A Time to Love and a Time to Die

Released Jul 9, 1958

2 hr. 12 min.

War

List

80%

5 Reviews

Tomatometer

75%

250+ Ratings

Audience Score

Retreating from the Russian front after the failure to take Moscow in 1944, German soldier Ernst Graeber (John Gavin) is granted a three-week furlough. He returns to his home village for the first time since he left two years before and is shocked to learn that his parents are among the thousands left dead or missing by the Allied bombing raids. Then he falls for the beautiful Elizabeth Kruse (Lilo Pulver), and the two attempt to begin a romance amidst the devastation and despair of the war.

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Audience Member

Conventional approach to WW2 drama, except told from the German side. Largely spoilt by John Gavin's wooden acting. Jock Mahoney would have been better in the lead, not in a bit part. Keenan Wynn lifts it whenever he appears. Directed by German, based on German book. Author has small part. He sums up his philosophy as need to believe in God. (Believe it if you want!)

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/22/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A piece of marvellous and elegant film direction signed by Douglas Sirk. It has one of the best recreations of apocalyptic Germany\Russia during WWII ever filmed; with detailed and incredibly real-looking sets, beautiful yet merciless landscapes, and a characteristic lush cinematography that enhances the dread and destruction present everywhere. The central romance is a bit of light in such a dark place - even if John Gavin isn't the greatest actor coming out from Hollywood. What amazes me is how Sirk, with all the ingredients to make a sappy and unwatchable movie (over-sentimental writing, uninspired acting and overly dramatic music, for example), is capable of turning all that into such a splendid and moving work of art. A great film.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/07/23

Full Review

mark b

Take the aesthetics of tear-jerking movies like Imitation of Life or Magnificent Obsession, set them on the Russian Front and in Germany in 1944, and you get some idea of this film. A melange of melodrama, camp, death, and a short appearance by Klaus Kinski as a heartless Gestapo clerk, ATTLAATOD is actually a pretty good film. Especially weird is to see those loveable mugs, the Wehrmacht , dealing with Russian partisans. The truly fun part of the film happens when Ernst Graeber goes home on leave and makes time with good girl Elizabeth Kruse. Every time they go on a date, the USAAF bombs the shit out of them. And of course there are the symbolic characters like Joseph, the hiding hateless Jew, and the Heine, the infantile piano prodigy who happens to burn people alive at his own concentration camp. Still, though, I liked this movie a lot. Nothing else liked appeared in American films until Peckinpaugh's Cross of Iron in 1977. Whatever else you want to say about Sirk, he used the widescreen to great effect,

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

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Audience Member

a wonderful film and one of the finest of sirk's career. even john gavin can't spoil it. a rare look at world war 2 from the german soldier's point of view. sirk's own son died a soldier on the russian front after he was forced to leave him behind in germany so this was an extremely personal project for him

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

02/09/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Unusual to see a Hollywood production of a WWII war movie, but based in the point of view of the Germans on the front line. Douglas Sirk goes back to his homeland post defeat to create an amazing love story, supposedly Godard's favorite Sirk film, of a soldier on leave and a girl in his hometown, bombed to pieces. The set pieces, filmed in bombed out areas that was left as it was post-war, adds an incredible authentic look that just isn't in a lot of older war movies. And the obvious is how Sirk handles the camerawork, and the dialogue. Although like "Schindler's List", Germans speaking English might be a little strange, but don't let that stop you.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/18/23

Full Review

Audience Member

A truly great, but little known film. It's a really beautiful story. Well worth your time.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/16/23

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Douglas Sirk

Director

John Gavin

Ernst Graeber

Liselotte Pulver

Elizabeth Kruse Graeber

Jock Mahoney

Immerman

Don DeFore

Hermann Boettcher

Keenan Wynn

Reuter

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Jean-Luc Godard

Cahiers du Cinéma

This, anyhow, is what enchants me about Sirk: this delirious mixture of medieval and modern, sentimentality and subtlety, tame compositions and frenzied CinemaScope.

Sep 1, 2021

Full Review

Michael Szymanski

Zap2it.com

Rated: 2/5

Sep 21, 2005

Full Review

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Rated: 4/5

Jun 17, 2005

Full Review

Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

Douglas Sirk's haunting masterpiece wartime romance story is set in 1944.

Rated: A

Sep 9, 2003

Full Review

Philip Martin

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Rated: 3/5

Jul 30, 2002

Full Review

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Synopsis

Retreating from the Russian front after the failure to take Moscow in 1944, German soldier Ernst Graeber (John Gavin) is granted a three-week furlough. He returns to his home village for the first time since he left two years before and is shocked to learn that his parents are among the thousands left dead or missing by the Allied bombing raids. Then he falls for the beautiful Elizabeth Kruse (Lilo Pulver), and the two attempt to begin a romance amidst the devastation and despair of the war.

Director: Douglas Sirk
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Production Co: Universal/Universal Int
Genre: War
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jul 9, 1958, Original