Battle of the Bulge

In December 1944 the Germans launch an unexpected offensive in the Ardennes. American intelligence does not take the warnings seriously. The film moves between Hessler, commander of a German armoured unit, and the officers on the American side, and locks onto the question of fuel: if the German tanks cannot reach the depots they mean to capture, the offensive stops by itself. The film is not interested in history. It is interested in tank movement: its best passages are the armour filmed in wide open country and the arguments in the command room. Its weakest point is the same one, because the geography is entirely wrong. The form is a large production: shot for Cinerama, widescreen, three hours, a crowded cast. Ken Annakin directed. It was shot in Spain, using open and barren terrain instead of the snowy forests of the Ardennes, and the tanks are not vehicles of the period. Dwight Eisenhower came out of retirement to hold a press conference criticising the film openly for its historical errors; a former president targeting a film that way is a rare event in American history. Henry Fonda, Robert Shaw and Robert Ryan star. Who it is for: viewers who like classical war epics and tank sequences. Who it is not for: anyone after historical accuracy. The film substantially alters the battle's duration, its geography and the strength of the sides.