The Big Lift

The Big Lift

26/4/1950 2h 0m 6.8/10

Overview

The Berlin Air Lift from the point of view of two Air Force NCOs who navigate romance in a bombed out post WW2 Germany.

Director

George Seaton

Top Billed Cast

Cornell Borchers

Cornell Borchers

Frederica Burkhardt

Montgomery Clift

Montgomery Clift

Sgt. 1st Class Danny MacCullough

Paul Douglas

Paul Douglas

MSgt. Henry "Hank" Kowalski

Bruni Löbel

Bruni Löbel

Gerda

O.E. Hasse

O.E. Hasse

Stieber

Dante V. Morel

Capt. Dante V. Morel

Reviews

CinemaSerf

CinemaSerf

12/27/2022

6/10

This is certainly an authentic, atmospheric looking depiction of immediately post war Berlin as the erstwhile allies start carving up the spoils of victory. The story focusses on Monty Clift as "Danny", a flight engineer working for the US Air Force as the Soviets blockade all ground-based access to the bombed out city, and his pal Paul Douglas ("Kowalski") and follows their various escapades, loves and adventures during the short period of the siege. The story itself isn't really up to much and Clift always suited me better in a cowboy hat than in a military one - somehow he just isn't a particularly plausible soldier. Douglas, on the other hand has much more of a backstory to get our teeth into - his time in a POW camp has hardened his attitude to the German people (though the odd fling isn't entirely out of the question). There is some good aerial photography and that helps keep it interesting for a while, but at two hours long, the plot and characters start to wear quite thin and it begins to look more like a propaganda exercise for domestic consumption. Still, fans of Clift ought to enjoy it.

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