Kesselschlacht (1949)

Kesselschlacht: Directed by William A. Wellman. With Van Johnson, John Hodiak, Ricardo Montalban, George Murphy. True tale about a squad of the 101st Airborne Division coping with being trapped by the Germans in the besieged city of Bastogne, Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge in December of 1944.

“Before u0026quot;Band of Brothersu0026quot; came out, I considered this the best, most accurate depiction of an infantry unit in action ever, and I still think it has an edge over u0026quot;Saving Private Ryanu0026quot; and u0026quot;Pattonu0026quot; as the greatest World War II movie(not mini-series) yet made.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe entire cast is not only fun to watch, but very believable in their individual roles, and as a veteran, I can attest to the fact that the swings between humor and deep thoughts in their conversations are dead on accurate. Anybody whou0026#39;s ever served in an infantry unit will tell you that for all the bickering back and forth, members of a squad, platoon, or company will always look out for each other. u0026quot;Battlegroundu0026quot; captures this perfectly.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOne of the saddest things for me about this movie is how few people know of it. Except for the occasional airing on AMC or TCM, it rarely shows up on TV and thatu0026#39;s a shame. Itu0026#39;s well worth the time and effort to find this one.”