Review of The Young Lions (1958) by Elliott F — 20 Feb 2009

Good movie, but doesn't reveal anything new. There is also not much in the action department. I'd rather watch 'Fighting Seabees' or 'Sands of Iwo Jima' or 'Saving Private Ryan' any day over this.

It's not too thought provoking either in my opinion. You got your Nazis, your Americans, your wimpy looking Jewish-American soldier trying to prove himself to his comrades, and of course, the main German character is not much of a Nazi himself.

He's confused and disillusioned throughout the whole movie. I didn't notice much of a great transition during the movie with Marlon Brando's character. Christian is confused right from the start.

Other than the part with him trying to get his American girl to dance at a party that has Nazi and German national anthem music playing, he never really shows any strongly patriotic feelings. He refuses to shoot British soldiers who are injured.

He feels bad when he hears prisoners screaming in a German compound in France. Some of his attitude is perfectly understandable. Like when he comes to the Koncentrazionslager (concentration camp). But some is just annoying.

I'm wondering...will Hollywood ever make a movie which accurately portrays any German lead character as they actually were in WWII? I know there were anti-Nazis among the Wehrmacht and SS. But most were devoted wholeheartedly to the Fuhrer.

Why can't they show that in the movies? Rommel, leader of Afrika Korps was just as devoted to Hitler as anyone else, yet in the movies they show him like he is some anti-Hitler saint.