Counter-Attack (poem)
''Counter-Attack'' is a 1945 American war film directed by Zoltan Korda and starring Paul Muni and Marguerite Chapman as two Russians trapped in a collapsed building with seven enemy German soldiers during World War II. It was adapted from the 1944 Broadway play ''Counterattack'' by Janet and Philip Stevenson, which was in turn based on the play ''Pobyeda'' by Mikhail Ruderman and Ilya Vershinin. Plot In 1942, both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union are gathering forces and supplies in one particular sector of the Eastern Front for a major attack. By night, the Soviets are secretly constructing a bridge across a river. To avoid detection, it is being built underwater, 500mm (20 inches) below the surface. In an attempt to find out where the Germans plan to strike, Colonel Semenov (George Macready) has a small paratrooper unit dropped behind enemy lines to attack a divisional headquarters and hopefully take an officer prisoner for interrogation. The local partisans, led by ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Zoltan Korda
Zoltan Korda (June 3, 1895 – October 13, 1961) was a Hungarian-born motion picture screenwriter, director and producer. He made his first film in Hungary in 1918, and worked with his brother Alexander Korda on film-making there and in London. They both moved to the United States in 1940 to Hollywood and the American film industry. Early life and education Born Zoltán Kellner (Kellner Zoltán, in Hungarian name order), of Jewish heritage, in Pusztatúrpásztó, Túrkeve Túrkeve is a town in Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok county, in the Northern Great Plain region of Hungary. Geography It covers an area of . Demographics According to the 2011 census, the total population of Túrkeve was 9,008, of whom there were 87.8% ..., Hungary (then Austria-Hungary), he was the middle brother of Alexander Korda, Alexander and Vincent Korda, all of whom became filmmakers. Before leaving Hungary to work full-time in London with his brother Alexander, he (Zoltán) served in the Hungarian Army a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Soviet Partisans
Soviet partisans were members of resistance movements that fought a guerrilla war against Axis forces during World War II in the Soviet Union, the previously Soviet-occupied territories of interwar Poland in 1941–45 and eastern Finland. The activity emerged after Nazi Germany's Operation Barbarossa was launched from mid-1941 on. It was coordinated and controlled by the Soviet government and modeled on that of the Red Army. The partisans made a significant contribution to the war by countering German plans to exploit occupied Soviet territories economically, gave considerable help to the Red Army by conducting systematic attacks against Germany's rear communication network, disseminated political rhetoric among the local population by publishing newspapers and leaflets, and succeeded in creating and maintaining feelings of insecurity among Axis forces. Soviet partisans also operated on interwar Polish and Baltic territories occupied by the Soviet Union in 1939–1940, but ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hollywood Blacklist
The Hollywood blacklist was an entertainment industry blacklist, broader than just Hollywood, put in effect in the mid-20th century in the United States during the early years of the Cold War. The blacklist involved the practice of denying employment to entertainment industry professionals believed to be or to have been Communists or sympathizers. Actors, screenwriters, directors, musicians, and other American entertainment professionals were barred from work by the studios. This was usually done on the basis of their membership in, alleged membership in, or sympathy with the Communist Party USA, or on the basis of their refusal to assist Congressional investigations into the party's activities. Even during the period of its strictest enforcement, from the late 1940s through to the late 1950s, the blacklist was rarely made explicit or easily verifiable, as it was the result of numerous individual decisions by the studios and was not the result of official legal action. Neverthel ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because there was no large-scale fighting directly between the two superpowers, but they each supported major regional conflicts known as proxy wars. The conflict was based around the ideological and geopolitical struggle for global influence by these two superpowers, following their temporary alliance and victory against Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan in 1945. Aside from the nuclear arsenal development and conventional military deployment, the struggle for dominance was expressed via indirect means such as psychological warfare, propaganda campaigns, espionage, far-reaching embargoes, rivalry at sports events, and technological competitions such as the Space Race. The Western Bloc was led by the United States as well as a number of other First W ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Paratrooper
A paratrooper is a military parachutist—someone trained to parachute into a military operation, and usually functioning as part of an airborne force. Military parachutists (troops) and parachutes were first used on a large scale during World War II for troop distribution and transportation. Paratroopers are often used in surprise attacks, to seize strategic objectives such as airfields or bridges. Overview Paratroopers jump out of airplanes and use parachutes to land safely on the ground. This is one of the three types of "forced entry" strategic techniques for entering a theater of war; the other two being by land and by water. Their tactical advantage of entering the battlefield from the air is that they can attack areas not directly accessible by other transport. The ability of air assault to enter the battlefield from any location allows paratroopers to evade emplaced fortifications that guard from attack from a specific direction. The possible use of paratrooper ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Darren McGavin
Darren is a masculine given name of uncertain etymological origins. Some theories state that it originated from an Anglicisation of the Irish first name Darragh or Dáire, meaning "Oak Tree". According to other sources, it is thought to come from the Gaelic surname meaning ‘great’, but is also linked to a Welsh mountain named Moel Darren. It is also believed to be a variant of Darrell, which originated from the French surname ''D'Airelle'', meaning "of Airelle". The common spelling of Darren is found in the Welsh language, meaning "edge": Black Darren and Red Darren are found on the eastern side of the Hatterrall Ridge, west of Long Town. In New Zealand, the Darran Mountains exist as a spur of the Southern Alps in the south of the country. Darren has several spelling variations including Daren, Darin, Daryn, Darrin, Darran and Darryn. In the United Kingdom, its popularity peaked during the 1970s but declined sharply afterwards. In England and Wales, it first appeared in the e ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Louis Adlon
Louis Adlon (7 October 1907 – 31 March 1947), also known as Duke Adlon, was a German-born film actor. Biography Adlon was the grandson of Lorenz Adlon, founder of the famous Adlon Hotel in Berlin, where he spent much of his childhood. Adlon was the son of Louis Adlon, Sr., who had five children with his first wife Tilly. After almost 15 years of marriage, he met a hotel guest, the German-American Hedwig Leythen (1889–1967), called Hedda, at a New Year's Eve party in the Hotel Adlon, left his wife and children, and in 1922 he married her. It was one of the biggest scandals of Berlin in the 1920s. Tilly moved with her daughter Elisabeth, then two, to the south of Germany, while the other children Susanne (mother of Percy Adlon), Lorenz and the twins Carl and Louis (junior) were sent to boarding school and later all four emigrated to America. Adlon was a supporting actor and bit player in Hollywood from the late 1930s. He married Rose Douras Davies, sister of actress ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ivan Triesault
Ivan Triesault (born Johann Constantin Treisalt; in Reval (now Tallinn) – January 3, 1980 in Los Angeles) was an Estonian-American actor. His parents were from the island of Hiiumaa. Life His first stage appearance was at the German Theatre in Tallinn aged 14, before moving to the United States aged 18. There he began to train in acting and dance, working on Broadway before moving into film. His notable roles include appearances in ''Cry of the Werewolf'' (1944), '' The Story of Dr. Wassell'' (1944), '' A Song to Remember'' (1945), '' Notorious'' (1946), '' 5 Fingers'' (1952), '' Jet Pilot'' (1957), ''Journey to the Center of the Earth'' (1959), ''The 300 Spartans'' (1962), ''It Happened in Athens'' (1962), ''Von Ryan's Express'' (1965), ''Batman'' (1966) and ''The Wild Wild West ''The Wild Wild West'' is an American Western, espionage, and science fiction television series that ran on the CBS television network for four seasons from September 17, 1965, to April 11, 1 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Wolfgang Zilzer
Wolfgang Zilzer (January 20, 1901 – June 26, 1991) was a German-American stage and film actor, often under the stage name Paul Andor. Biography Zilzer was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, to German-Jewish emigrant Max Zilzer, who was employed at the local theater. Zilzer's mother died soon after his birth, and his father returned to Germany in 1905. Zilzer appeared on stage in child roles and made his first movie appearance in the age of 14. Around 1930, he moved back to the United States, but had only small success as an actor. He returned to Germany. According to a 1943 Jewish Telegraphic Agency newspaper article, he "was a featured player of UFA in the palmy days before the Furore itler, but after Adolf Hitler's rise to power, Zilzer fled to France, where he worked dubbing voices in several French versions of Hollywood productions. In 1935, Zilzer returned to Germany again, finally emigrating to the US in 1937. Applying for a visa at the U.S. embassy, he first realized he already ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ludwig Donath
Ludwig Donath (6 March 1900 – 29 September 1967), was an Austrian actor who appeared in many American films. Life Born to a Jewish family, Donath graduated from Vienna's Academy of Dramatic Art and became a prominent actor on the stage in Berlin. When Hitler came to power in 1933, he returned to Vienna and was active there in theater and film until the Anschluss in 1938. He began his American film career with ''Lady from Chungking'' (1942) and went on to appear in dozens of films, including ''Gilda'' (1946), ''The Jolson Story'' (1946), ''Jolson Sings Again'' (1949), ''The Great Caruso'' (1951), ''My Pal Gus'' (1952), ''Sirocco'' (1951), and ''Torn Curtain'' (1966). Donath played the father of entertainer Al Jolson (Larry Parks) in the two biopics ''The Jolson Story'' (1946) and ''Jolson Sings Again'' (1949), although he was less than 15 years older than Parks as Jolson. He also appeared frequently on television and on Broadway. He died of leukemia in 1967. His cremain ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Larry Parks
Samuel Lawrence Klausman Parks (December 13, 1914 – April 13, 1975) was an American stage and film actor. His career arced from bit player and supporting roles to top billing, before it was virtually ended when he admitted to having once been a member of a Communist Party cell, which led to his blacklisting by all Hollywood studios. His best known role was Al Jolson, whom he portrayed in two films: ''The Jolson Story'' (1946) and ''Jolson Sings Again'' (1949). Life and career Parks was born in Olathe, Kansas, the son of Nellie (Klausman) and Frank H. Parks. He was raised in his mother's religion of Judaism. He was raised in Joliet, Illinois, and graduated from Joliet Township High School in 1932. He attended the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, University of Illinois as a pre-med student, and played in repertory theatre, stock companies for a few years. He went to Hollywood at the suggestion of John Garfield, who said a part in a Warner Bros. film called ''Mama R ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Philip Van Zandt
Philip Van Zandt (October 4, 1904 – February 15, 1958), sometimes billed as Phil Van Zandt, was a Dutch-American actor of stage, film, and television. He made nearly 250 film and television appearances between 1939 and 1958. Life and career Born Philip Pinheiro in Amsterdam, he was brought to the United States when he was five months old in March 1905. Van Zandt made his stage debut in 1925, as an assistant to magician Howard Thurston. He began playing dramatic roles in 1927 and eventually landed on Broadway, appearing in 10 different productions between 1931 and 1938, none of which were hits. Van Zandt made his Hollywood debut in 1939 and, in the two decades that followed, appeared in over 140 films. The actor auditioned for director John Cromwell's film ''Flotsam'' (ultimately released as ''So Ends Our Night''). Cromwell explained that the role called for expert card manipulation. Van Zandt hadn't done this since his apprenticeship with Thurston but, as columnist Duncan Un ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |