Van Johnson plays here the "good" nazi soldier, and Kerwin Matthews the real "bad' one. That's interesting with German soldiers, ambivalence. Those who were probably the best soldiers in the world and also who committed the worst crimes in the humanity history. The point of view of them who were, after all, the "bad guys" of the war. I felt the same thing as when I discovered EAGLE HAS LANDED, starring Michael Caine, telling the German point of view about a WW2 story. I have this film since 1989 in my library, and I watched it today for the second time. War fans looking for something a little out of the ordinary are sure to enjoy the plot twists and turns of THE LAST BLITZKRIEG. Some have criticised the climax as being unrealistic but I found it quite fitting even if it is morally heavy-handed. This film has a short running time which flies past without ever flagging and there's plenty of suspense inherent in the set-up. Kerwin Mathews is also here too and playing a slimy villain in every other film I've seen him playing heroic characters so it made a nice change of pace for the actor. Van Johnson is the lead actor and does well with a complex role that he comes off kindly and likable despite everything is a testament to his acting prowess. The film was shot on a low budget in the Netherlands by producer Sam Katzman so it has more authenticity to it than most.
Therefore the characters we have to identify with are actually antiheroes and even the bad guys while the heroes are the enemy.
The main characters in the movie are actually Nazi soldiers who are disguised as American troops and sent on an intelligence-gathering mission during the Battle of the Bulge. THE LAST BLITZKRIEG works as it offers something a little different from the usual American WW2 film in terms of plot. For a Sam Katzman production this one was all right. Nice use of newsreel battle films was used and the players are fine. The Last Blitzkrieg was shot in the Netherlands where a lot of this action really happened. York happens to be a soldier of German background who speaks that fluently which comes in very handy. Especially since on Bewitched he's always the butt of the comedy there. Of all in the cast I was most impressed with what he did. If it were not for being the first Darrin Stevens on Bewitched, this might be Dick York's career role as well, though some would opt for what he did in Inherit The Wind. And Kerwin Matthews delivers a pretty good performance in the part. Matthews however is a true believer and he as well as Johnson is cast against type. Johnson is a torn man, he's really not a National Socialist and thinks this is all for nothing. They vouch for Johnson, but then some rotten luck descends on the platoon where York is the sergeant. For a bit he gets some good luck as he keeps the name and ID he had at the prison camp because he runs into Dick York and Larry Storch who were in the same camp, but who were two that managed to escape. But he gets called to this assignment and he and Matthews and two others are sent together. Johnson was doing this work already as a spy among American POWs just as Peter Graves was in Stalag 17. It was a last gasp maneuver of the Third Reich, much as The whole Battle Of The Bulge was just that.
The idea being to disrupt American battle plans and cause havoc behind the lines.
Not only was Van Johnson cast against type, but so was Kerwin Matthews as they play a pair of English speaking Germans who are masquerading as regular GIs during the Battle Of The Bulge. And he's all American here in The Last Blitzkrieg as well, as all American as Peter Graves was in Stalag 17. It includes four campaigns (one of them is a training campaign) and 25 standalone scenarios.During the 40s and 50s at MGM the all American GI whether it was Battleground, Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, A Guy Named Joe, or Command Decision the role inevitably went to Van Johnson. The game includes winter environment for the first time in the history of Combat Mission 2 -game engine. It will be expanded with modules all the way to May 1945. The base game covers the western front from October 1944 (where Combat Mission: Battle for Normandy left off) to January 1945, but it focuses on the winter battles of December and January more commonly known as The Battle of the Bulge.