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A Time To Love And A Time To Die

1958, Movie, NR, 133 mins

A Time To Love And A Time To Die: Review

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This is a sad, romantic account of two lovers who spend three innocent weeks together in a bombed-out section of Germany before being driven apart by WW II. Ernest Graeber (John Gavin) is a German soldier on the Russian front who, after fighting for two years, is allowed a furlough. Upon his return home, however, he learns that his town has been reduced to rubble by steady bombing. His search for news of his parents' whereabouts leads him to the home of the family physician, Dr. Kruse, an opponent of the Nazis who has been hauled off by the Gestapo. There he meets Kruse's daughter, Elizabeth (Lilo Pulver), a sweet but cynical young woman with pessimistic views of the future. Both hoping to find their parents, Ernest and Elizabeth fall in love, though their romantic interludes are spoiled by the reality of air-raid sirens and the deadly whistling of bombs. They marry but have little hope of living out their idyllic young dreams of love, for Ernest must report back to the Russian front or face the wrath of the Gestapo. The most honest and personal film from Douglas Sirk (WRITTEN ON THE WIND; IMITATION OF LIFE), a Danish-born director who spent his early years in Germany and began his filmmaking career (as Detlef Sierck) under the constraints of Nazi rule, the aptly titled A TIME TO LOVE AND A TIME TO DIE is not an apology for Germany's actions in WW II, but a complex and realistic portrayal in which Sirk refuses to paint all German soldiers as barbarians. Instead he portrays them as men--some strong, some weak, but all partially implicated in their country's atrocities. Beautifully photographed by Russell Metty (the CinemaScope framing is unforgivably absent from the videocassette) amidst some of Germany's ruins, this features some excellent performances, including the adorable Pulver as Elizabeth, Keenan Wynn as a high-class lieutenant, and Thayer David as a former schoolmate of Ernest's turned decadent Nazi. The film is based on a novel by Erich Maria Remarque (All Quiet on the Western Front), who also has a small role as Ernest's former teacher. Oscar nominated for Best Sound Recording. leave a comment
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