A Midnight Clear (1992)

"A Midnight Clear" is a film that reminds me of the wonderful French film, "Joyeaux Noel". However, instead of being set during WWI, this American film is set just before the Battle of the Bulge in WWII. Both occur at Christmas time...and both involve a strange sort of cessation of hostilities.The story is about a tiny reconnaissance group of American soldiers. They have the thankless task of scouting ahead of the rest of the army...and not surprisingly many in their small unit have already been killed. There are two main plots that result. First, they are discovered by a group of German soldiers who do not attack but instead wish to surrender. But, in order to prevent the SS back home from taking retribution against them for not fighting, they propose to make it look like they surrendered only after a horrible fire fight. Sadly, it does NOT go down as they'd planned. Second, after this, when the Major meets up with them, this commanding officer mostly screams at them and threatens them...and leaves them back at their forward base. When the German offensive begins, they're soon stuck behind enemy lines and they have to work hard to find their way back to the Allied lines.Despite some similarities to "Joyeaux Noel", it is different enough and somber enough to be a different film viewing experience. For the most part, it's just the story of a few men trying to survive...and the thankless tasks they've been given. Well made and worth seeing.

This was nothing but a slick propaganda movie for the Give Peace a Chance empty-heads.54 years after World War II we are to suddenly forget the millions of dead and the destruction of most of Europe brought on by Nazi Germany. After all, the men who wore the Nazi uniforms were just a bunch of boys who loved their mothers and longed for home at Christmas. So put away your weapons and your silly ideas like moral values and patriotism. Just sing along with Silent Night (a German song, after all) and forget the evil, the dead; and why not Christmas-kiss old Adolf, Himmler, the whole crowd. This is one of a very small number of historical re-writes created to trash real history and cast the seed of confusion in place of moral clarity. Fortunately, very few people bought into this one.

Having seen the high ratings for this movie and some gushing reviews on IMDb I readied myself for a classic but this picture was so bad I switched off within around 40 minutes. A total disappointment and very poor with it. The film feels not like WWII, but more the 1990's with actors dressed in uniforms pretending to be something they are clearly not. At the start of the film there are a number of wholly unrealistic scenes; like a nonsensical foursome plus with a woman met from the street; then military not shooting at enemy soldiers in circumstances when they would certainly do so; and then US personnel behaving like keystone cop cowards and.... blah, blah,blah.... Poor script, poor acting, poor movie and: what a load of unrealistic fictionalized nonsense! 1/10

This was not a film a WWII vet would enjoy. Trust me.When my 73-year-old father-in-law came to visit, my wife decided to fill an afternoon with a video he might like, a war movie. Being Christmastime, she chose this particular war movie for her elderly father.One would assume such a man might be uncomfortable watching a war movie featuring disdain for the Army, snowball fights with the Germans, random religious symbolism, a homo-necro-erotic moment, collusion with the enemy, and a deeply felt anti-war message. Though I think this is one of the finest anti-war movies (with a Christmas theme) ever made, I did point out to my wife that we do have a copy of "12 O'Clock High" she could have shown her dad instead. (He was grumpy for the next two days after watching this.)Beautiful direction and camera work, with Utah subbing for the German-French frontier in wintertime. (You will feel colder watching this movie.) A thoughtful film with tension, grace, action, emerging stars and a fascinating story, "A Midnight Clear" isn't a family film, by any means. There are too many "F"-bombs for kids, and too little John Wayne, respect, and gung-ho attitude (but enough blood) for the Greatest Generation.Like "M*A*S*H" in its darker moments? Then you're going to like "A Midnight Clear".