Ski Troop Attack | |
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Directed by | Roger Corman |
Written by | Charles B. Griffith |
Produced by | Roger Corman |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Andrew M. Costikyan |
Edited by | Anthony Carras |
Music by | Fred Katz |
Distributed by | Filmgroup |
Release date |
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Running time | 63 minutes |
Country | United States |
Languages |
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Ski Troop Attack is a 1960 American war film directed by Roger Corman and starring Michael Forest, Frank Wolff, Richard Sinatra and Wally Campo. Filmgroup released the film as a double feature with Battle of Blood Island (1960).
In 1944, five American soldiers led by Lt. Factor are skiing on a reconnaissance mission behind enemy lines in Germany's Hürtgen Forest during World War II. Sgt. Potter has ordered the Americans to attack the Germans, to the annoyance of Lt. Factor, who wants the patrol to be for reconnaissance only.
The next morning, the troops see a large German unit with tanks. Factor radios the information and is informed that the Allies are under attack. The patrol encounters some Germans and a fight ensues in which an American is killed. The group find a cabin and order a young woman named Ilse to cook for them. She tries to poison the men's coffee, but Factor stops her. Ilse tries to shoot the soldiers and they kill her.
Factor orders the men to make camp at a nearby cave, where they celebrate Christmas. Factor decides to destroy a railroad trestle vital to the Germans. The men meet resistance from the Germans and a fight begins. The men succeed in destroying the rail line, but Jocko and Herman die.
The script was written by Charles B. Griffith, who had previously worked for Corman. Griffth was inspired in part by the Battle of the Hurtgen Forest. [1]
The film was shot in Deadwood, South Dakota in the Black Hills over ten days. [2] Corman selected the location because he could hire a crew from Chicago for lower rates than he would have paid a Los Angeles-based crew. To consolidate costs, Corman's brother Gene produced another film titled Beast from Haunted Cave at the same time on the same location, and with the same screenwriter and lead actors. The two films took five weeks to shoot, with one day off between films, and Beast from Haunted Cave was shot first. [3]
Michael Forest was paid $500 a week and later recalled that "what was taking place was tough on us physically." [4]
Corman hired ski teams from high schools in Deadwood and Lead but could only film them on weekends and after school. One played the Germans and the other played the Americans. He cast a German ski instructor to play the head of the German ski troop, but the instructor broke his leg two days before the shoot, so Corman played the role himself. He had skied occasionally at college and took a one-day skiing lesson prior to filming. [3] Corman recalled the shoot as "a very tough challenge. It was unbelievably cold and snowed all the time. [3]
The film's musical score, written by cellist Fred Katz, was originally written for A Bucket of Blood . According to Mark Thomas McGee, author of Roger Corman: The Best of the Cheap Acts, each time that Katz was asked to write music for Corman, Katz sold the same score as if it were new music. [5] The score was used in a total of seven films, including The Wasp Woman and Creature from the Haunted Sea . [6]
Variety liked the action sequences but found the characterization clichéd and the lack of establishing shots to be a weakness.[ citation needed ]
Monthly Film Bulletin called it "a crude war film which just about gets by when it sticks to action. But the attempts at deeper meaning and characterisaton ends in cliches flying thick and fast." [7]
Monte Hellman was an American film director, producer, writer, and editor. Hellman began his career as an editor's apprentice at ABC TV, and made his directorial debut with the horror film Beast from Haunted Cave (1959), produced by Gene Corman, Roger Corman's brother.
Walter Frank Hermann Wolff was an American actor whose film career began with roles in five 1958–61 Roger Corman productions and ended a decade later in Rome, after many appearances in European-made films, most of which were lensed in Italy.
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Creature from the Haunted Sea is a 1961 horror comedy movie directed by Roger Corman. Written by Charles B. Griffith, the movie is a parody of spy, gangster, and monster movies, concerning a secret agent, XK150, who uses the name "Sparks Moran" in order to infiltrate a criminal gang commanded by Renzo Capetto, who is trying to transport an exiled Cuban general with an entourage and a large portion of the Cuban treasury out of Cuba. Filmgroup released the movie as a double feature with Devil's Partner.
Beast from Haunted Cave is a 1959 horror/heist film directed by Monte Hellman and starring Michael Forest, Frank Wolff and Richard Sinatra. It was produced by Gene Corman, Roger Corman's brother. Filmed in South Dakota at the same time as Ski Troop Attack, it tells the story of bank robbers fleeing in the snow who run afoul of a giant spider-like monster that feeds on humans. The film was released as a double feature with The Wasp Woman (1959).
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The Wasp Woman is a 1959 American independent science-fiction horror film produced and directed by Roger Corman. Filmed in black-and-white, it stars Susan Cabot, Anthony Eisley, Michael Mark, and Barboura Morris. The film was originally released by Filmgroup as a double feature with Beast from Haunted Cave. To pad out the film's running time when it was released to television two years later, a new prologue was added by director Jack Hill.
Charles Byron Griffith was an American screenwriter, actor, and film director. He was the son of Donna Dameral, radio star of Myrt and Marge, along with Charles' grandmother, Myrtle Vail, and was best known for writing Roger Corman productions such as A Bucket of Blood (1959), The Little Shop of Horrors (1960), and Death Race 2000 (1975).
None but the Brave is a 1965 epic anti-war film directed by Frank Sinatra, with special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. Produced by Tokyo Eiga, Toho, and Sinatra Enterprises, it was the first film to be internationally co-produced between Japan and the United States.
The Hunt for Eagle One is a 2006 direct-to-video war film directed by Brian Clyde and produced by Roger Corman, starring Mark Dacascos, Theresa Randle, Ricardo Cepeda, Rutger Hauer, Joe Suba, and Zach McGowan. Set during Operation Enduring Freedom in the Philippines, the film follows a team of U.S. Marines who attempt to rescue a captured U.S. Marine Corps captain and an Armed Forces of the Philippines major, while tracking down a group of al-Qaeda terrorists intent on launching biological weapons.
Castle Keep is a 1969 American war comedy-drama film combining surrealism with tragic realism. It was directed by Sydney Pollack, and starred Burt Lancaster, Patrick O'Neal, Jean-Pierre Aumont, Bruce Dern and Peter Falk. The film appeared in the summer of 1969, a few months before the premiere of Pollack's smash hit They Shoot Horses, Don't They?
Highway Dragnet is a 1954 American film noir B film crime film directed by Nathan Juran from a story by U.S. Andersen and Roger Corman. The film stars Richard Conte, Joan Bennett and Wanda Hendrix. It was Roger Corman's first feature film credit. Corman also worked as an associate producer.
Atlas is a 1961 peplum film directed by Roger Corman and starring Michael Forest and Frank Wolff. It was filmed in Greece. Corman called it "my last attempt to do a big picture on a low budget." Writer Charles B. Griffith said "Atlas was a mess. It was a doomed project. "
Battle of Blood Island is a 1960 American World War II war film filmed in Puerto Rico and directed by Joel Rapp. It was based on the 1958 short story Expect the Vandals by Philip Roth. Filmgroup released the film, as a double feature with Ski Troop Attack.
Screaming Eagles is a 1956 American historical war film directed by Charles F. Haasd starring Tom Tryon, Jan Merlin and, in her film debut, French Miss Universe 1954 runner-up Jacqueline Beer. It was released by Allied Artists.
Frederick Katz was an American cellist and composer. He was among the earliest jazz musicians to establish the cello as a viable improvising solo instrument. Katz has been described in CODA magazine as "the first real jazz cellist."
Little Big Horn is a 1951 American Western film written and directed by Charles Marquis Warren starring Lloyd Bridges, John Ireland and Marie Windsor.
The Filmgroup was a production and distribution company founded by filmmakers Roger Corman and Gene Corman in 1959. Corman used it to make and distribute his own movies, as opposed to ones he was making for American International Pictures. The company ultimately folded, however, lessons from running the company helped Corman make a success later of New World Pictures. Filmgroup also produced early feature work of Francis Ford Coppola, Peter Bogdanovich, Charles B. Griffith, Curtis Harrington, Jack Hill, Monte Hellman, Robert Towne and Jack Nicholson.
Eugene Harold "Gene" Corman was an American film producer and agent. He was the younger brother of Roger Corman with whom he collaborated on several occasions.
Thunderbirds is a 1952 war film directed by John H. Auer and starring John Derek, John Drew Barrymore, Mona Freeman, Gene Evans, Eileen Christy and Ward Bond. It features the exploits of the 45th Infantry Division in the Italian campaign of World War II. The film was made by Republic Pictures with sequences filmed at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.