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George SeatonThe Big Lift (1950)

Filmed on location, The Big Lift is a reenactment of the Berlin airlift of 1948. Flexing their postwar muscles, the Russians blockade the Western sector, refusing to allow the Allies to ship supplies to the starving Berliners. From their headquarters at Templehof Airport, a group of courageous American flyers risk their lives to transport supplies by air.


This movie is part of the collection: Feature Films

Director: George Seaton
Producer: William Perlberg
Production Company: Twentieth Cetnury Fox
Sponsor: k-otic
Audio/Visual: sound, black & white
Keywords: Drama; War; Montgomery Clift
Contact Information: www.k-otic.com

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

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Reviewer: larus - - June 5, 2011
Subject: abridged print
Although advertised as 120mn long, this print is abridged and lacks various scenes or parts of scenes amounting to 18mn worth of footage. A full 120mn long print is available at http://www.archive.org/details/TheBigLift1950complete.

Reviewer: Budro - - July 11, 2009
Subject: Old memories.
I was stationed in Japan with the 11th Airborne Division when the airlift started. I remember well how we were wondering if WWIII was about to start.

I saw this movie when it came out in 1950. My Division had left Japan and was stationed at Ft. Campbell, Ky. At about that time the Korean War started and I was on my way back to the orient. In February of 1951 I was wounded near the city of Wonju and that ended my military career.

This movie brought back so many memories of those days. It is a very good movie and quite true to the times. Definitely worth watching.

Reviewer: Peter Schuttevaar - - July 3, 2007
Subject: About good and bad, beauty and ugliness
This move is just very well made. The scene's are very well thought of. There is a intriguing story-line with a nice tempo and some surprises in it.

But best of all is that meanwhile it has the feel of a documentary. You are constantly aware that you are witness to this pecular moment in time. And most of the actors aren't actors at all. Yet they act naturaly. As does Montgomery Clift (who shows that he can act).

In a way, this movie reminds me of Italian movies from the same era. New realists i believe they are called. Like Russelini. The Big Lift is not entirely on the same level, but it is good.

As a minor point, there is some of the inevitable moralism that American movies had back then. But it comes in a less blund and more balanced form then i am used to for this type om movies. There were obviously some propaganda issues involved related with the reconsiliation (wiedergutmaching) with Germany after the war. It is about Germans being not as bad as portrayed during the war. But not as good (yet) as the naïve Montgomery Clift wants them to be. Especialy as he wants his German girlfriend to be....

All in all, a very interesting and entertaining movie.