Ski Troop Attack Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		2.0

Ski Troop Attack Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 22, 2023

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of the two disc Beast from Haunted Cave Special Edition from Film Masters.

Rather amazingly Roger Corman is still with us at the venerable age of 97 as this review is being written, though his brother Gene passed in 2020 at a just somewhat less venerable age of 93. The Corman Brothers are of course legends, and even casual film fans will at least know of some of Roger's achievements, if arguably not being as aware of the contributions of Gene. Many will even know the brothers helped to found New World Pictures in 1970, but even those folks may either not have known or not remembered that earlier in their careers Roger and Gene founded a distribution company called The Filmgroup, even as Roger in particular was already making his name with his American International releases. Some of the supplements included in this two disc set of Filmgroup offerings get into at least a bit of the background for this situation, but suffice it to say the almost always budget conscious Cormans figured out they could produce their own films without the benefit of pesky union crews, and they could also perhaps manage to score some local freebies, or at least something pretty close, by visiting never before utilized locations for their films, which is why both of the films in this set perhaps just slightly comically used South Dakota for their productions. Beast From Haunted Cave is certainly in line with any number of other Corman "monster pictures", but kind of interestingly Ski Troop Attack is ostensibly set in the Hürtgen Forest during World War II.

On one hand Ski Troop Attack is a fascinating "little" example of the Cormans trying to utilize a location in order to fashion something a bit unusual. Unfortunately on the other hand the "historical accuracy" in this story may leave more than a bit to be desired, though I am probably a bit more attuned to this situation due to the fact that my father, who commanded one of the more celebrated battalions in the 9th Infantry Division during World War II, would have participated in the Hürtgen Forest maelstrom had he not already been demobbed after being seriously wounded shortly after D- Day (see below for a really well done site which includes some really interesting Hürtgen Forest history, done by a guy who probably knows more about my Dad's World War II history than I do).

To cut the film a bit of slack, screenwriter Charles Griffith is evidently on record as stating that the Hürtgen Forest battle was only the spark of an inspiration for this story, which involves a ragtag group of American soldiers on skis behind enemy lines, who are tasked with blowing up a bridge (shades of too many other war films to count, including of course The Bridge on the River Kwai). The Germans (evidently played by local South Dakota teens) are not exactly menacing, and the film's lack of a decent budget means a lot of this film is simply shots of the Americans skiing through snowy mountain passes. Michael Forest is once again on hand as the lead in this story, and he probably has a bit more "actorly" stuff to strut in this enterprise, including what look like some actually treacherous climbing scenes.

Ski Troop Attack Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Ski Patrol Attack is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Film Masters with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.37:1. The fact that we're not offered a "theatrical" aspect ratio may hint at the fact that his was sourced from a tv ready print (as even the cover seems to allude), and as such this has a somewhat less pleasing overall appearance, with noticeably less clarity throughout the presentation than the best moments of Beast from Haunted Cave. The film perhaps understandably wants to emphasize its locations, and so there are a lot of wide and midrange framings where fine detail is wanting, but even some close-ups don't always provide huge amounts of detail, a situation perhaps exacerbated by some wonky contrast that may not be able to effectively differentiate between so much "white" in any given frame. As with Beast from Haunted Cave, there's recurrent if minor age related wear and tear.

Ski Troop Attack Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Ski Troop Attack features a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono track that, like its sibling(s) on Beast from Haunted Cave, manages to provide a decent listening experience, even if there are some noticeable signs of age related wear and tear, including "usual suspects" like background noise and/or hiss. The entirety of the film takes place outside, but a less than fulsome budget may have contributed to a somewhat comical lack of omnipresent ambient environmental sounds. Occasional sound effects in the "battle" scenes can punctuate an otherwise kind of tame sound design. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly. Optional English subtitles are available.

Ski Troop Attack Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

One of the coolest things the internet has provided to me personally is the chance to get a rather amazingly large number of (relative to me) younger guys scattered throughout Europe who idolize the "greatest generation" and try to keep the memories of what they did alive. Those interested in reading about the "real" Hürtgen Forest story are encouraged to visit this site, where those who poke around a bit can also find copious information about my own Dad's exploits pre-Hürtgen. Ski Patrol Attack is almost unavoidably sui generis, at least within the confines of the Corman Brothers' long history, but it's unfortunately a bit too cliché ridden for its own good, and the lack of a fulsome budget means the "action" elements may not be properly served. Technical merits are decent if not mind blowing, and the accompanying supplement on Filmgroup is very appealing, for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.