ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Maleeha Vincent It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Sarita Rafferty There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Kinley This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Leofwine_draca COUNTER-ATTACK is a WW2 movie with a unique perspective; the hero is a Russian soldier, played by Hollywood star Paul Muni, best known for his turn in the original SCARFACE. The setting is a bombed-out basement, where Muni takes refuge among a group of German soldiers, one of whom he suspects is a disguised officer; he must seek to identify the man to learn of Nazi plans. Like many older Hollywood films that are based on plays, this one is somewhat stagey and talky, although the premise is a suspenseful one. I did find that it had dated somewhat and there's not quite enough in the way of tension and plot twists to keep it going, so it flags at times.

jacobs-greenwood Produced and directed by Zoltan Korda with a screenplay by John Howard Lawson from an adaptation by Janet Stevenson and Philip Stevenson of Pobyeda, a play by Ilya Vershinin and Mikhail Ruderman, this psychological war drama features Paul Muni as Alexei Kulkov, a Russian soldier who, along with a female resistance fighter as his assistant Lisa Elenko (Marguerite Chapman), finds himself in a position to extract vital intelligence information from some Nazis that he's taken prisoner while all are trapped in a bombed out building.It's 1942 and the Russians have been driven back such that the German front is a thousand miles into their own country. But Ostrovski (Ian Wolfe, uncredited) and Colonel Seminov (George Macready) have a plan - to build an unseen bridge eighteen inches under the river which will enable Russian tanks and troops to cross - the first step of which is to drop paratroopers behind enemy lines. Among these are Kulkov, his German Shepherd dog and Kirichenko (Larry Parks), who are led by Elenko once they land. They attack the German stronghold at a factory and the Russians win the battle until an alerted squadron of enemy planes bomb the facility, trapping Kulkov and Elenko with seven German soldiers that they'd just discovered and captured. Fortunately, Kulkov's dog sniffed out this fact and, using a kind of Morse code on a pipe that extends from the room to the surface, Kirichenko learns the situation from his comrade and decides to venture back across the river to inform his commanding officers.By flashlight, lantern, then even candlelight, Kulkov and Elenko take turns keeping a machine gun trained on the Germans at the other end of the large room. Over the course of many hours, Kulkov uses his cunning and reasoning abilities to learn that among his prisoners is a German officer who might have important information that will help his country's counterattack. Of course, the Nazis do their best to keep the identity of their officer a secret while they scheme to overcome the increasingly tired Kulkov and Elenko, who is stabbed in a brief scuffle that ensues when the lantern is knocked out. As the hours become days, through interrogation and tricks, Kulkov learns the identity of the officer and then plays a dangerous game of "who knows what" during which he reveals more than he intended about the "invisible" bridge being built by his countrymen. When the trapped hear digging and voices on the surface, they know that the end is near but it's unclear who it is. Kulkov knows that he must kill his Nazi prisoners if it's Germans who are about to rescue them, but it turns out to be his Russian comrades, dog and Col. Seminov, who is thrilled to learn the location of his enemy's concentration.

SimonJack After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, East European sources began putting World War II stories on film. And, some movies that had been made since the 1970s were being released in the West. As a result, most people in the West for the first time saw the contributions Russia had made to help win the war. These films tell stories about the war on the Eastern Front, and the ravages of war on those countries and their people. But there were some movies made much earlier in Hollywood about Russia's fighting . Americans living during World War II would have seen those films. They were produced to show Americans the heroic efforts of the Russians as allies in WW II, and to win public for the U.S. programs to supply arms and weaponry to Russia. But, unlike other movies produced during the war years, the films on Russia's conflicts with the Germans were not shown as reruns in theaters or on TV beginning in the 1950s. No sooner had the war ended, when Joe Stalin began his power grab to control and enslave many eastern European countries and to oppress and murder his own people. Thus, the former ally in war was now an enemy in peace and a threat to western democracy. So, reruns of wartime propaganda films about the freedom-fighting Russians would conflict with the news of the day and the horrors reported on the Soviet oppression. The Cold War was on.But now the Cold War is more than two decades behind us. With modern technology we can transfer movies from film to DVDs. And, so older films too are now available. One of the best of those is "Counter-Attack," starring Paul Muni. The movie came out in 1945 and is based on a play that ran on Broadway in 1943. A very strong point of the film is that it doesn't portray German soldiers or Russians as buffoons or as ignorant. Indeed, the dialog of the Russians in the early scenes, and of Muni throughout the film, is of intelligent, discerning individuals. While the Germans are the enemy here, none of those individuals portrayed is seen as uneducated. They do come across as menacing and clever. The plot is excellent, and the directing and cinematography are exceptional. Muni plays his role perfectly, and several of the Germans are very good. This is a good propaganda film that put a WW II ally in good standing with Americans. If all Russians were like Muni and the rest of his special unit, we knew we had a competent, tough and capable ally. One worth fighting for and with. This movie is a welcome addition to my WW II film library.

verbusen Not much a "counter-attack" but a "stuck behind enemy lines" movie. I also saw this on Turner Classic Movies and that's probably the only place you'll ever see this movie as it has little main stream appeal. Think of this as a remake of "Sahara" without all the cool action, just the constant diatribe dialog. Released (according to IMDb) less then one month before the fall of Nazi , this movie was clearly a propaganda war movie among all the rest to motivate the masses in America. Except I question who or even where this film would have been shown to. I guess like where most of the previous reviewers here live, it was shown in the North East (mainly New York City) and probably in Chicago. Since Communism was still a slightly mainstream political movement in America, I guess it was also made for those people in America to help the war effort more. In only about one year things would dramatically change starting as soon as only a few months when Russia would not declare war on Japan until less then a month before the A bomb and total surrender so they could take part of the spoils. Then of course the Iron Curtain would go up and well, I'm sure surprised this film was even found in the vaults after all this time. One chilling scene if I can just point it out, is when the Leader says that a word does not exist anymore and that you cannot find it in the dictionary anymore, and Muni crosses out that word in his pocket dictionary. This would be reprised in the movie "Alphaville" where the society's leader erases words and the people can no longer use the word "love". It's hard for me to root for one s-bag group that is only slightly less s-bagish then the other group. Anyway, I like Muni and I liked Korda in some of their other works and I like war movies and had never seen this one, so I gave it a try. It's not out of line with anything else done at the time, it's just that there aren't many good war movies made during the war because they are all done for propaganda. 5 of 10, I see many others enjoy this but they are probably Travelers so take that into .