Chetniks! (1943)

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

A Masterpiece!

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

People still think this propaganda is historically accurate? Chentics were war criminals who committed many massacres of Croatian and Muslim civilians. They collaborated with Germans, Italians, Serbian nazi puppet government and even Croatian nazi puppet government! Their goal was to restore royal Yugoslavia and ethnically clean greater Serbia in it. I can't believe people still believe Serbian propaganda. This movie was made by Americans who belived lies of exiled Serb king of first Yugoslavia. Later when they met Tito they changed their mind. And I can't believe this is not mentioned in trivia! There is many evidence of their collaboration with axis forces (of course they were just using enemy for their own goal - greter Serbia)

Chetniks :The Fighting Guerrillas : 1943This Twentieth Century Fox production from 1943 is the story of Serbian Colonel, Draja Mihailovitch. Mihailovitch was an officer in the Royal Yugoslav Army. He refused to surrender after the country was gobbled up by the German attack in the spring of 1941. He retreated to the Serbian hills and started a guerrilla campaign against the occupying German and Italian forces. The film shows Mihailovitch as an inspiring leader who masterfully beats the Germans, in between stopping here and there to give patriotic speeches. The lead is played by Philip Dorn with support by Anna Sten, as his wife, while Sheppard Strudwick, Frank Lackteen and LeRoy Mason are his trusty lieutenants. The Germans are played by Felix Basch and the always entertaining, Martin Kosleck. The film follows Dorn as he plays a dangerous game of cat and mouse with the Germans, always staying one foot ahead of them. That is till the Axis manage to get their paws on his wife, Sten and his two young children, Patricia Prest and Merrill Rodin. Gestapo type, Kosleck of course takes great delight in taunting Dorn with this bit of info.Kosleck tells Dorn he intends to slaughter every man, woman and child in a town if Dorn does not turn himself in. This of course includes killing Dorn's flesh and blood. Dorn agrees to the exchange but of course has other plans. He fools the Germans into believing that his forces have scattered to the hills. The German quickly set off in pursuit, intending to wipe them out. Needless to say it is really a trap by the partisans to do in the Germans. At the same time, Dorn has led another group to the town in order to save the townsfolk. The guerrillas overrun the Germans, free the people and put paid to the Gestapo swine, Kosleck. This one has its moments, with several well mounted battle scenes, but as a whole, there is a tad too much flag waving. The acting is OK, though Dorn is a bit more stoic than he needed to be. Kosleck of course steals the show as the evil Nazi. Look close and you will catch future HOGAN'S HEROES, star, John Banner, in a brief uncredited bit as a Gestapo man. Pretty Virginia Gilmore has a decent role here as a spy for the Chetniks. The soon to be Mrs. Yul Brynner would soon be relegated to secondary roles and early television productions.The film did decent box office when released in 1943. It was yanked out of circulation fairly quickly in 1946. Mihailovitch had been arrested, tried and executed for war crimes by Marshal Tito's Communist regime. It seems that the Chetniks had been up to a bit of ethnic cleansing against the local Croats and Muslims. Tito was also not amused that the Chetniks had clashed with the Communist groups during the war. Mihailovitch's men did help numerous downed Allied airmen escape back to the west. But even the British had yanked their help from the group by the end of 1944. Some claim he was framed, but most historians seem to think he was not quite the knight in shining armor this film suggests. The film was helmed by b-unit man, Louis King. King's best films are likely, POWDER RIVER, TYPHOON and THUNDERHEAD- SON OF FLICKA. He also directed several BULLDOG DRUMMOND films and a CHARLIE CHAN flick. The look of the film is quite good, with one time Oscar nominated, Glen MacWilliams handling the cinematography duties. MacWilliams received his Oscar nod for lensing Hitchcock's LIFEBOAT the following year.

This is a story about a man, who ran the first resistance in Europe. A man that later on will be deserted by all of his allies because he had put national interest before any other. True Serbian hero, fighting and dying for his country and democratic cause. Yes, he was fighting against Communists, Nazis and Ustashe (croatians who performed the most monstrous genocide against Serbians). He did fought together with Italians in Dalmatia to protect Serbian population, but never on the same side with Germans. There were some divisions of Chetniks that did fight along with Germans but they were not under his command (Kosta Pecanac). During the II WW, he received a medal from president Truman for his "fight for democratic cause and freedom". After the war, because of the political games run by Soviets and English, his movement lost the support from the allies and he was left alone to fight against the enemies. His movement saved from certain death so many American airmen, and they wanted to save him, realizing that he would get murdered but he refused saying :"This is my country, i would die in my country". Anyway, president of the USA and survived American pilots did not forget him building a monument in his honor after the war.

I saw the movie just before going into service, little dreaming that I would see Gen. Draja Mihailovich in person. It is an excellent movie, well acted. I volunteered with the OSS (Office of Strategic Services) and parachuted into Mihailovich territory to rescue airmen shot down bombing the oilfields of Ploesti. The mission was called Operation Halyard and is depicted in the book, The Forgotten 500. The movie is an excellent depiction of the Serbs resistance to the German invasion. It has been a long time since I saw the movie and I have forgotten much of it, but, if you like adventure and romance, it has both. Today, there is much controversy surrounding Mihailoich, and this is an excellent source to get one viewpoint.