Cross of Iron is a 1977 war film directed by Sam Peckinpah, featuring James Coburn, James Mason, Maximilian Schell, and David Warner.
Set in 1943 on the Eastern Front of World War II, Cross of Iron is the story of the class conflict between a newly-arrived, aristocratic officer who covets the Iron Cross and a cynical, hardened infantry sergeant in a Wehrmacht regiment during the German retreat from the Taman Peninsula on the Black Sea coast of the Soviet Union.
Cross of Iron is based upon the novel The Willing Flesh, by Willi Heinrich, published in 1956; it might be loosely based on the true story of Johann Schwerdfeger.[1] As with many of Sam Peckinpah's action films, much of this war film's action is shot in slow motion.
Plot
Cross of Iron is the story of a Wehrmacht infantry platoon in the Kuban bridgehead, on the Eastern Front in 1943, led by Sergeant (Unteroffizier) Steiner (James Coburn). The story begins as the Wehrmacht is enroute to the destiny foreshadowed by the film's opening montage of Adolf Hitler, the Hitler Youth, the German invasion of the U.S.S.R. and their subsequent retreat, underscored by a variation of the traditional volkslied (folk song) Hänschen klein and the Horst-Wessel-Lied as the soundtrack.
While on a reconnaissance patrol during which the platoon captures a young Russian boy-soldier, a new aristocratic Prussian officer, Captain (Hauptmann) Stransky (Maximilian Schell), is posted as the new battalion commander. Demonstrating cold-bloodedness, Stransky orders Steiner to shoot the prisoner, in strict observance of a standing order. When Steiner refuses, Stransky readies to shoot the boy himself, but at the last moment, Corporal (Obergefreiter) Schnurrbart (his nickname, meaning "moustache") saves the boy by claiming he will do it himself and walks away with the boy.
In conversation with the regimental commander, Colonel (Oberst) Brandt (James Mason), and his adjutant, Captain (Hauptmann) Kiesel (David Warner), an unenthusiastic man sick of war, Stransky claims he applied for transfer from occupied France to front line duty in Russia so that he can win the Iron Cross. Such a personally revealing statement surprises the officers for its naïveté. Stransky is then introduced to the battle-weary Steiner upon his return. Steiner is highly regarded and decorated despite his attitude. In an effort to curry favor, Stransky promotes Steiner to Staff Sergeant (Feldwebel), a act for which Steiner shows overt contempt.
Stransky also discovers that his adjutant, Lieutenant (Leutnant) Triebig, is a closet homosexual when Stransky surreptitiously views Triebig stroking the cheek of an enlisted orderly, Josef Keppler. Knowing Triebig faces execution if exposed, he later uses this knowledge to blackmail Triebig into lying about Stransky's actions for the sake of Stransky's coveted Iron Cross.
While waiting for an anticipated attack, Steiner releases the young Russian boy-soldier (who throws Steiner his harmonica) only to see the boy accidentally killed by attacking Soviet troops. During the ensuing Soviet attack, Lieutenant (Leutnant) Meyer (Igor Galo) is killed while leading the defense and counter-attack in the German trenches. Steiner is wounded while trying to rescue a German soldier and is sent to a military hospital to recover. Once there, he is haunted by the faces of the dead men and the boy (in a dream sequence prior to waking from a coma), and has a romantic liaison with a nurse (Senta Berger).
During recovery, Steiner makes a number of observations as well as experiencing delusions, both of which further reveal his horror at the absurdity of war. Nevertheless, given an opportunity to return to his platoon, he decides he won't do otherwise. Steiner silently leaves the crying nurse, his apparent would-be wife in the non-existent option to begin a new civilian life.
Upon returning to active service, Steiner is informed that Stransky, who did not participate in the combat, is claiming to have led the counter-offensive and is nominated for the Iron Cross. Stransky named as witnesses his adjutant, Lieutenant (Leutnant) Triebig (whom he blackmailed with Triebig's homosexuality), and Steiner. Stransky hopes to persuade Steiner to corroborate his claim by promising to aid him after the war.
Brandt questions Steiner about Stransky's allegations in the hope that Steiner will expose Stransky's lies, but Steiner does not cooperate. He says that he hates all officers, even those as "enlightened" as Brandt and Kiesel, and requests a few days to give his answer.
When his battalion is ordered to retreat, Stransky does not pass the order to Steiner's platoon, effectively abandoning Steiner and his men behind Soviet lines. Fighting their way through Soviet-controlled territory, the men stumble across a female enemy detachment, facing a hard moral decision. They leave the women be, at the same time getting rid of the unanimously despised platoon member, a sadist party member.
The platoon, now partly clad in Russian uniforms, eventually reaches the German positions, sending a password by radio so they can cross no man's land.
Stransky, upon learning about Steiner's return, orders Triebig to have him killed. Triebig then orders Steiner's unit to be shot while approaching the German trenches resulting in almost all of them being killed. Only Steiner and a few others survive and Steiner kills Triebig and goes looking for Stransky. At this moment the Soviets launch a major assault on the German positions.
Steiner, upon finding Stransky, confronts him and contemplates shooting him, but instead when Stransky demands "Where is the rest of your platoon?" Steiner replies that "You are the rest of my platoon" and dares the officer to fight alongside him and prove his alleged valor. Stransky also contemplates shooting Steiner at the first opportunity, but he accepts Steiner's challenge. While they prepare for battle, Stransky, posturing as a seasoned warrior, almost immediately dissolves into a puddle of fear and incompetence as they approach the gunfire.
Steiner's CO, colonel Brandt, stops the fleeing troops and leads the counterattack with blank calmness. Final shot of him freezes, as, consequently, do the final shots of Stransky and Steiner, as if to conclude their characters' development.
The film closes with a reprise of Hänschen klein as Stransky reveals his complete military inadequacies in contrast to Steiner's cool leadership: although not having yet encountered the enemy, Stransky has already emptied the magazine of his MP40. In his panic, Stransky shows that he doesn't know how to reload and pitifully begs Steiner for help. Steiner at first berates Stransky then begins to laugh hysterically as Stransky attempts to put his helmet on back-to-front, as the Russian boy-soldier (as a ghost) shrugs.
The closing credits include a slide show of civilian war victims, and a final quote by Berthold Brecht from his play The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui:
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Do not rejoice in his defeat, you men. For though the world has stood up and stopped the bastard, the bitch that bore him is in heat again.[2] |
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Steiner's laugh, both hysterical and relieved, continues through the credits and pictures of war victims, both from the WWII period and later conflicts.
Cast
Captain Stransky (Maximilian Schell), Lieutenant Meyer (Igor Galo), and Sergeant Steiner (James Coburn)
Production
Cross of Iron was a joint Anglo-German production between EMI Films and ITC Entertainment., London and Rapid Films GmbH, Munich.[3]
The film is noted for featuring realistic WWII gear and equipment as props, for example, Soviet T-34/85 tanks (which featured in the Yugoslav army arsenal and of which a number were saved especially for cinematographical purposes) and German machine-guns, side-cars and AT guns.
The T-34/85 is accurate as they were issued from 1943 onward.
The film spawned a sequel, Breakthrough, a film that was "financed for the most part by West Germans, but was directed by an American, Andrew McLaglen who, like Peckinpah, is known for westerns. As a concession to American audiences, the setting for Breakthrough became the Western Front; Richard Burton plays Sgt Steiner who becomes involved in a conspiracy to assassinate Hitler and saves the life of an American officer played by Robert Mitchum".[4]
Critical views
The film, Sam Peckinpah's only war film, "is a forgotten masterpiece that has never really managed to overcome its troubled production."[5] While Peckinpah had directed "many films about battles between groups of armed men...this was the first in which both sides wear uniforms."[6]
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Told from the German viewpoint as the Wehrmacht's cream were being clobbered on the Russian front circa 1943, the production [from the book by Willi Heinrich] is well but conventionally cast, technically impressive, but ultimately violence-fixated.[7] |
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References
- ^ deutschesoldaten.com article
- ^ Bertolt Brecht – The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui. source Blockbuster Online - Cross of Iron
- ^ imdb.com article
- ^ Hyam, Ibid, p.193
- ^ Mayo, Mike. War Movies: Classic Conflict on Film (Visible Ink Press, 1999) ISBN 1578590892, p. 222
- ^ Hyams, Jay. War Movies (W.H. Smith Publishers, Inc., 1984) ISBN 083179304X p.192
- ^ Variety review, January 1, 1977. Accessed online Dec 26, 2006.
External links
