the de-facto leader. Moreau is the lovelorn shop girl and Bel Geddes is a bitter widow. Miles finds herself in the most ironic spot...never having been with Forrest in the first place. Gravina, the youngest, is pregnant. Van Heflin is the lead partisan, first hell-bent on punishing the women, then, possibly, falling in love with the strong-willed Mangano. Richard Basehart is a captured German soldier and Harry Guardino is one of Heflin's hot headed cohorts. Ritt's direction is fine and the script is really unflinching. There are no happy endings. The cinematography is by the great Giuseppe Rotunno, who shot Visconti's ROCCO & HIS BROTHERS the same year.