The Last Chance (1945) User Reviews

Surprisingly -- Okay.

[rmax304823 · 7/10 · 24 December 2008]

I wasn't expecting much at the start of the film. A Yank and a "Limey" escape from a POW train in northern Italy, decide to try for the Swiss border, and begin to trade wisecracks about cigarettes and food as they run into a few minor obstacles. And then, quite unexpectedly, it turns into a serious adult drama.

The duo meet an Italian girl who advises them to hop a ride aboard a northbound train. Then they find refuge in a Catholic church, along with a dozen other refugees of all ages from the Nazis. They are a mixed group and each subset speaks its own language, which requires subtitles. That in itself is a rarity in a 1945 British movie about escapees from the Nazis. We hear English, Italian, French, German, and Dutch. And although the refugees are a pathetic bunch, their individual sorrows aren't dwelt on for easy pathos.

The terror of imprisonment and probably death lingers constantly in the shadows but the only German soldiers we see are silhouettes against the snowy mountaintops or half-heard voices from the other side of the door. Missing: The arrogant Nazi officer with the sneer and the monocle that is so often present in these kinds of films. Also missing: Long, impassioned speeches about freedom and democracy and "you and your kind." These are just a handful of impoverished people in rags trying to find food and a place to warm up. By Jupiter, if I didn't know better I'd be thinking neorealism.

I don't know where the movie was shot but the locations exceed our expectations. The British film industry was about on its knees during this point of the war and yet the evocation of a bombed-out Italian village is successful, and the Alpine snow is definitely bone chilling.

The dialog is adult too. A little girl asks her grandmother where the English soldier has gone now that he's buried. Asleep, says the grandmother. And her son, Bernard, who sacrificed himself for the rest? "Asleep too -- deep and safe."

Deservedly Acclaimed WWII Film

[mstomaso · 8/10 · 15 March 2010]

Director Leopold Lindtberg grew up in Austria in the early 20th century. As German fascism cast its shadow across Europe, Lindtberg emigrated to Switzerland where, after several years of controversial film-making during and after World War II, he was eventually naturalized.

The Last Chance is a work of historical fiction which draws its power from consistent plausibility made possible by its historic and geographic context. The story takes place mostly in the Italian and Swiss Alps late in Mussolini's rule. It follows two young POWs - one British and one American - who escape from a prisoner transport train in Northern Italy and hatch a scheme to hike across the mountains to neutral Switzerland.

The relationships these soldiers develop along the way - with those who help them, inform on them, shelter and clothe them, and particularly those who come to depend on them - show us a side of World War II which is not often well-explored in non-propaganda films of the era. Although The Last Chance is powerfully anti-war, it is by no means a propaganda film. Rather, it is a thoughtful work of social realism depicting the power and value of humanity to overcome its own tendencies toward collective insanity.

Filmed near the end of world war II under what must have been very challenging conditions, Lindtberg's few advantages must have been that it would be easy enough to find destroyed villages, burnt out buildings and talented actors willing to make a film celebrating the human spirit for little money. The exceptional realism of the sets, the effortless cinematography, and the talented international cast (very few of whom are known for any other films) make the film very easy to watch, and no suspension of disbelief is required as the script, story and action of the plot seem to fit right in place.

There are no recognizable stars in The Last Chance, but the casting is perfect and there are some very powerful performances. The two leads (John Hoy and Ray Reagan - neither of whom ever made another film) are very good, and most of the Italian cast members give noteworthy performances.

Praised as a masterpiece of suspense by none other than Alfred Hitchcock, The Last Chance is a war film which contains very little battle action, and a surprising amount of philosophical dialog. It may be one of the lowest-budget films to win both a Palme D'Or (1945) and Golden Globe (1947), and the courage of its director in making it when the outcome of the conflict it depicts was far from clear is mirrored in the courage of the protagonists. Lindtberg also drew from his own intimate experience with central Europe during the war to create the memorable characters and story line of this brave film, and it shows.

Realistic, with Great Character Studies

[romanorum1 · 7/10 · 13 June 2012]

It is the late summer of 1943 and the Italians are sick of war. Marshall Badoglio has usurped power from Mussolini and is negotiating peace with the allies. It is thought that the bombings will stop and the guns will be silent throughout the troubled land. But like fourth and fifth century barbarians, the Nazis invade Italy from the north and move as far south as they can. So Italy becomes divided between the Allied and Fascist / Nazi sectors. Italian partisans (always pro-allied of course) attack a POW train taking allied prisoners to a military prison in northern Italy. A captured American sergeant (Jim Braddock) and a British lieutenant (John Halliday) escape, and aided by an attractive local girl, Tonina, eventually make it to a small village. The ultimate goal of the escapees is neutral Switzerland, as the American and British allies hold southern Italy, too far away to traverse. The allied POWs find refuge with a most kindly and understanding Catholic priest (Romano Calo), who we soon discover, is hiding European refugees of various nationalities in his church. There Johnny and Jimmy meet Major Telford, a British officer who became separated from his regiment. Not only does the priest hide the soldiers, but he also tries to find food for them. The situation is precarious because there is a local ex-fascist official who resents his new treatment and who has knowledge about the priest. Plus the German soldiers will need little prodding to shut down a Catholic Church, and maybe even shoot the priest. Meanwhile Nazi paratroopers, in a daring move, have rescued Mussolini from capture (September 1943), and he is back in charge in the north (although of a truncated area and only as a puppet ruler).

The village is now under siege by the Germans, and the Italian partisan army is holding back the German forces, but not for long. The three allied soldiers agree to take the refugees to a town where a trustworthy Italian guide resides. But when they arrive, they discover that the Germans, having discovered a hidden shotgun, have used their excuse to shoot all of the town men without exception, including the guide. Now the escaped POW soldiers must make their move through mountain snow to escape to Switzerland without a guide. Do the allied soldiers take the refugees along, even though they will be slowed down by them? The movie is one of sacrifice and moral choices, not military action. How far does one go to put his life in danger? For instance, risking her own life, it is the Italian girl who initially helps the escaped allied POWs. Then, at the German checkpoint, when he is as close as anyone can be to certain death in the tensest of situations, the wagon driver saves the two POWs. The Catholic priest, who pays the ultimately price, has sacrificed all to help ordinary people (Italians, Dutch, French, Slavs), even non-Catholic Christians and Jews. Contrast these with the innkeeper, an ex-fascist, who yearns for his old position. What do the three soldiers decide? And what becomes of them? How many will escape? This powerful film was filmed during World War II, but not released until after the war ended, as there could have been reprisals from the Nazis. This suspense thriller is recommended, especially for World War II aficionados.

This is how to make a film

[drystyx · 7/10 · 1 July 2011]

I think that pretty sums up this film.

The other reviews say it very well. And to them, I say "ditto" to those reviews that praise this film. But you want something more specific, don't you? Fair enough.

It's a story of refuges trying to get away from the Nazis, and we begin with a British and American soldier for much of the film, as they make their way into a village. Later, they are joined by a British officer and civilian refuges.

Along with the other characters, we are treated to some very believable people, as three dimensional as you get, and the directing and camera work lets us follow the story, as well as the people and their emotions, in this odyssey.

There are heroics, but these are incredibly believable heroics, and we get the full "motivation" for everything that happens. The camaraderie of the times is beautiful, and is something missing in today's movies.

This is a "smart" movie. Not only do we get awesome intellectually stimulating ideas, drama, and story, but we also get awesome camera, directing, and action. This is well paced, certainly more fluid and active than 95% of the movies that have been made since 1965, if I am to pick a year in which a modern era begins.

Thumbs up. If you get a chance, this is a movie that will excite you on all levels, for all audiences.

One Of The Best War Films I've Seen In A Decade Or Longer

[verbusen · 9/10 · 14 June 2009]

Last Chance is a must see gem for the war film buff (like myself). I got a copy of it through the Millcreek distributor's 50 Combat Movie Pack which is a 50 public domain film box set (purchased through Amazon for under $20.00 "used" or less then 50 cents a movie). The print on the version I got was pretty rough at places, but this story really tugs at the heart strings so it's worth the effort to see.

The story takes place during the collapse of the Mussolini government in 1943 Italy, a situation that I am intrigued in to start with. Brit and American POW's are on there way to more secure territory for safekeeping in Germany. When their train is blasted many of them run to the woods, that is where our story begins.

Along the way we are focused on two lone POW's who venture to the Swiss frontier and all the people they meet along the way.

Will they escape? How many of them will live? It actually is a movie that seems very real in what could have happened and may for all I know be based on a real life story. In two scenes I got so caught up in it that I got pretty emotional, which in a war movie for me means it's good.

I cannot rate it highly on too many technical merits, it's production values resembled late 50's American TV to me, but I will give it a good A grade for realism, the refugess and POW's do not have a "polished" look to themselves like a Sinatra had in Von Ryans Expess (another movie about the same topic that I loved but for different reasons), these characters look very very real, so I will say that while it was made on a low budget, it has a lot of heart and more than makes up for it.

Since it's public domain you may be able to find it easily online, I highly recommend it, its very powerful at times and very truthful for a movie that was released in 1946. Its very contemporary to this day. 9 of 10, a very pleasant surprise to watch.

Italian resistance

[AAdaSC · 5/10 · 6 December 2016]

This film tells the story of a troupe of escaped prisoners and persecuted minorities on the run in Italy during WW2 trying to make it to freedom in Switzerland. The location setting stands this film apart as well as the fact that we never see a German Nazi's face. They are only seen from a distance or passing by outside. We do get betrayal within a group of villagers, a priest who shelters refugees, and an escape plan that has to constantly change. Ultimately, the film is predictable and some characters can be annoying. Something else to consider is that the 3 main characters were all real-life soldiers who had ended up in Switzerland. Two of them were prisoners of war who had escaped from Italy and 1 had to make an emergency landing after a bombing mission and was detained there. It is this fact that swung the balance in favour of keeping onto this film to view again as we get a slice of reality. Unfortunately, the sound quality is poor.

It's always interesting to learn something new about WW2 and I never knew the role of the Italian Resistance on their home turf. So, I appreciate the topic.

A Class of its Own

[krishkmenon · 10/10 · 25 April 2011]

This is a little gem of a war film. The real value and sense of the film is its date of making and the place where it was filmed. To answer the first would be 1944 /45 just before the fall of Berlin and the place neutral Switzerland and last but not least the film maker a refugee from Nazi Germany.

The overtones of the movie are compelling and profound but needs to be viewed in aspect to its time of making and the situation prevailing.

The plot revolves around two POWs (one British and one American) who escape from a POW train just after Mussolini has been ousted from power in 1943 Italy and try to make it to the Swiss border first by boat(assisted by a lovely Italian girl) and after being assured that they can rejoin their ranks since an Armistice has been declared.

They are later forced to take recourse of action to once again escape as Mussolini is rescued by the Germans and Italy is once again at war with the Allies. They are then assisted by a local priest to join up with a batch of refugees (probably Jewish but we are never told of their religion, the only clue offered to the viewer is that some are not present in church, are of different nationalities, and one refugee is writing about the plight of minorities in Europe - possibly about Hitlers final solution) all of whom seek the refuge of neutral Switzerland and then possibly America.

The two POWs are joined by a British Major who has been cut off from his regiment and wants to rejoin his ranks but circumstances force him to accompany the refugees.

We are also shown some vignettes of the war atrocities by the Nazis as viewed by the two POWs when they escape in a goods train and of people being separated and sent to concentration camps. All these atrocities are depicted subtly but leave no doubt to the viewer in the message that it conveys.

How the small group struggle to reach Switzerland braving the weather the Nazis and other odds form the rest of the movie. Interestingly the British POW is shown as the strongest member of the crowd as he after being wounded insists on the Swiss army permitting the refugees to stay if he is to accept medical attention being covered by the Geneva Convention. He succeeds in getting the refugees asylum but loses his life due to his injuries in the process.

The film is very evident in its portrayal of the futility of war and its strong anti-war ethos is subtly enveloped in the greater message about war torn Europe. The acting by non-decrepit actors is adequate and at times outstanding. The direction is good but the camera is outstanding.

A must see for all film buffs of the genre.

Sooooooo Crusty & Stale

[chrissso · 3/10 · 8 March 2017]

There may be a good movie in here ... but this film is soooooo crusty and stale that we will never know it. Simply put it is so painful to watch that you will be thinking off the power button throughout (I forced myself to make it to the 50% mark).

It is a French film ... circa 1945. It is an interesting time and place ... yet it is so far behind in technology ... especially the sound track and cameras. More so the film features the most awkward English dialogue ever ... nobody speaks like that!

My advice is to pass on it and pray for a remake ... 3 of 10 ... ouch!

POST: To show IMDb what I think of their disabling their message boards, I am vowing to stop using Amazon's pay per view service! Google Play, VUDU and Netflix are excellent alternatives ... and are often cheaper. Thanks IMDb ... way to treat your dedicated customers who want to share their passion for films and history!

A Very Realistic War Film

[andy-20656-62037 · 10/10 · 8 September 2018]

The Last Chance - Swiss Film - 1945

I first watched this film on BBC Television when I was about 11 years old in 1962.

I remember thinking about how realistic it was, leaving nothing out of place as a good film production. On IMDB, I notice that no "goofs", anachronisms, or continuity flaws are listed. That is because there weren't any.

What inspired me about the films authenticity, was how the escaped prisoners of war overcame the language difficulty - one of the men had a working knowledge of the Italian language that he would have picked up as a prisoner of war.

Language problems are always something that more commercial War films often seem to short cut - as if the film audience is supposed to believe that everyone in Europe speaks English.

I searched for years to see if I could find any reference to this film and eventually found it in a copy of Leslie Halliwell's Film Goers Companion. The advent of the Internet allowed me to watch the film again on YouTube.

What is also quite unusual about the film is that the leading roles are played by actors who, themselves, had served in the Second World War, had been captured, and had escaped to Switzerland - very brave men.

It is also interesting that the supporting cast consisted of many well-known European actors and actresses. Performers such as Luisa Rossi and Therese Giehse were very famous at the time. The latter was once described as the greatest actress in Europe.

It is surprising that I have never seen the film shown again on the television since 1962.

The film has many poignant moments, which adds to the whole defined aura of the film.

The Last Chance neither glamorises, nor comes over as an anti-war film, but serves as a reverent tribute to the brave men and women who served in such a conflict where so many people suffered and died.

I give it 10 out of 10.

Real people, real locations, real story!

[JohnHowardReid · 10/10 · 11 October 2017]

This impressive WW2 documentary-like movie showing both the plight and heroism of refugees seeking asylum in Switzerland was obviously shot on actual locations. You can almost feel the snow and shudder at the seemingly futile efforts of a large band of civilian refugees, plus a few allied escapees, who are all forced to cope both with the vile weather and an equally vile body of German soldiers who are determined to track them down and kill them.

This large group of refugees, who tackle the snow and high mountains as they attempt to escape from their merciless pursuers, contains men, women and children of all ages, but the biggest groups are the very young and the very old who are forced to tackle the snow, the high mountains, the vile weather and yet fight off cold and hunger as well as evade their determined pursuers.

And even if the refugees make it to Switzerland, will the Swiss authorities welcome them or send them all back - old men, young men, old women and young kids - to literally rot in prison, and certainly to be abused and ultimately shot by their Nazi captors?

All the players, young and old, deliver outstanding performances. Yet they are not actors at all but genuine people. E.G. Morrison, John Hoy and Ray Reagan play American officers who come to the aid of the refugees. They deliver stellar performances, even though they were not actors but simply American officers who were actually shot down near Switzerland and were waiting to be shipped back to the States.

This "Last Chance" is no make-believe story but a grim and highly absorbing reminder of Nazi oppression and callous disregard of liberty and freedom. The DVD was formally available from Vintage Film Buff, - an excellent label that is no longer trading.

Early WWII film of escape and flight from Nazis

[SimonJack · 8/10 · 19 April 2015]

"The Last Chance" is a movie about escape and pursuit. It is about Italian villagers helping Jews and Allied POWs escape; and about the Allies helping the Jews as well. The setting for the film was 1943, and the place was northern Italy. This little known film was made in Switzerland and released in Zurich, on May 26, 1945 -- less than three weeks after the end of WWII in Europe. It opened later that year in New York City (Nov. 27), in Brussels (Dec.2), and in Paris (Dec. 19). It appeared in most other European countries in 1946 – but wasn't shown in Italy or Austria until 1947. It was distributed by MGM.

Most of the cast were unknown outside of Europe. The main supporting actors had much more movie experience than any of the three male leads who played the Allied soldiers fleeing the Nazis. Ewart Morris appeared in only one other movie, and John Hoy and Ray Reagan appeared only in this film. Even with their inexperience, the three leads were very good. Characters in the film speak four languages – Italian, English, German and French.

The quality of the film I have is very poor. The movie was obviously made on the cheap, but it is very well done and is an excellent story. Very little costuming or casting was needed of German soldiers. Instead, much of the filming was done of the escapees and villagers helping them. Excellent filming techniques were used. The use of key lighting with lots of shadows reminds one of the early styles used by Alfred Hitchcock and John Ford.

The movie most likely was filmed in Switzerland and part of Italy around Lake Maggiore. This 52,500-acre lake (23,870 hectares) straddles the border of Italy and Switzerland. It was a route frequently used by escaping POWs and downed Allied pilots. Other war movies have been made with escapes by way of Lake Maggiore. At the time of filming, director Leopold Lindtberg would have had no difficulty finding a burned or war- damaged Italian villages in the area. Many locals would be able to serve as extras for the townspeople in the film. These were people who had lived through such treachery and horror within just the past year or two. The film won the grand prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1946, and earned a Golden Globe in 1947.

"The Last Chance" is a very good war drama from WWII. At the start of the war, Italy was a fascist state and ally of Germany. But the people overthrew Benito Mussolini in 1943. And, throughout the war, Italians aided Jews fleeing the Nazis. They hid and helped American, British and other Allied downed pilots; and they helped escaping POWs. Thousands of Italians were killed by the Germans for aiding escaping Allied soldiers. No other nation during WWII did more to help those fleeing the Nazis. This is a fine movie about that time and effort.

Was Every Escaped POW In Switzerland An Actor?

[boblipton · 9/10 · 20 December 2019]

In the chaos surrounding the Italian campaign, an American flier and a British officer meet after having escaped internment. They make their way north towards Switzerland. They are aided by ordinary people. When news comes that Mussolini has escaped the partisans, a local Fascist rats them out to the Germans and they have to make a run for it over the wintry mountains, leading a desperate band of refugees.

This Swiss movie was directed and co-written by Leopold Lindtberg. He knew something about being a refugee. He began his career in the theater and the movies in his native Vienna, but in the early 1940s, his Jewish religion forced him to flee to Switzerland. By chance he was able to cast this movie well: two of the "escaped British officers" were precisely that, and professional actors to boot; the American was a flier whose plane came down in Switzerland, and was being held there until matters could be sorted out.

Although there are dramatic, theatrical moments, the setting in the mountains and towns of Switzerland, and the casting of locals lends a humanist air to the movie that made me think of Pressberger & Powell's movies of the period. the camerawork is extraordinary; instead of using rapid cutting to create excitement, cinematographer Emil Berna uses a moving camera, with fast, long movements to produce a sense of panic.

Although this sort of movie was almost a commonplace of the era, it's ANABASIS-like plot of trying to escape -- only this time, it's to Switzerland, instead of the sea -- and its fortuitous casting makes it extraordinary.

Without a doubt, one of the best World War II films you've never heard of.

[mark.waltz · 10/10 · 10 February 2023]

This film gets a perfect rating from me for several reasons, one of the top of which is to remind me to add this to my list of the best of 1945 and the best of it genre, filled with hundreds of films made during the war alone, most of them very similar and a good percentage rather trite in their use of propaganda. A film produced in Switzerland, it utilizes many languages in dramatizing its complex story, an aspect that really works because of the reality it adds to the film. It deals with what happens when a group of American soldiers land in the Italian countryside, seek out help from the locals, and discovers the horrors of war through the people they seek to help find asylum in Switzerland, learning that just because someone is the nationality of the country they are at war with doesn't make them the enemy.

All you have to do is look into the eyes of each of the characters involved in this story, people of all ages and nationalities, coming together in a horrific time and seeking to find a way to survive as the world seems to fall apart around them. One old woman in particular has an impact on an American soldier, seen attempting suicide and later becoming his surrogate mother as the emotions between them continue to blend. The film doesn't stop at showing the general horrors of war films have shown since the beginning of the medium. It delves into aspects that have seldomly been touched upon. Many of these aspects are not talked about in the script, shown in the actions of the people involved. This definitely goes into my list of top 10 films of 1945, with an ensemble that is perfect simply because these characters come to life and no name actor is needed to make the story seem real. Absolutely top-notch in every way.

Heart wrenching but uplifting

[johnbmoore-17 · 9/10 · 6 January 2022]

This is a wonderful movie. The copy I saw was not good, but that did not detract from the emotional and realistic story. It provides, as much as anything can, what seems to be a legitimate sense of the desperation that these refugees must have felt as they were driven from their homes by the war around them. Exceptional story in a raw but effective production.

Surprisingly good.

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 14 June 2019]

"The Last Chance" is a production by the European branch of MGM and has a most unusual cast. None of the actors are particularly famous and they speak many different languages.

The film is set in Italy just after the ouster of Mussolini. The country is excited to see the Fascist regime go...and for two stranded soldiers, an American and British one, who are thrilled that they can finally relax and not worry about being captured. However, their joy is very short-lived, as the Germans soon pour into the country and they take control. Now the two men need to be on their guards again. Along the way, they meet many lovely Italians who assist them as well as many other refugees seeking freedom in nearby Switzerland. What's to become of all these displaced people?

The movie came out about six months after the war in Europe had ended and it brings attention to refugees...who were seldom talked about in movies of the day. Well written, compelling and worth seeing.

enjoyable film with a great message

[oscar-35 · 20 September 2012]

*Spoiler/plot- 1945, A group of escaped Allied prisoners of war and some 'undesirable' Italian elderly, Jewish, and other foreign national villagers escape through northern Italy towards to neutral Switzerland by foot.

*Special Stars- Edward G. Morrison, Luisa Rossi, John Hoy,

*Theme- Working together is the only hope against an oppressor.

*Trivia/location/goofs- MGM British made film. The film won Golden Globe.

*Emotion- An enjoyable film with a great message. An extremely pertinent and well acted scene in the snow shelter where all the many people finally bond together and help each other for their group safety and survival.