From Hell to Victory (1979)

Fresh and Exciting

Absolutely the worst movie.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

The plot of "From Hell to Victory" had real possibilities. But the plot is the only good thing about this film. For such a large ensemble of known actors of the day, the performances are poor. George Peppard is the weakest as Brett Roson. Sam Wanamaker is the best as Ray MacDonald, but just fair. George Hamilton tries to be French as Maurice Bernard, and isn't too bad. Horst Buchohlz is almost speechless as Jürgen Dietrich. Anny Duperey and Capucine are so-so. Peppard's lackadaisical manner – a part of his usual persona, just doesn't cut it here for a soldier in combat. The screenplay is poor. It lacks life and any semblance of order. It's full of holes and choppy. That reflects also on the direction and film editing. Even the parts of actual footage or combat action from other films spliced in don't seem to work well. It was a good idea for a movie, but just needed a screenplay with some substance, some actors who could give it life, and good direction. This one isn't even good enough to keep in a war film collection.

It's 24th August 1939 and Europe is on the brink of war. However six individuals of differing nationalities-two French, two American, one Brit and a German-enjoy each other's company as they indulge in the finer of life's qualities. They promise to reunite in Paris on the 24th of August every year, although with the outbreak of war this becomes impossible. After the fall of France, each individual goes off to do their duty. It is now inevitable that cruel destiny decides each of their fates, a circumstance which changes each of their lives forever.Eurocrime and Giallo aficionado Umberto Lenzi brings us a chunk of spasmodic Macaroni Combat. Like most of it's kind, From Hell To Victory is a real hatchet job. It was made in 1979 and by this point even the Spaghetti western was dead and gone, thus it marks the end of an era in Italian cinema. Overall, a quarter of this movie is constructed with footage pinched from another Macaroni combat flick(Eagles Over London anybody?)and whilst the editing is swift the film jumps incoherently from one scenario to another. Lenzi attempts to condense so much detail into an abrupt 1hr 40mins, although personally I prefer a movie that is short and to the point. However, crucial operations such as the Normandy landings and the battle of the Bulge are carelessly brushed aside in favour of melodramatically dire lamentation. At the end of the film, George Hamilton's character sarcastically states "you're away for a few days and look at the mess of the place", although it's ironic in that the movie literally feels as if it takes place over a few short days as opposed to a few years.I did like the premise but to be honest I really just watched this film for the action, therefore I didn't feel any overwhelming emotional rapport with the characters which I think was down to the poor script. The performances were pretty ordinary. A pre A Team George Peppard gets some action hero practice by gunning down a few Germans and if I was Horst Bucholz I would be more than happy to ride in the opening hatch of an advancing tank. Speaking of action scenes, From Hell To Victory contains some darned fantastic ones. I was thrilled by the riotous firefights(now I know where Tarantino gets his inspiration)and the movie climaxes with a cracker of a battle scene!. Lenzi really threw his entire weight behind the visuals which turns this sequence into the movie's trump card. Tight cuts and frenzied camera-work build suspense as gargantuan explosions scar the battlefield and machine gun fire tears through the air. The hoards of M-41 Walker Bulldog tanks grinding across the landscape were also really cool, even if they were horribly anachronistic. The region 2 DVD transfer is average at best, with faded picture and screechy audio.From Hell To Victory is an uneven war drama which goes from being boring to exciting and vice versa, but the action sequences seal it's fate as a thoroughly enjoyable movie. 8/10

Not that George Peppard and George Hamilton were any kind of buddy duo in the way Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas were, but they did do two well received films together, The Victors and Home from the Hill. But for a reunion film it would have been nice if they had gotten something better than this.In fact this is a reunion film of a bunch of players who seem to hit the heights of their careers around the beginning of the Kennedy years. Peppard, Hamilton, Capucine. Horst Bucholtz all were at their respective peaks around 1961. None of them ever really reached any kind of screen immortality and with only Hamilton left among them were not likely to see another reunion film.Thankfully not another one like Contro 4 Bandiere. It's a cobbled together film of action sequences from other products and newsreels. The plot has six friends of varying background in Paris having good times a week before the start of World War II. They pledge to see each other at that Paris cafe every year, but war does intervene and they're all not on the same side.Some make it, some don't and if you're interested to see who shows up then watch Contro 4 Bandiere.

Infamous hack Umberto Lenzi returns to the war genre, this time to remake his own 1977 epic "The Greatest Battle". Both films are rather uneven, muddled attempts to capitalize on the success of Hollywood's huge 1976 money-maker, "Midway".Although "From Hell to Victory" is definitely the stronger of Lenzi's two back-to-back epics, the storyline is completely convoluted and a complete rip-off of the previous film. In August, 1939, six friends meet in Paris and vow to reunite every year at a café no matter what the circumstances. Needless to say, WWII changes that plan. Brett (George Peppard) returns to the United States and becomes an OSS officer; Maurice (George Hamilton) finds himself on the beach at Dunkirk; Jurgen (Horst Buchholz) joins the German army and becomes disillusioned by Nazism; Fabienne (Anne Duperey) joins the French resistance. Rick (Jean-Pierre Cassel) joins the RAF, and Ray (Sam Wanamaker) becomes a war correspondent. Their paths will cross throughout the film, concluding with a bittersweet reunion in France during the summer of 1944.Okay, that said, let's analyze this "story" a little bit. Lenzi presents us with thumbnail sketches of his characters, and then jumps right into the action. Throughout, there is little to no character development; we simply follow several people through the war. This mess should not be as entertaining as it is. And, at first glance this looks like a very original piece of work, but fans of the director will realize that it's just a complete hack job: for one thing, Lenzi's characters are straight out of "The Greatest Battle": Peppard mirrors Henry Fonda, in fact, even Ray Lovelock shows up here to play his pretty-boy son who turns into a hero (again); Hamilton is a takeoff of Giuliano Gemma, and even accompanies Lovelock on a mission to France (as Gemma did to North Africa in the previous film). Buchholz and Duperey fall in love, despite the fact that they are on opposite sides, a la Stacy Keach and Samantha Eggar… the list simply goes on. A series of climaxes are taken straight out of "The Greatest Battle" as well: main characters kill one another from a distance without realizing they're killed a friend; the attack on a German bunker looks awfully familiar – this is the third time Lenzi has shot the same type of shoot-'em-up sequence! Secondly, Lenzi also stages much of the action around stock footage from other, better films. A good deal of the expensive-looking tank battles is lifted from the 1967 epic "The Dirty Heroes", and almost all of the aerial battle photography is taken right out Enzo Castellari's "Eagles over London". The Dunkirk evacuation, in particular, is a total sham. What's amazing is how well this stock footage is edited with the original sequences – I first saw "From Hell to Victory" a few years before "The Dirty Heroes" and "Eagles over London" and was awed by the scope; it wasn't until I saw these films that I realized how much of Lenzi's "work" was just cut from other movies. The only strong action sequence that stands out is a shootout atop the Eiffel Tower, which has got to be one of the most suspenseful, best-edited scenes ever shot. It compares to the most memorable moments in "The Last Hunter" and "The Dirty Dozen" – it's just that good.For all of the lack of originality, this piece still manages to be fairly entertaining. The cast are all confident and able; it's finally nice to see Peppard in a role where he doesn't have to constantly chew the scenery (he's only a decent actor, not a dramatic genius); he simply is laid back and completely at ease with his surroundings. The ensemble cast does a pretty fair job as well: Ray Lovelock seems a lot more serious about his role than he did in "The Greatest Battle" and George Hamilton seems to be having plenty of fun as a French commando. Buchholz's performance is a little hard to swallow at times, and his character transition from pacifist to die-hard Nazi is not very rational because it is barely developed. Even so, he tries hard and makes his material fairly believable, even if he is still just delivering dialogue rather than really acting.Despite its many flaws, "From Hell to Victory" has become a widely circulated World War II film through the blessings of rental stores, flea markets and eBay. There's nothing to indicate to American audiences that it is a spaghetti war flick: the principles are familiar American and European actors, and the film plays a lot like a Hollywood drama. Lenzi's direction is somewhat restrained in comparison to his earlier efforts, almost as if he is trying to disguise his work. The credits list the crew and director under pseudonyms, rounding out its "Americanism". It's not a great film in any way, but it's packed with action and engaging situations. Don't go digging for this one, but if you see a dusty video copy, it's worth checking out.