Their mission is to sabotage the Allies as they retreat from the German advance.
Released in 1959, The Last Blitzkrieg is like a grimmer, small-scale spinoff of Battle of the Bulge.
Shot in black & white, the film is a low-budget take on the same campaign. The exteriors are suitably rain-soaked and misty - it makes for a more atmospheric setting than that of the bigger budget effort.
While it follows the format of a ‘squad on a mission’ movie, the film is more of a slow-burn suspense thriller, as Johnson and his team try to sabotage the American war effort.
As von Kroner, Van Johnson is an interesting lead.
Because of his accent and bearing (he seems too casual and American to convince as the scion of a noble family), I felt Johnson was miscast.
The movie is ultimately concerned with von Kroner’s disillusionment, and this is where Johnson clicked for me.
Johnson has a burnt-out, sunken quality that lends his character a vulnerability and sense of fatalism. His performance gives the movie a simmering tension, as his frustrations begin to rise to the surface.
The rest of the cast are solid, given limited screen time:
Kerwin Matthews is good as von Kroner’s sadistic and fanatical second-in-command, while future Bewitched star Dick York convinces as a former POW and friend of von Kroner’s who he bumps into on his mission.
The film is at its best in the smaller moments, the interactions between the unit as von Kroner’s disenchantment puts him at loggerheads with his comrades. It is here where I wished the movie were a little less of a programmer, and spent a little more time on the characters' relationship.
When the turning point comes (von Kroner learns that his previous mission at a POW camp was a success, with most of the POWs killed during an attempted breakout), it feels like the movie goes on fast-forward.
It feels like the filmmakers could have spent a little more time showing the breakdown amongst the Nazis, but I put that down to personal preference. This is a three-star thriller, and has no higher goals.
The film ends with von Kroner snapping and going on a rampage through a German position. As he dies, he bellows at a group of German prisoners that Hitler and his Nazi ideology have destroyed their country, and they need to rid themselves of it.
Perhaps it is because of its scarce resources, but there is something bluntly effective by how straightforward the film is in its messaging. Its narrative brevity and limited scope helps to keep the film focused on its ultimate statement.
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