Paratroop Command

Charlie is a paratrooper that is mistaken for a coward by fellow soldier Ace because he lies still in an attempt to ambush a group of German soldiers. He then suffers the scorn of his unit because he accidentally kills his friend Cowboy, who was wearing a German uniform in an attempt to infiltrate enemy lines, and was apparently holding a gun on the rest of the squad. Ace, Cowboy's best friend, threatens him, and in subsequent action in Sicily, tries to kill him twice, but fails both times. In the subsequent landing in Salerno, Ace curses Charlie with his dying breath. Charlie is hanging from a tree in his parachute and carrying a vital generator, with both the Lieutenant and Sergeant wounded, and the rest of the squad dead, on the wrong side of a road that is mined. Following the Lieutenant's instructions, he clears the mines with hand grenades, but a dud grenade leaves him stranded and short of his destination. Sacrificing his life, he runs the final distance and explodes the remaining mine. The film is set in World War II in North Africa, Sicily, and Italy.

As appearing in screen credits (main roles identified):[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053308/fullcredits The Story on Page One credits]

A full cast and production crew list is too lengthy to include, see: IMDb profile.

Quentin Tarantino, an admirer of Witney's work, considers this film to be among his four best.{{cite news |title=Whoa, Trigger! Auteur Alert! |first=Rick |last=Lyman |date=September 15, 2000 |work=The Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/15/movies/whoa-trigger-auteur-alert.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm}} Tarantino called it "the best of American-International’s WW2 potboilers. But I think it’s even better than that. It contains a realism that sets it apart from most other WW2 movies done in that same era. So much so that it makes a lot of good and similar movies from that same time, Robert Aldrich’s Attack and Don Siegel’s Hell is for Heroes, look theatrical and stagey by comparison."{{cite web|website=The New Beverly Cinema|first=Quentin|last=Tarantino|title=I Escaped from Devil's Island|date=6 April 2020|url=https://thenewbev.com/tarantinos-reviews/i-escaped-from-devils-island/?fbclid=IwAR0yx6FYh_-ZmdfrQaysB_1Umh84GidHEIAGgX2w39u03g95JZ-4DSB92WY}}

{{reflist}}

• {{IMDb title|0053156}}
• {{TCMDb title|id= 86230}}

{{William Witney}}

Category:1959 films

Category:1959 war films

Category:American World War II films

Category:American International Pictures films

Category:Films directed by William Witney

Category:Films scored by Ronald Stein

Category:1950s English-language films

Category:1950s American films

Category:English-language war films

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