The Blockhouse

1973

Drama / War

2
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 73% · 1 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 73% · 100 ratings
IMDb Rating 5.9/10 10 728 728

based on a true story world war ii bunker based on true story claustrophobic

Plot summary

A group of Slave workers, drafted by the Nazis to help construct their coastal defences in 1944, are trapped in an underground bunker when the Allies land at Normandy on D-Day. They find huge stores of food, but not enough candles. The slow dying of the light parallels their increasing boredom, illness, and jealousy during their entrapment. Based on the Novel 'Le Blockhaus' by Jean Paul Clebert

Director

Clive Rees Photo
Clive Rees

Top cast

Peter Sellers Photo
Peter Sellers as Rouquet
Nicholas Jones Photo
Nicholas Jones as Kramer
Jeremy Kemp Photo
Jeremy Kemp as Grabinski
Alfred Lynch Photo
Alfred Lynch as Larshen
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
849 MB
1280*682
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 32 min
Seeds ...
1.54 GB
1920*1024
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 32 min
Seeds 2

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by ianmjones1 7 / 10

Bleak but admirable.

We're told in the opening credits that this is a true story and only two out of seven survive. We then move into a superb opening sequence of Allied bombing, which takes us neatly into the central story of trapped men.The cast is excellent and the dark, gloomy and claustrophobic atmosphere is well done but, for me, the characters are insufficiently well-drawn. We are told very little about their background and how they arrived at this place. The sound recording leaves something to be desired and the dialogue is often unclear.Having said that, this is a film which will stay with you, if you make the substantial effort required to watch it. As Sellers has said. "It's a film for connoisseurs of cinema. A very heavy movie, which could easily put you on a downer". My advice though is to make that effort.One point of fact: the true story was actually one of seven German soldiers trapped in a food depot in Poland, blocked in, unknowingly, by their retreating comrades who dynamite the entrance.
Reviewed by LCShackley 5 / 10

Over-rated, gloomy and depressing

All the actors in this film do a fine job. But honestly, I can't see why other reviewers are going ape over Peter Sellers - are they just surprised that he could be serious? The man was a good actor, not just a clown. But in this film, we don't really know his character - he's just one of seven sorry souls trapped underground in a large storeroom after an Allied raid on the camp where they were held prisoner.The film has an interesting premise, but trying to cram six years of action into 90 minutes is beyond the ability of the director and writers. It becomes very episodic, starting with a decent amount of set-up, followed by what more or less amounts to a series of death scenes. The story is certainly tragic, but it feels like Cliff's Notes on celluloid. I'm going to try to find the book.This was probably Stanley Myers's easiest film to score, since it only called for an opening and closing bit with only a couple of instruments. The lack of music throughout underscores the claustrophobic atmosphere of the "dungeon." The sound and picture quality of the DVD available from Netflix (in 2010) leave much to be desired. If you enjoy dark, depressing, hopeless stories, this should be in your top ten.
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