John Chard

Crisis of Conscience. The 23rd Infantry, U.S. Army, 1944 - Ardennes, Holland. Something is not quite right with this band of soldiers... Directed by Arthur Dreifuss, written by Lou Morheim, The Last Blitzkrieg stars Van Johnson, Dick York and Kerwin Matthews. Filmed on location in Holland, music is by Hugo de Groot and cinematography by Ted Scaife. Poor. The story is actually a good one, coming at things from a German undercover perspective, it's nice to see the other side of the coin. Unfortunately, with the exception of York, the acting is borderline farcical. The makers pad out the picture with newsreel footage, while asking us to wait till the last quarter of film before we get some acting action worthy of the title (competently staged). But just when you think you could possible forgive it its sins, it pulls a dead rabbit out of the hat and delivers a turn of events that quite frankly stinks. Nice to see proper use of radio protocol for a change though! 4/10