World War II Collection: Battlefront Europe

"WWII Collection: European Battlefront"- includes five WWII Classic films: "Battle Of The Bulge;" "Battleground;" "The Big Red One - Special Edition;" "The Dir...ty Dozen" and "Where Eagles Dare." "Battle Of The Bulge" - The Last Desperate Fight That Changed The Course Of History. Five months after D-Day, most American soldiers think the German army is broken. The Germans think otherwise. In an attempt to buy time to fill the skies with their invincible new jets, they launch one fast furious offensive: "The Battle Of The Bulge." "Battleground" - The Double Academy Award Winner Saluting "The Battered Bastards Of Bastogne!" December 1944. A civilian victim of the Battle Of Bastogne scrounges through garbage to find a scrap of food. "I don't even see those things," a war-numbed GI says. "I want to remember them! his buddy snaps. Bastogne veteran Robert Pirosh remembers his Oscar winning screenplay for "Battleground," a gripping tale of 101st Airborne troops resisting Hitler's fierce, final counteroffensive. Rugged and unsparing, "Battleground" was nominated for six Academy Awards including Best Picture-makes sure we all remember. "The Big Red One" - "The real glory of war," Samuel Fuller said, "is surviving." A decorated combatant with the famed U.S. First Infantry in WWII, Fuller survived. His 1980 film version of his war experiences did not until now. Working with 70,000 feet of vault materials and Fuller's shooting script, critic/filmmaker Richard Schickel heads a reconstruction that adds over 40 minutes and transforms a truncated but admired war film into an epic masterwork. Lee Marvin, in a richly layered performance now revealed as one of his finest, stars as the sergeant of peach-fuzzed riflemen fighting from North Africa to Normandy and across Europe. The film is the squad's combat diary, war as it's fought and sweated and bled, and, maybe, survived. "The Dirty Dozen" - They are convicts, psychos, lunkheads, losers - and champs at the box office and in movie lore. Decades after it burst onto the scene, "The Dirty Dozen" remains a milestone among ensemble action flicks. Lee Marvin portrays a tough-as-nails major volunteered in the Army way to command a squad of misfits on a suicide mission against Nazi brass. Charles Bronson, Jim Brown, John Cassavetes, Trini Lopez, Telly Savalas, Donald Sutherland and Clint Walker are among the 12 jailbirds who will earn their freedom if they survive. And Robert Aldrich ("The Longest Yard") directs, blending anti-authority gibes with explosive excitement. "The Dirty Dozen" was nominated for four Academy Awards. "Where Eagles Dare" - The mission is clear. Get in. Get the general. Get out. Commandos charged with freeing a U.S. general from an Alpine fortress should also be told to trust nothing - including the search-and-rescue orders just issued. Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood go "Where Eagles Dare" in this twisty World War II thriller written by action master Alistair MacLean ("The Guns Of Navarone", "Ice Station Zebra") and directed by Brian G. Hutton ("Kelly's Heroes"). Known for fiery dramatic roles, Burton ventures into the realm of movie pyrotechnics with dynamic efficiency. And Eastwood's cool-fire presence heightens one searing action sequence after another. The film became Eastwood's then-largest hit and its studio's #1 moneymaker of the year.Detailed info »« Brief info