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MovieMail's Review
A youthful Peck leads a band of Soviet guerillas against invading Nazis in this wartime production from Jacques Tourneur (Out of the Past). It's a ripping good yarn, says Nick Riddle.
A youthful Gregory Peck leads a band of Soviet guerillas against the invading German army in a wartime production from Jacques Tourneur (Out of the Past) that provides a fascinating snapshot of Hollywood politics towards the end of World War II.
The prolific writer/producer Casey Robinson, whose screenplays ranged from the melodrama of Now, Voyager to the action of Captain Blood, draws on both genres tell this story of heroism, sacrifice, and - yes - socialism, though only a light sprinkling. A cast of then-unknowns plays a motley assortment of characters, including a geologist, a ballerina, and a pair of squabbling roués, all living in a hideout and waiting for the big push.
Peck, in his first film role, already has the quiet authority and gravitas of his classic performances. His love interest is played by Tamara Toumanova, who was a famous ballerina in her own right but shows her acting chops as an outsider who wins the respect of the other fighters.
Propaganda it may be, but Days of Glory is also a ripping good yarn in its own right.
Gregory Peck made his Hollywood debut in Days of Glory, a hard-hitting 1944 war film set on the Eastern Front. As Soviet Russia reels under the Nazi onslaught, young Red Army officer Vladimir ( Peck) stays behind enemy lines to organise local villagers into an effective guerrilla army. From their hidden base deep in the forests, they emerge to kill and sabotage the German ammunition supply trains.
Vladimir finds himself fiercely attached to the men and women under his command - and against his better judgement falling in love with the gentle, frightened refugee Nina (Tamara Toumanova) who has taken shelter with them. Then a fateful order arrives. The Soviet Army is to launch a massive counter-attack against the Nazis - and Vladimir's tiny band of partisans are ordered to fight to the last against an overwhelming force of German tanks...
