Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		4.0

Attack! Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov January 4, 2021

Robert Aldrich's "Attack!" (1956) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The only bonus feature on the disc is a vintage theatrical trailer for the film. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

Where's the backup?

Every single one of Robert Aldrich’s great films utilizes the same trick. I would like to describe it to you and clarify why Aldrich liked it so much because it will help you place Attack! in a proper context as well.

Regardless of the period setting, Aldrich’s great films are always about flawed characters that make mistakes proving that they are human. It does not matter if they are supposed to be good or bad -- they are flawed characters first, and then everything else the screenplay wants them to be. This trick made it possible for Aldrich to make extraordinary situations -- like the desert struggle for survival from The Flight of the Phoenix and the horrible fiasco in Berlin from Ten Seconds to Hell -- look entirely normal and relatable. Also, the trick repeatedly allowed Aldrich to change the viewer’s point of view and redirect his attention toward issues he cared about. This is why in Kiss Me Deadly the Cold War paranoia eventually overtakes the noir drama and nastiness. For the exact same reason in The Big Knife Hollywood’s hypocrisy becomes the focus of attention as well.

In Attack!, Aldrich sets the stage for his favorite trick even before the title of his film appears on the screen. During a WW2 military operation somewhere in Belgium, Lieutenant Joe Costa (Jack Palance) loses many of his best men in an entirely preventable massacre. When the person that failed to provide the necessary support for the operation, Captain Erskine Cooney (Eddie Albert), refuses to acknowledge his error, Costa goes berserk. Immediately after that Aldrich begins to shift the focus of attention away from the intense fighting and toward the animosity that flourishes between the two men, a move that allows him to permanently alter the viewer’s point of view as well. With Costa and Cooney now openly confronting each other, the nature of the drama significantly changes and, in the process, redefines the personalities, strengths, and weaknesses of the soldiers. A third high-ranking officer, Clyde Bartlett (Lee Marvin), then enters the picture, but instead of helping to resolve the conflict ends up infusing it with cynicism that transforms Costa and Cooney into irrational enemies.

The overwhelming majority of war films that Hollywood produced after the end of WW2 are either fairy tales or propaganda pieces populated by well-polished ‘heroes’ reciting scripted speeches and promoting particular inaccurate views of different historic events. Attack! is not one of those films. There are a couple of reasons why.

One of them is its insistence that WW2, like every other conventional war, was essentially a game of survival that produced winners, meaning survivors, in a lot of controversial ways. This is an important distinction because it challenges the classic concept of ‘war hero’ that other post-WW2 films promote. For example, pay very close attention to how Aldrich profiles Bartlett and how he treats the soldiers around him. He is precisely the type of calculating chameleon the military should never welcome, and yet a poor deconstruction of the drama can quite easily fool one to conclude that Cooney is the real troublemaker. Then there is the depiction of the military hierarchy, which is, to put it mildly, seriously unflattering. Consider Cooney’s order to send Costa to the remote house and all of the events that ensue after that. At the end of his mission, is Costa a hero? His actions are heroic, but the film wants the viewer to spend more time pondering his fate, and rightfully so.

The most uncomfortable truth that emerges from the film is that the war was won by brave men of discipline that covered for other men that weren’t like them. It does not matter if the latter were cowards, cheaters, chameleons, or something else -- they just weren’t like their comrades, but many of them came back. This type of brutal honesty is very rare in a war film.

Palance is simply astonishing, but the film is full of stars that shine bright. Albert, for instance, gives a career-defining performance that should have earned him at least one major award recognizing his brilliance.

Attack! Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Attack! arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

The release is sourced from an older master that was supplied by MGM. Even though it is quite obvious that ideally the grain structure should be tighter and better defined, the master is actually quite strong. I was very surprised to see how well the visuals hold on a larger screen, especially the darker ones where the grain almost begins to look noisy. For example, depth remains very pleasing and in many areas shadow definition ranges from very good to extremely good. In wider panoramic shots there is also good background information. Furthermore, the entire master is graded very convincingly, though there is a bit of room for improvements in terms of saturation levels. Image stability excellent. There are no traces of problematic digital work and this is the main reason why the master has such pleasing organic qualities. Again, a new 2K or 4K master will reveal noticeably tighter visuals -- for reference, see the recent release of Robert Aldrich's The Big Knife, which is sourced from a fresh 2K master -- but this is a solid, healthy and overall very fine presentation of the film. My score is 3.75/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Attack! Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The audio is clear and stable. Given the nature of the action, there are more than a few areas with intense dynamic movement, but do not expect it to match the oomph of modern soundtracks. I did not notice any potentially distracting age-related imperfection, but on the other hand I must admit that my eyes were glued to the screen. My impression is that when the folks at MGM prepared the current master, the audio was properly transferred and all of its native qualities are retained.

Attack! Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - vintage trailer for Attack!. In English, not subtitled. (3 min).

Attack! Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Very few war films mix heroism and cynicism because it has to be done with convincing authority and a clear vision of a worthy objective. If the mix is not managed right, you end up with a film that rubs a whole lot of different people the wrong way. Attack!, one of Robert Aldrich's greatest films, is so cynical that at times it almost hurts, but it is the very reason why it gets right the definition of a war hero. This recent release is sourced from an older but nice organic master that was supplied by MGM. Unfortunately, it does not have any meaningful bonus features. Nevertheless, I encourage you to pick it up for your library. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.