Counterpoint

One of those rare films in which Heston is not in a toga, a doublet, or spurs. He is the conductor of a large orchestra giving a concert in a small European town in the winter of 1944. The town is bombed, and the orchestra scurries for cover. Heston puts the musicians on a bus which is later stopped by German soldiers led by Diffring. The German take the musicians to a castle where he plans to kill them all, but their lives are saved by Schell, who reasons that a concert by Heston and his crew will be helpful to morale. Heston refuses at first, and Schell sits at the piano and plays a classical piece with no style whatsoever. Heston can't bear it, so he then plays ...