Cheap Days of Glory (Video) (Jacques Tourneur) Price

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Customer Reviews of Days of Glory

Gregory Peck's impressive debut in unrealistic war movie!
When I was a kid I thought this was one of the greatest war movies ever made. Now when I watch it, I can't help but laugh at the many inaccuracies throughout the film, which was supposedly based on a true story. Directed by the great Jacques Tourneur, it featured a cast of "fresh new faces", including a very young Gregory Peck in his film debut. Gregory Peck stars as Vladimir, the commander of a small group of Russian partisans during World War Two. The people in his group have the typical names you'd find in an American-made WW2 movie set in Russia, like "Olga" and "Sasha". Most of them don't even try to fake Russian accents, and one of them even has a strong British accent! And of course the female partisans have perfectly groomed hair and makeup at all times! <
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>Vladimir and his group keep themselves occupied with sniping on isolated German units, until orders finally arrive announcing a major Soviet offensive against the now stalled German army. Vladimir's orders are to create a diversionary attack on German reserves in his area and then fall back, drawing the reserves out of the path of the advancing Soviet army. Vladimir knows that his small band of fighters has little chance of surviving, so he sends his girlfriend Nina (Tamara Toumanova) away. Just as the battle is about to begin, however, Nina returns and insists on fighting alongside the man she loves. German tanks slowly but surely break through the partisans defenses until only Vladimir, Nina, and a couple partisans are left in a bunker. They recite patriotic vows while firing on the tanks, and the ending (which is very similar of "Bataan's" in terms of style) makes it clear that the partisans' sacrifice paved the way for the ultimate victory. <
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>Although the final battle (with impressive special effects) is exciting, the movie takes an hour and twenty minutes to get that point, and the badly dated dialogue and predictable romance keeps the movie from being a great war film. There's one totally unrealistic scene in which a German soldier is captured by the partisans and his life is spared. That's a nice notion, but the fact is that Russian partisans almost never took prisoners, and in fact many of their "prisoners" were later found horribly mutilated. There were no rules of war between the German troops and the Russian partisans, and atrocities by both sides were common. Overall, despite the fact that this movie is dated wartime propaganda from Hollywood it is definitely worth watching just to see Gregory Peck's impressive debut.

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The Pick of the Pecks
Here's a film that no decent Gregory Peck fan should be without. Perhaps this is why the video is OUT OF STOCK?? Or perhaps the subject matter - The Great Patriotic War - is unpopular in these days of glory in occupied Iraq? The things that strike me about this film, apart from Peck's rawboned, wide-eyed performance (yes, his VERY FIRST) are the deep B&W photography and the treatment of children in the movie.... it's as though much of the story is seen through their eyes. Indeed, "Enemy at the Gates" owes a plotline to "Days of Glory". In fact, I am gonna go ahead and put this on my list of grand all-time war movies 'about' children, right up there with Boorman's "Hope and Glory" (similarity intentional, Bro. John?); "Come and See"; "Empire of the Sun"; "The North Star"; "Back to Bataan"; and of course "Mrs. Miniver". Perhaps YOU can add others?

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War Effort from Casey Robinson and Jacques Tourneur
The year was 1944. Screenwriter and producer Casey Robinson wanted to chronicle the harrowing and valiant resistance of the Russian people against the Nazi military machine that invaded their homeland in 1941. To give the film a look of realism Robinson went outside Hollywood to find fresh young faces for the leads. He cast New York theatre actor Gregory Peck and ballerina Tamara Toumanova to star. Robinson got Jacques Tourneur to director based on his imaginative work (CAT PEOPLE) for producer Val Lewton. There are some good action sequences but the film is weighed down by Robinson's own script that is full of long stretches of dialogue and many romantic interludes which detracts from the intended theme of the film. The film's greatest assets are Gregory Peck's performance as Vladimir the leader of the Russian resistance and Academy Award Nominated Special Effects by Vernon L. Walker.