Stars: Jack Palance, Eddie Albert, Lee Marvin, Robert Strauss, Richard Jaeckel, Buddy Ebsen, William Smithers, Peter Van Eyck, Strother Martin, Steven Geray, Ron McNeil, Louis Mercier, Mike Ragan

Director: Robert Aldrich

Summary: A controversial account of a group of US soldiers, trapped by the Germans during the Battle of the Bulge, whose Captain is a psychopathic coward with a history of exposing his men to danger.

Captain Cooney (Eddie Albert) is a bombastic, but incompetent, military leader who jeopardizes the lives of the men under his control. His lapdog of a colonel (Lee Marvin) tries his best to sweep Cooney's errors under the rug, but soon the dastardly leaders have a problem on their hands in the form of Lt. Costa (Jack Palance). Costa swears that Cooney is a dead man if the men are sent on another poorly-run, deadly mission. When Cooney puts Costa and his men in another tight spot on the Belgian front, Costa -- who suffers a smashed arm in the skirmish -- sets out to keep his word. A brutal portrait of war, a la PATHS OF GLORY. Based on Norman Brooks' play, THE FRAGILE FOX.

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The most densely plotted instalment of the saga so far, Attack of the Clonesis a tale of both Machiavellian political drama and doomed romance; it's epic war film and silly comic-book fantasy combined, as teenage Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) chafes at the restrictions imposed by his mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) and falls in love with Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman). Renegade Jedi Count Dooku (Christopher Lee) is leading a breakaway federation of disgruntled systems; while the insidious influence of Darth Sidious is felt rather than seen as his invisible hand guides apparently unrelated events, from Jar Jar's unwitting instigation of a disastrous Senate decision to bounty hunter Jango Fett's revelatory role at the centre of the conspiracy.

Along the way the story has fun with the conventions of Chandleresque detective fiction as Obi-Wan explores the seedier side of Coruscant, and incorporates the noble warrior ethos of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragonin its portrayal of the Jedi order. The portentous tone is lightened by tongue-in-cheek self-referential dialogue and the antics of robotic clowns R2D2 and C3PO. (One niggle for music fans, though, is the cavalier cut-and-paste approach to John Williams's music score.) Like the Empire Strikes Back, Clonesis the bridging film of the trilogy and thus ends on an equivocally bittersweet note.

On the DVD:Attack of the Clonesis an all-digital film, and so looks suitably superb in this anamorphic widescreen transfer, accompanied by a THX encoded Dolby 5.1 soundtrack. Anyone who owns The Phantom Menacetwo-disc set will know what to expect from the special features: here's another group commentary led by George Lucas, two lengthy documentaries on the digital effects ("From Puppets to Pixels" and "The Previsualisation of Episode II") plus several other featurettes and Web documentaries, notably "Films Are Not Released, They Escape", a look at the sound design. There's also a fun trailer for the R2-D2 mockumentary "Beneath the Dome", trailers, photo galleries and more to satisfy any Star Warsfan. --Mark Walker

Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Year:	1956
Release Date:	May 5, 2003
Runtime:	103 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	15771 D V D
Keywords:	War, Attack
Genre:	War