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80 of 85 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Much better than the PC remake, April 28, 2005
This review is from: STALINGRAD - Dogs, do you want to live forever? (DVD)
What is interesting about "Stalingrad: Dogs, do you want to live forever?" (1958) is how much better it is than the color remake "Stalingrad" (1993) made by the producers of "Das Boot."
I saw the latter film first and was deeply disappointed by it. It is an excruciatingly long and depressing antiwar screed choked with post-war self hatred and guilt, and the last hour is almost unwatchable. The producers obviously had a political agenda and carried it out at the expense of such minor things as the historical truth or watchability. I'd rather watch "Born on the Fourth of July" a half-dozen times than sit through "Stalingrad" again.
"Dogs" is a superior film in almost every way, and I would recommend it over the remake despite the outrageous price of $45 bucks (maybe you can get it used). It tells the story of an officer named Wisse who has just recovered from a slight wound and has been assigned as the liason to a Rumanian division north of Stalingrad. Wisse is tough, able, honest, humane and cool-headed under fire, and quickly earns the respect of both his Rumanian allies and his German subordinates. Unfortunately, his timing is bad: it's November, the the Red Army has just launched the offensive which will trap the German Sixth Army inside Stalingrad.
"Dogs" alternates the story of Wisse's struggles with his men's morale, the Russian winter, the Red Army, and his cowardly and devious superior, Col. Linkmann, with scenes from Hitler's headquarters explaining the Fuhrer's "rationale" (if you can call a completely irrational decision by that name) for refusing permission for the Sixth Army to break out. It also details the attempt by von Manstein to relieve the city. The film relies a bit too much on newsreel footage to pad out its limited budget, and there is a rather obvious sub-plot involving a cute Russian female, but the battle scenes are very well executed and the acting is better (in my opinion) than some of the other reviewers here indicate.
Unlike the "antiofficer" films and books which became so popular after the war, "Dogs" puts Wisse in a heroic light as a man who leads by example and cannot be turned away from what he percieves as his duty, even when common sense tells him all is lost. It is this attitude that separates "Dogs" from "Stalingrad," where the moral and ethical collapse of the soldiers is complete (for a firsthand account that vindicates "Dogs'" version of events, read the unpublished memiors of Col. Dingler as reproduced in F.W. von Mellenthin's seminal "Panzer Battles" available on this site, q.v. my review of that book if you care!). Interestingly, the film seems to take a certain amount of pride (in a subtle way) with German military accomplishments and dciscipline without endorsing the war or Nazi ideology: the basic message is that these men were just doing their jobs as they saw them, and Hitler committed the ultimate betrayal by exploiting their sense of duty and squandering their lives. One could argue that it glosses over the atrocious German treatment of Russian civilains, but "Dogs" is meant to be a war story and not a cinematic expiation of national guilt. On that level it succeeds. If you saw "Stalingrad" you should defintely give "Dogs" a try; if you didn't, you might want to watch this version first.
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39 of 40 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent old war movie of the most terrible battle, September 8, 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: STALINGRAD - Dogs, do you want to live forever? (DVD)
A German war movie of the late fifties recreates the encirclement, agony and destruction of the German VI Army (and part of IV panzer army) in Stalingrad. Very well recreated battle scenarios inside the city and the surroundings of the "kessel". For all those interested in this horrendous battle, a "must see" film. Black and white, German.
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63 of 75 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
A low budget movie & an expensive DVD!, July 31, 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: STALINGRAD - Dogs, do you want to live forever? (DVD)
Frank Wisbar weaved this tale on the Stalingrad campaign like a student of the Tolstoy school of thought with its strong emphasis on historical accuracies. Unfortunately, nearly every scene in this movie was melodrama over dramatic creativity. All the basic facts regarding what had happened at Stalingrad is here; the Romanian(Rumanian as they were called then) division's sucumb to tank fright, the city in ruins, desparate street fights(not so desparate here), the encircling of the German Sixth Army and the 4th Panzer Army's(under General Hoth) failure to reinforced it, the Luftwaffe's inability to resupply 'der Kessel' and their insignificant crates of worthless goods, the Russian winter, the German soldiers' near-starvation diet and their attempt at AWOL by clinging on to JU-52 transport planes, Hitler's indifference to the Sixth Army's doomed fate, General Paulus' unswerving loyalty to the Fuehrer's directives, Paulus' promotion to Field-Marshal hinting of suicide rather than surrender, and the Field-Marshal's last act of defiance to Hitler's orders. The acting was apathetic as characteristic in most '50s classics. So stiff were the actors' performances, don't even expect to learn the psychology of the German soldier here. But the set design was near perfect, if not a bit under-budgeted. The costume and makeup looked too flush on the depraved Germans, otherwise accurate. The military equipments remained faithful, except for the T-34/85(sans the T-34/76s from newsreel footage) that was featured prominently during the battle scenes. It hasn't been developed yet at the time of Stalingrad. But at least they didn't throw in a surplus Sherman tank in disguise with red paint seared over its white star. The DVD itself is a dissappointment. It has no special features except for the chapter selections. There is also no dual language selection. And the English subtitle was permanently burnt into the feature. Occasional grain here and there has not been cleansed. Frankly speaking, it is like a cheap direct VHS to DVD transfer. The hefty price tag is simply not justified. This DVD is most certainly fit for yard sales.
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