Stalingrad - 1993 - VOB files, NTSC

As promised in the prior torrent, here are the vob files, so that purists may render this film any way they want. I don't expect it will stay seeded very long so grab it while you can. It is already availble on TPB in both English and German AVI formats.This is in NTSC format, audio German, English, subtitles English.



http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108211/

http://bayimg.com/IamHpaacd

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalingrad_%28film%29Stalingrad is a 1993 film by Joseph Vilsmaier, which depicts the horrors of combat on the Eastern Front of World War II in a realistic and unromanticized fashion.

The movie follows a platoon of German Army soldiers as they are transferred from Italy and recent experiences in North Africa, to Russia where they ultimately find themselves unwilling participants in the Battle of Stalingrad.

The film was shot in several different locations, including Finland, Italy, and the Czech Republic.



The film begins with a group of German assault troops enjoying leave in Italy after returning from combat deployment in North Africa. An awards ceremony is announced by a band playing the "Hohenfriedberger Marsch". Some soldiers are late from having to carry "Lupo", the Lieutenant wounded in North Africa, to the ceremony. The three main characters are introduced at the awards ceremony: Leutnant von Witzland, the inexperienced and idealistic platoon leader; Unteroffizier "Rollo" Rohleder, who is refused his decoration when he arrives on parade with an unbuttoned tunic collar, and Obergefreiter Fritz "Fritzi" Reiser, whose tendency to direct talk is made evident. After the parade the group is dismissed and advised their unit has been ordered to the Eastern Front. Their train passes through the small Italian coastal town and into a tunnel, where the scene changes to being far in Russia, with the men in a cramped bunk car. Rollo asks Von Witzland if this is his first time to the front. After Von Witzland confirms that it is, Rollo bets him two cans of water that he will survive and Von Witzland won't.



As they march into Stalingrad, the unit passes some German casualties of the fighting, They also pass a column of Russian POWs who are being berated and beaten by German field police. When one of the POWs almost collapses and tries to hold onto a guard's shoulder for support, the guard knees him, throws him to the ground, and beats him with his rifle butt. Leutnant von Witzland, observing the gruesome spectacle, slips out of line and tries to stop the beating but is knocked down by the guard. As he looks on, the prostrate POW is beaten to death. Witzland gets up and protests to captain Haller, but the captain dismisses him and walks off. A German Army chaplain holds a field service, at which two more characters are introduced; Feldwebel Pfluger, a veteran who has served at Voronezh, and Hauptmann Musk, another veteran who has lost his hand and who claims to have "absolutely no luck with my right side".



The scene then switches to combat in Stalingrad. In heavy fighting, the Germans manage to fight their way to an important factory and take it, but at a heavy cost. The Russians being cleared out, the soldiers relax and listen to Adolf Hitler on the radio explaining why he chose to march on Stalingrad. As the men relax in a building and talk, Fritz tries to comfort GeGe Muller, a teenage soldier upset over accidentally killing his friend Dieter in close combat. The battalion, originally 400-strong, now has only 62 men. All of the Russian defenders were killed. The building is surrounded by Russians, and neither side dares make the first move to attack. The stalemate goes on with bodies and the wounded lying in the streets. In an attempt to rescue the wounded and count the dead, the Germans propose a ceasefire between the two sides and to send out some unarmed men. Tension is high. After collecting dog tags from the dead, a Russian soldier pilfers some meat from a dead man. At the same time, Reiser produces some bread and they decide to share their prized possessions. But this moment of peace does not last long, as a shot rings out, and battle is rejoined. A Russian boy named Kolya is captured during the fight. The soldiers relax at daytime, hearing Russian soldiers sing from their positions. A Russian sniper kills the man on watch, and soldiers carrying food and mail arrive under heavy fire. As the soldiers talk, Rollo finds out his wife has left him to marry a French POW, and as Lieutenant Von Witzland tries to comfort Rollo, the Russians launch a surprise attack. As the Germans try to hold off the Russians, Kolya escapes. A team of men escape into the sewers with flamethrowers. Von Witzland strays from his men and captures Irina, a female Russian soldier who knows German. She proposes a ceasefire to get them both back to their comrades, but when they come to a canal filled with bodies, Irina suddenly pushes him in, but he is rescued by his men. They find a wounded German and try to take him to the hospital, but he dies while waiting for medical treatment. When the three main characters try to use force to get preferential treatment, they are arrested by Captain Haller and his men. Von Witzland requests to speak to Hauptmann Musk, hoping he will help bail them out of trouble. Musk is speaking with General Hentz and other senior officers when Von Witzland arrives, but refuses to help. An enraged Von Witzland sees this as a betrayal of him and his men. The soldiers are sent to "Strafbattalion", a Punishment Battalion. Here they meet "Otto", a former officer who served with Hauptmann Musk at Brest-Litovsk. It begins to snow. The soldiers are digging for land mines in the snow and freezing weather, when a group of armed men arrive, play a cruel trick on them, and force them into a truck, where they are given a chance for reinstatement: the Russians have shattered the Romanian units on the flanks of the German Sixth Army, and the battered soldiers must now fight off overwhelming numbers. They are mustered for a defensive action to hold Marinovka, the best chance to break through the Soviet encirclement and link up with a German relief force on its way. After the briefing, Otto and Musk have a conversation. Otto knows that they don't have a chance, and wants to surrender, but he knows it won't happen. On the way to the front in a truck, Otto advises his new friends to tell their families they've died; he's been home and found his wife and kids were complete strangers to him.



A detailed sequence showing a Soviet tank-infantry attack on prepared positions is shown, and despite heavy casualties on both sides, the Soviets are repelled. Afterward, Fritz snatches a pair of boots from a dead Russian soldier and finds that they fit. They soon go back to Hauptmann Musk, with whom they share one last cigar, taking turns smoking, and afterward, lug their anti-tank cannon back to base through the snow. The major German base is a Russian village. They take refuge from the cold in one of the sheds. They are taken out of the shed and earn the right to return to their unit. They are reinstated and given an unsavory mission - forming an execution squad against alleged civilian "saboteurs", to prove their loyalty. General Hentz passes rank insignia to each one, then leaves in his staff car, having given responsibility of carrying out the killings to Captain Haller. However, they discover that among the civilians is Kolya, the same Russian boy they had met before. Despite their efforts to convince Haller to spare the boy, they are ordered back in line and threatened with execution if they fail to carry out the killings.



After the executions, the men stumble back to the tent, where Fritz Reiser proposes a plan to get out of Stalingrad by faking injuries and boarding a medical flight. Rollo objects, and calls it desertion, but Von Witzland, son of a distinguished German officer, announces he no longer feels bound by his soldier's oath. Von Witzland, Reiser, and Muller attempt to escape by faking injuries and boarding a medical flight. Otto, realizing that he as lost everything, stays. So does Rollo, who is willing to fight to the end. They pass a Russian settlement and receive directions to the airport from civilians in exchange for bread. They also pass German dead and collect dog tags and bandages. However, the attempt is ultimately unsuccessful, and they are left stranded as the last German transport plane takes off under heavy Russian artillery fire. They make their way back to the other men as part of a long column of German soldiers.



They make it back to the tent, and converse with Otto, and are sickened to find Musk's foot severely frostbitten. Brief respite comes from an airdrop, but Captain Haller shows up and threatens to shoot them as looters. When he accidentally kills Muller as he is tackled, the enraged soldiers shoot Haller dead after he reveals the location of a warehouse in the city. The three main characters find salvation in an abandoned warehouse, where they find Irina, the girl Von Witzland encountered in the sewers. She has been captured and forced into sexual slavery. At first, she begs to be shot, but after she calms down, she explains to Von Witzland how she knows German. The men try to entertain themselves in the house. However, Hauptmann Musk resumes his role as an officer, and calls them deserters. Otto goes insane and commits suicide. Rollo leaves, carrying Musk, where they have an encounter with General Hentz, leading a long column of troops. He is surrendering his men to the Russians. As the men walk away, Rollo and Musk remain alone, and their fates are left uncertain. Meanwhile, in the house, Fritz is talking with Von Witzland. Neither man wants to die, but they know that the only alternative is a freezing labor camp in Siberia and to be disgraced as soldiers. Irina agrees to lead them to safety, but is shot by her own side when she is mistaken for a German soldier. Von Witzland and Reiser then try to find safety, but they freeze to death.

Cast



Dominique Horwitz Obergefreiter Fritz Reiser

Thomas Kretschmann Leutnant Hans von Witzland

Jochen Nickel Unteroffizier Manfred " Rollo" Rohleder

Sebastian Rudolph Oberschütze GeGe Müller

Dana Vávrová Irina

Martin Benrath General Hentz

Sylvester Groth Otto

Karel Heřmánek Hauptmann Hermann Musk

Heinz Emigholz Schütze Edgar Emigholz

Ferdinand Schuster Double Edgar

Oliver Broumis HGM

Dieter Okras Hauptmann Haller

Zdeněk Vencl Wölk

Mark Kuhn Feldwebel Pflüger