The Devil's Brigade (film)
Encyclopedia
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 1st Special Service Force
, a joint American
-Canadian
commando
unit that saw action during World War II in the Aleutian Islands Campaign and later in the European Theater of Operations
.
, a unique American-Canadian commando unit that became known as the "Devil's Brigade". The Americans, largely misfits, and their spit and polish Canadian counterparts eventually overcome reciprocal antagonism, learn to respect each other, and coalesce as a unified team. The film dramatizes the Brigade's first mission in the Italian Campaign
, the seemingly impossible task of capturing what had been an impregnable Nazi
mountain stronghold, Monte La Difensa
, with losses far greater than expected.
composed the soundtrack of the film but at the time of release only a cover version
by Leroy Holmes
of the soundtrack album
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 1940's 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 1940's jazz popular tunes, two traditional Christmas carol
s, 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.
War film
War films are a film genre concerned with warfare, usually about naval, air or land battles, sometimes focusing instead on prisoners of war, covert operations, military training or other related subjects. At times war films focus on daily military or civilian life in wartime without depicting battles...
based on the 1966 book of the same name co-written by American novelist and historian Robert H. Adleman
Robert H. Adleman
Robert H. Adleman was an American novelist and historian....
and Col. George Walton, a member of the 1st Special Service Force
Devil's Brigade
The Devil's Brigade , was a joint World War II American-Canadian commando unit organized in 1942 and trained at Fort William Henry Harrison near Helena, Montana in the United States...
, a joint American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
-Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
commando
Commando
In English, the term commando means a specific kind of individual soldier or military unit. In contemporary usage, commando usually means elite light infantry and/or special operations forces units, specializing in amphibious landings, parachuting, rappelling and similar techniques, to conduct and...
unit that saw action during World War II in the Aleutian Islands Campaign and later in the European Theater of Operations
European Theater of Operations
The European Theater of Operations, United States Army was a United States Army formation which directed U.S. Army operations in parts of Europe from 1942 to 1945. It referred to Army Ground Forces, United States Army Air Forces, and Army Service Forces operations north of Italy and the...
.
Plot and production
The film recounts the formation, training, and first European mission of the 1st Special Service ForceDevil's Brigade
The Devil's Brigade , was a joint World War II American-Canadian commando unit organized in 1942 and trained at Fort William Henry Harrison near Helena, Montana in the United States...
, a unique American-Canadian commando unit that became known as the "Devil's Brigade". The Americans, largely misfits, and their spit and polish Canadian counterparts eventually overcome reciprocal antagonism, learn to respect each other, and coalesce as a unified team. The film dramatizes the Brigade's first mission in the Italian Campaign
Italian Campaign (World War II)
The Italian Campaign of World War II was the name of Allied operations in and around Italy, from 1943 to the end of the war in Europe. Joint Allied Forces Headquarters AFHQ was operationally responsible for all Allied land forces in the Mediterranean theatre, and it planned and commanded the...
, the seemingly impossible task of capturing what had been an impregnable Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
mountain stronghold, Monte La Difensa
Monte la Difensa
The battle for Monte La Defensa, which took place between 3 December and 9 December 1943, occurred during Operation Raincoat, part of the Battle for the Bernhardt Line during the Italian Campaign in World War II....
, with losses far greater than expected.
Cast
- William HoldenWilliam HoldenWilliam Holden was an American actor. Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1954 and the Emmy Award for Best Actor in 1974...
as Lt. Col./Col. Robert T. FrederickRobert T. FrederickRobert Tryon Frederick was a highly decorated American combat commander during World War II, who commanded the 1st Special Service Force, the 1st Airborne Task Force and the 45th Infantry Division.-Career:... - Cliff RobertsonCliff RobertsonClifford Parker "Cliff" Robertson III was an American actor with a film and television career that spanned half of a century. Robertson portrayed a young John F. Kennedy in the 1963 film PT 109, and won the 1968 Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in the movie Charly...
as Maj. Alan Crown - Vince EdwardsVince EdwardsVince Edwards was an American actor, director, and singer, best known for the roles of TV doctor "Ben Casey", and Maj. Cliff Bricker in the 1968 war film The Devil's Brigade.-Early life:...
as Maj. Cliff Bricker - Andrew PrineAndrew PrineAndrew Lewis Prine is an American film, stage, and television actor.-Early life and career:Prine was born in Jennings, Florida. After graduation from Andrew Jackson High School in Miami, Prine made his acting debut three years later in an episode of CBS U.S. Steel Hour...
as Pvt. Theodore Ransom - Jeremy SlateJeremy SlateJeremy Slate was an American film and television actor.-Early life:He attended a military academy and joined the navy when he was 16. He was barely 18 when his destroyer assisted in the Normandy Invasion on D-Day . After the war he attended St. Lawrence University where he graduated with honors in...
as Sgt. Pat O'Neill - Claude AkinsClaude AkinsClaude Marion Akins was an American actor with a long career on stage, screen and television.Powerful in appearance and voice, Akins could be counted on to play the clever tough guy, on the side of good or bad, in movies and television. He is best remembered as Sheriff Lobo in the 1970s TV series...
as Pvt./Cpl. Rockwell 'Rocky' Rockman - Jack WatsonJack Watson (actor)Jack Watson , was an English actor who appeared in many British films and television dramas from the 1950s onwards....
as Cpl./Sgt. Wilfrid Peacock - Richard JaeckelRichard JaeckelRichard Hanley Jaeckel was an American actor of film and television.-Life and career:Jaeckel was born in Long Beach, New York. A short, but tough guy, he played a variety of characters during his fifty years in movies & television and became one of Hollywood's best known character actors...
as Pvt. Omar Greco - Richard Dawson as Pvt./Cpl. Hugh MacDonald
- Tom TroupeTom TroupeTom Troupe is an American actor and writer.Tom Troupe was born in North Kansas City Missouri and studied with Uta Hagen at Herbert Berghof Studios in Manhattan during the early 1950s...
as Pvt. Al Manella - Luke AskewLuke AskewLuke Askew is an American actor best known for his role in the 1969 film Easy Rider.Askew was born in Macon, Georgia. He made his film debut in Otto Preminger's Hurry Sundown , but was first noticed as an actor for his role in the 1967 film Cool Hand Luke...
as Pvt. Hubert Hixon - Harry Carey Jr. as Capt. Rose
- Michael RennieMichael RennieMichael Rennie was an English film, television, and stage actor, perhaps best known for his starring role as the space visitor Klaatu in the 1951 classic science fiction film The Day the Earth Stood Still. However, he appeared in over 50 other films since 1936, many with Jean Simmons and other...
as Lt. Gen. Mark W. Clark - Carroll O'ConnorCarroll O'ConnorJohn Carroll O'Connor best known as Carroll O'Connor, was an American actor, producer and director whose television career spanned four decades...
as Maj. Gen. Maxwell Hunter - Dana AndrewsDana AndrewsDana Andrews was an American film actor. He was one of Hollywood's major stars of the 1940s, and continued acting, though generally in less prestigious roles, into the 1980s.-Early life:...
as Brig. Gen. Walter Naylor - Gretchen WylerGretchen WylerGretchen Wyler was an American actress and founder of the Genesis Awards for animal protection.-Early life:...
as The Lady of Joy - Paul HornungPaul HornungPaul Vernon Hornung is a retired Hall of Fame professional football player who played for the Green Bay Packers from 1957-66...
as The Lumberjack - Patric KnowlesPatric KnowlesReginald Lawrence Knowles was an English film actor who renamed himself Patric Knowles, a name which reflects his Irish descent. He appeared in films of the 1930s through the 1970s...
as Adm Lord MountbattenLouis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of BurmaAdmiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas George Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, KG, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCIE, GCVO, DSO, PC, FRS , was a British statesman and naval officer, and an uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh... - Wilhelm von HomburgWilhelm Von HomburgWilhelm von Homburg was a German wrestler, boxer, and film actor most noted for his portrayal of Vigo the Carpathian in the 1989 film Ghostbusters II.-Wrestling:...
as Fritz (as Wilhelm Von Homburg) - Gene FullmerGene FullmerGene Fullmer is a former American middleweight boxer and world champion.-Professional career:Fullmer began his professional career in 1951 and won his first 29 fights, 19 by knockout...
as The Bartender - Maggie ThrettMaggie ThrettMaggie Thrett, born Diane Pine, was a singer and stage, movie and television actress in the 1960s. Aged fifteen, she made her Off-Broadway debut in 1962 in Out Brief Candle. By the age of eighteen she was regularly performing as a dancer at Trude Heller's in Greenwich Village, New York, as noted...
as Millie - James CraigJames Craig (actor)James Craig was an American actor.After graduating from the Rice Institute, Craig began appearing in films in 1937, most often in B-movies and serials...
as Maj. Gen. Knapp - Donald Ein as Gen. Jensen
- Dick Simmons as Gen. Bixby (as Richard Simmons)
Soundtrack
Alex NorthAlex North
Alex North was an American composer who wrote the first jazz-based film score and one of the first modernist scores written in Hollywood ....
composed the soundtrack of the film but at the time of release only a cover version
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
by Leroy Holmes
LeRoy Holmes
LeRoy Holmes was an American songwriter, composer, arranger and conductor....
of the soundtrack album
Soundtrack album
A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television program. In some cases, not all the tracks from the movie are included in the album; however there are rare cases of songs in the trailers that do not appear in...
was released by United Artists Records
United Artists Records
United Artists Records was a record label founded by Max E. Youngstein of United Artists in 1957 initially to distribute records of its movie soundtracks, though it soon branched out into recording music of a number of different genres.-History:...
. 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 1940's popular music that appeared in the film.
In 2007 Film Score Monthly
Film Score Monthly
Film Score Monthly is an online magazine founded by editor-in-chief and executive producer Lukas Kendall in June 1990 as The Soundtrack Correspondence List...
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 1940's jazz popular tunes, two traditional Christmas carol
Christmas carol
A Christmas carol is a carol whose lyrics are on the theme of Christmas or the winter season in general and which are traditionally sung in the period before Christmas.-History:...
s, and the pipe band
Pipe band
A pipe band is a musical ensemble consisting of pipers and drummers. The term used by military pipe bands, pipes and drums, is also common....
version of Scotland the Brave
Scotland the Brave
"Scotland the Brave" is a Scottish patriotic song. It was one of several songs considered an unofficial national anthem of Scotland.Scotland the Brave is also the authorised pipe band march of The British Columbia Dragoons of the Canadian Forces, and is played during the Pass in Review at Friday...
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.