DAYS OF GLORY (1944)

An effective WWII propaganda movie by Jacques Tourneur. As with his Val Lewton movies (like CAT PEOPLE), Tourneur turns a low budget into something of an asset with shadowy, expressionistic lighting and atmospheric sets. The movie rarely feels real, but taken on its own terms, it is often compelling. Gregory Peck, in his first movie, plays the leader of a small group of Russian resistance fighters who carry out acts of sabotage and murder against the occupying Nazis, while waiting for word from higher up about a major offensive due to start soon. The group lives in the underground remains of a bombed-out monastery. Though there are occasional tensions, they work together well until Tamara Toumanova, a ballerina, is brought into the fold. At first, she is resented because she is not fit for either guerilla fighting or "housework," but soon she proves her mettle and Peck falls in love with her. Glen Vernon is a young boy who has a schoolboy crush on the ballerina; near the end, when he is threatened with hanging unless he betrays the group, he is able to martyr himself because Toumanova is watching and inspiring him. Also in the cast are Hugo Haas (later a B-movie director), Lowell Gilmore, and Alan Reed (the voice of Fred Flintstone).

The opening credits are narrated, with a solemn announcement about Peck's great talent. The first scene is of two Nazis on motorcycles who get picked off by a guerilla fighter who turns out to be a female (Maria Palmer). Most of the movie is effective, except for a moment when Toumanova wakes up startled at the same moment that one of the group is killed--it's an almost supernatural scene of empathy that doesn't work. The finale is also a bit much, with Peck declaring his love for Toumanova as she takes the "official" Resistance pledge while both are lobbing hand grenades at oncoming German tanks. The pro-Russian slant is heavy and sometimes a bit hokey, but as a movie that wears its propaganda on its sleeve, it generally works quite well. [TCM]