A Time To Love and A Time To Die
1958
During World War II, German soldier Ernst Graeber (John Gavin) leaves the ferocious fighting on the Russian front to return home on furlough but upon arrival finds his house decimated and his parents gone. He and a childhood acquaintance, Elizabeth Kruse (Lilo Pulver), find one another amid the ruins of the town and fall in .. Read more
| Starring | Keenan Wynn, Lilo Pulver, John Gavin |
|---|---|
| Director | Douglas Sirk |
| Genres | Drama |
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A Time To Love and A Time To Die
During World War II, German soldier Ernst Graeber (John Gavin) leaves the ferocious fighting on the Russian front to return home on furlough but upon arrival finds his house decimated and his parents gone. He and a childhood acquaintance, Elizabeth Kruse (Lilo Pulver), find one another amid the ruins of the town and fall in love, though Graeber knows he must eventually leave Elizabeth and return to combat.
Director Douglas Sirk, drawn throughout his brilliant career to stories of desperate men and women ensnared in perilous affairs, found his most extreme scenario with A TIME TO LOVE AND A TIME TO DIE. The result of this perfect match between director and subject matter is astounding: a film in which each feverish frame shimmers with an almost supernatural intensity. While focusing unwaveringly on the doomed love of the couple at the centre of his film, Sirk also explores the darkest corners of a world tearing itself apart. A particularly frightening element of Sirk's epic canvas is the men in Graeber's town allowing the war to transform them into nightmare versions of themselves. A TIME TO LOVE AND A TIME TO DIE was based on a novel by Erich Maria Remarque, who has a cameo role in the film.
| Starring | Keenan Wynn, Lilo Pulver, John Gavin |
|---|---|
| Director | Douglas Sirk |
| Studio | EUREKA ENTERTAINMENT |
| Run time | DVD: 2 hrs 7 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Drama |
| Language | DVD: English |
| Released | DVD: 30 Mar 2009 Production year: 1958 |
| Format | DVD |
A Time To Love and A Time To Die (1958)
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Sign up Time To Love and A Time To Die, A - Feature
During World War II, German soldier Ernst Graeber (John Gavin) leaves the ferocious fighting on the Russian fr...
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Sign up Time To Love and A Time To Die, A - Bonus Features
Bonus Features Include: "Of Tears And Speed: According To Jean-Luc Godard" - A visually annotated recitation ...
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Critics' reviews
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Under the opening credits of Sirk's penultimate masterpiece, set during World War II and filmed on location in Germany,... read more on Time Out
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Most helpful member's review
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1 out of 1 person found this review helpful
[Highly rated reviewer]
The German perspective
Not a trace of an American or Briton in this setting of Remarque's (All Quiet on the Western Front, The Black Obelisk) novel Zeit zu leben und Zeit zu sterben. Indeed, Remarque appears as a blacklisted professor. The story line is powerful and, for the time, unsentimental. There are nice directorial strokes. The quality of the acting is so-so - Keenan Wynn is very good as a Nazi officer laid up with gout. It's good to see it available on DVD, as it seemed to have disappeared.
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During World War II, German soldier Ernst Graeber (John Gavin) leaves the ferocious fighting on the Russian front to return home on furlough but upon arrival finds his house decimated and his parents ... -