NORTH STAR, THE / ARMORED ATTACK (1943)

June, 1941. When the school year ends, five friends from a small Ukrainian village decide to travel to Kiev. Their trip is cut short when German aircraft attack and their town falls under occupation. While many escape to the hills to form an anti-Nazi resistance group, a German military doctor, Otto von Harden (Erich von Stroheim, Five Graves to Cairo), begins to use the children for medical experiments and as sources of blood transfusions for wounded German soldiers. Directed by Lewis Milestone (All Quiet on the Western Front), this story of valiant resistance stars Anne Baxter (Yellow Sky), Dana Andrews (Canyon Passage), Walter Brennan (Rio Bravo), Farley Granger (Rope), Dean Jagger (Pursued) and Walter Huston (The Treasure of the Sierra Madre) as the Russian doctor who discovers the nefarious German plot. The North Star (1943) was re-edited and re-released in the midst of the Cold War as Armored Attack! (1957), excising references to the allied Russian military and adding an overtly anti-Communist narration track. This Blu-ray includes both Armored Attack! as well as the newly remastered and complete original theatrical cut of The North Star, which runs 30 minutes longer and preserves Milestone’s initial vision of the film before these politically motivated changes were made. This acclaimed original cut was nominated for 6 Academy Awards for the year 1943, including Best Cinematography (James Wong Howe), Music (Aaron Copland) and Original Screenplay (Lillian Hellman).