The Devil's Brigade (film)

The Devil's Brigade

Original film poster by Sandy Kossin
Directed by Andrew V. McLaglen
Produced by David L. Wolper
Screenplay by William Roberts
Based on The Devil's Brigade 
by Robert H. Adleman
& George Walton
Starring William Holden
Cliff Robertson
Vince Edwards
Music by Alex North
Cinematography William H. Clothier
Edited by William T. Cartwright
Production
company
Distributed by United Artists
Release dates
  • May 15, 1968 (US)
Running time
 130 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Box office $8,000,000[1]

The Devil's Brigade is a 1968 American war film based on the 1966 book of the same name co-written by American novelist and historian Robert H. Adleman and Col. George Walton, a member of the brigade.

The film recounts the formation, training, and first mission of the 1st Special Service Force, a joint American-Canadian commando unit, known as the Devil's Brigade. The film dramatizes the Brigade's first mission in the Italian Campaign, the task of capturing what had been an impregnable Nazi mountain stronghold, Monte la Difensa.

Plot

American Lieutenant Colonel Robert T. Frederick is summoned to Britain where he is authorized by Admiral Louis Mountbatten to raise a commando force comprising both American and Canadian personnel for operations in Norway. Back in the U.S. Frederick receives his American troops — all are Army convicts. When the Canadian contingent arrives they immediately cause friction with the Americans and chaos ensues. By the time Frederick manages to overcome the national differences and to mould the 1st Special Service Force into a highly trained commando force, the Allied High Command have had a change of heart and offered the Norway missions to British troops. Left without a role, Frederick manages to persuade General Mark Clark in Italy to give his men a chance to prove themselves. Clark asks Frederick for the 1st Special Service Force to reconnoitre a German garrison in an Italian town, but Frederick decides to go one better and capture the entire town. Convinced now of the ability of Frederick's men, Clark gives them the task no other Allied troops have managed to achieve — to capture Monte la Difensa. Facing severe obstacles, they drive the Germans off the stronghold, allowing the allies to continue their advance into Italy.

Cast

Notes

The German Panzers were represented by M47 Patton tanks.

Wolper had purchased the film rights to Robin Moore's The Green Berets, but found that no film studio would back him. The motion picture was filmed with the 19th[2] United States Army Special Forces Group at Camp Williams, Utah, 20 miles south of Salt Lake City, with battle locations on Mount Jordan — just above Draper, Utah — and on location in Santa Elia Fiume Rapido, Italy. David L. Wolper realised it would be as cheap to shoot in an Italian village as building an Italian set in America.[3] However, the birthday scene which appears to be in Italy was filmed at the National Guard Armory in Salt Lake, with Brigham Young University students as extras. This was a bit of a problem because the party scene required the "soldiers" to be drinking and smoking and BYU students don't. Smoke generators had to be used on that set as well as on the battle field. That was a time of civil unrest, and black activists complained about no black actors being in the film. There were no black actors hired because there were none in the unit. The U.S. Department of Defense provided 300 members of the Utah National Guard to play soldiers in the mass battle scenes filmed.

Wolper had the Brigade wear attractive but fictional red berets that appeared as well as on the film's posters and on the tie-in paperback cover of Adelman and Walton's book. At the end of the credits the copyright date reads MCMXLVIII, which is the Roman numeral rendition of 1948; the year of production of this film was actually 1968 (MCMLXVIII). During the film a map of Europe appears twice in Colonel Frederick's office, showing Europe after the war with West and East Germany and Poland with its post-World War II borders.

The cast of The Devil's Brigade included NFL running back Paul Hornung and World Middleweight Champion boxer Gene Fullmer in minor roles.

Soundtrack

Alex North composed the soundtrack of the film, re-purposing the theme from his rejected score to the pilot episode of The Rat Patrol. At the time of release only a cover version of the soundtrack album by Leroy Holmes was released by United Artists Records. The album was illustrated with the original Sandy Kossin artwork of the film and featured instrumental (with whistling) and a male chorus singing lyrics to North's title theme. The album also contained cover versions of other North themes from the film as well as 1940s popular music that appeared in the film.

In 2007 Film Score Monthly and Intrada released a limited CD edition of North's original soundtrack with Kossin's artwork including alternate versions of the title theme, North's own arrangements of four 1940s jazz popular tunes, two traditional Christmas carols, and the pipe band version of Scotland the Brave featuring in the film.

The pipes and drums featured in the production were the "Salt Lake Scots Pipe Band" who furnished their own instruments and uniforms for the film shoot. The band still exists today.

Reception

The film was the 4th most popular movie in general release in Britain in 1968.[4]

References

  1. ↑ "The Devil's Brigade, Box Office Information". The Numbers. Retrieved May 23, 2012.
  2. ↑ I was there. There is no 3rd SF Group in Utah
  3. ↑ http://archive.sensesofcinema.com/contents/09/50/andrew-v-mclaglen-interview.html[]
  4. ↑ John Wayne-money-spinner The Guardian (1959-2003) [London (UK)] 31 Dec 1968: 3.

External links