"The Rangers" director Roberto Bianchi Montero fared much better with "The Battle of the Damned," his sophomore entry into World War II men on a mission genre than he did with his initial actioneer "The Rangers." Fewer problems crop up with his North African combat epic that borrows liberally from Armando Crispino's "Commando" (1968), starring Lee Van Cleef and Jack Kelly and Andre de Toth's "Play Dirty" (1969) with Michael Caine and Nigel Davenport. According to IMDB. COM, the release dates for "Battle of the Damned" are inconsistent. First, it was released as early as April 1969 in Italy, and then later showed up on screens in the Netherlands in April 1970, then in France May 1970, and finally in West Germany during September 1972. Later, this movie was re-released in Spain in December 1973.
In "The Battle of the Damned," an experienced, combat savvy U. S. Army officer, Captain Bruce Clay (Dale Cummings of "Samurai Cop"), receives orders to deploy with a squad of soldiers into the scorching North African desert to destroy a remote Nazi fuel dump for enemy tanks. Basically, Captain Clay is reminiscent of the officer in "Commandos" that Jack Kelly played who is ridiculed by his sergeant for being a glory seeking leader willing to sacrifice men so he can win a medal. One of Clay's team, Corporal Marwell (Maurice Poli of "Two Faces of a Dollar") complains about his commanding officer's willingness to sacrifice his men so he can attain higher rank. Derivative as it is, "The Battle of the Damned" qualifies as one of those nihilistic military epics where everybody winds up dead at fade out in the grand tradition of suicidal mission movies such as the Oscar-winning "The Bridge on the River Kwai" (1957) "633 Squadron" (1964) and "Play Dirty." Interestingly, Montero lensed his movie in Egypt. According to IMDB. COM, the Egyptians loaned the filmmakers surplus British Archer tank destroyers to substitute for German Panzers. As many as six of these massive vehicles are seen in the big battle sequence. Basically, the Americans plunge into the desert during the day rather than under the cover of nightfall, which would make made better sense. However, had they gone in under cover of darkness, the eagle-eyed aviators in a two-seater 'Messerschmitt' aircraft roaming the desert would never have spotted them. The suspense grows initially out of the clash between the Americans on the ground and the Germans in the air. A similar crisis confronted Richard Burton and his commandos in Henry Hathaway's "Raid on Rommel" (1971) when an Allied fighter attacked his men in the desert during the day. Although our heroes knock the Messerschmitt out of the sky, they fail to kill these two pilots. These two tenacious souls follow them doggedly on foot to an oasis and later manage to reach the same objective that our heroes have been sent to destroy. Colonel Kleist (Gérard Herter of "Hornet's Nest"), the lead officer in the Messerschmitt, doggedly pursues the commandos. Eventually, Kleist shows up at the fuel dump and warns his fellow Germans about these saboteurs, but even this early warning comes tragically too late. At one point, however, the Germans look like they had a chance to thwart the Americans, particularly when Sergeant Dean (Luciano Catenacci of "The Biggest Battle") must die to repair the damage done to his explosives. Among the cast, future Spaghetti western and crime star Fabio Testi plays Private Terry Wilson, the soldier responsible for maintaining radio contact with their home base.
"The Battle of the Damned" won't go down in history as an especially memorable entry in the annuals of World War II actioneers, but it is tolerable enough to watch once. Completists in the European World War II movie genre will appreciate this adventure more than most spectators.
In "The Battle of the Damned," an experienced, combat savvy U. S. Army officer, Captain Bruce Clay (Dale Cummings of "Samurai Cop"), receives orders to deploy with a squad of soldiers into the scorching North African desert to destroy a remote Nazi fuel dump for enemy tanks. Basically, Captain Clay is reminiscent of the officer in "Commandos" that Jack Kelly played who is ridiculed by his sergeant for being a glory seeking leader willing to sacrifice men so he can win a medal. One of Clay's team, Corporal Marwell (Maurice Poli of "Two Faces of a Dollar") complains about his commanding officer's willingness to sacrifice his men so he can attain higher rank. Derivative as it is, "The Battle of the Damned" qualifies as one of those nihilistic military epics where everybody winds up dead at fade out in the grand tradition of suicidal mission movies such as the Oscar-winning "The Bridge on the River Kwai" (1957) "633 Squadron" (1964) and "Play Dirty." Interestingly, Montero lensed his movie in Egypt. According to IMDB. COM, the Egyptians loaned the filmmakers surplus British Archer tank destroyers to substitute for German Panzers. As many as six of these massive vehicles are seen in the big battle sequence. Basically, the Americans plunge into the desert during the day rather than under the cover of nightfall, which would make made better sense. However, had they gone in under cover of darkness, the eagle-eyed aviators in a two-seater 'Messerschmitt' aircraft roaming the desert would never have spotted them. The suspense grows initially out of the clash between the Americans on the ground and the Germans in the air. A similar crisis confronted Richard Burton and his commandos in Henry Hathaway's "Raid on Rommel" (1971) when an Allied fighter attacked his men in the desert during the day. Although our heroes knock the Messerschmitt out of the sky, they fail to kill these two pilots. These two tenacious souls follow them doggedly on foot to an oasis and later manage to reach the same objective that our heroes have been sent to destroy. Colonel Kleist (Gérard Herter of "Hornet's Nest"), the lead officer in the Messerschmitt, doggedly pursues the commandos. Eventually, Kleist shows up at the fuel dump and warns his fellow Germans about these saboteurs, but even this early warning comes tragically too late. At one point, however, the Germans look like they had a chance to thwart the Americans, particularly when Sergeant Dean (Luciano Catenacci of "The Biggest Battle") must die to repair the damage done to his explosives. Among the cast, future Spaghetti western and crime star Fabio Testi plays Private Terry Wilson, the soldier responsible for maintaining radio contact with their home base.
"The Battle of the Damned" won't go down in history as an especially memorable entry in the annuals of World War II actioneers, but it is tolerable enough to watch once. Completists in the European World War II movie genre will appreciate this adventure more than most spectators.