War Devils

During the campaigns in Africa in World War II, a German officer and his American counterpart find they must help each other in order to make it across the desert to safety. After completing their trip, the German officer releases his American prisoner but pledges to kill him if they ever meet again. One year later, the two officers find themselves facing each other again but this time in occupied France.

The action begins in Tunisia 1943. An allied commando units parachutes into the Tunisia desert to carry out a dangerous mission behind German lines. The past-paced action-filled script, follows the reckless adventures of a valiant American platoon commanded by Captain George Vincent (Guy Madison) and his courageous soldiers. Vincent is the two-fisted commando boss with only one purpose: to execute the mission at whatever cost. They are dropped behind enemy lines in the desert tasked with an assignment called Red Devil; to make their way to a large German battery built into the side of mountain that commands a large swath of open terrain American tank units must cross, and destroy it. Along the way, they are helped by a Sheik Faisal (Raf Baldassarre), the squadron takes on the real possibility of being shot by German troops. Suffering several flops , explosion , attacks and deaths across the way burt the leader insists on attempting to complete the commandos' mission. A German Captain called Heinrich Meinike (Venantino Venantini) and the American Captain help each other survive the North African desert during WWII. France , one year later , they meet again during combat operations in France when Vincent and his US Rangers are sent to rescue a British officer , Colonel James Steele (Anthony Steel) , an expert on secret arms and V2 rockets .

Filmed in 1972 in Spain, this fast moving film packs small units actions and battle in with the context of a large scale operation amid constant of explosions, gun battles, action, and violence. Guy Madison is in the main role, in this medium budget Spanish/Italian production war film that lost continuity with US cuts . The noisy action is uniformly well-made , especially deserving of mention the rip-roaring final scenes in which the motley group is really besieged , including some spectacular shootouts and bombing . The first half of the film allows the colorful cast of character actors to have their fun as they get their tails whipped into shape, including a spectacular tanks battle and subsequently developing a complex and tense relationship between two leaders , the American Guy Madison and the German Venantino Venantini . The final part is all action , as the brave commando wreak havoc and then run for their lives . Apart from the values of team spirit , cudgeled by Guy Madison into his misfit group , the film is full of feats , suspense , and thrills . Good-looking American actor Guy Madison appeared in 'tough' western and drama roles under contract to 20th Century Fox and other Hollywood companies, such as : Bullwhip , Savage wilderness , Jet over Atlantic , Drums in the deep South , Since you went away, Till the end of time . After that , he moved to Italy during the 60's to star in spaghetti westerns , adventure , sword and sandal epics Then had a solid run as the second lead of several Italian low-budget, cult WWII , Spaghetti and adventure films in the 1960's such as : Special forces , Bang bang kid , Superargo , Five giants of Texas , Cold steel for Tortuga , Place in hell , Apache's last battle , The conquestor and the empress , Executioner of Venice . Here Guy Madson is the brave leader of the motley pack together thwart the enemy schemes , and he gives a so-so acting .Support cast is acceptable with B-actors ordinary , being co-production there appears Spanish actors as Frank Braña , Enrique Avila , Luis Induni , Luis Barboo , Julio Perez Tabernero , and Italian ones as Massimo Righi as Max Dean , Federico Boido or Rick Boyd , Giuseppe Castellano , Giancarlo Prete , Attilio Dottesio , Raf Baldassarre. Furthermore , we find the beautiful French actress Pascale Petit and brief apparition as a special collaboration by the North American John Ireland playing an allied commandant .

This one belongs to a numerous group of Italian/Spanish WWII films , imitating American ones , usually directed by José Luis Merino , Leon Klimovsky , Umberto Lenzi , Bitto Albertini , Al Bradley and including tarnishing Hollywood stars , such as ¨The legion of no return¨ with Tab Hunter , ¨Hell's brigade¨ with Jack Palance , ¨Command attack¨ with Michael Rennie and Guy Madison in ¨War devils¨ . All of them supported by local armies that lent tanks , weapons , soldiers and extras to make these films . This is a wartime typical vehicle and into the ¨warlike commando sub-genre¨ , in USA style which also belong the American classics as : ¨Dirty Dozen (Robert Aldrich)¨ ,¨ Where eagles dare (Brian G. Hutton)¨ , ¨Kelly's heroes (Hutton)¨, ¨Tobruk (Arthur Hiller)¨ , ¨Devil's Brigade (Andrew V McLagen)¨ and many others.

Atmospheric and functional musical score by prolific Stelvio Cipriani, also features a decent opening score called War Devils March. The sunny cinematography in Eastmancolor was filmed by Jaume Deu Casas. Overall, this is a well conceived WWII action film, filled with drama, exciting battles, lots of vehicles, and well directed by Bitto Albertini .

The film was released in colour and is rated PG. It was included in a compilation of classic war films titled Combat Classics: 50 Movie Megapack, distributed by Mill Creek Entertainment in 2008.

1. "I Diavoli Della Guerra". IMDb. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064235/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1. Retrieved 23-10-15.

2. "War Devils". Letterboxed. http://letterboxd.com/film/war-devils/. Retrieved 29-10-15.