Saturday, August 14, 2010

MOVIE TRIVIA … THE BRIDGE AT REMAGEN

MOVIE TRIVIA …

10 THINGS ABOUT

“THE BRIDGE AT REMAGEN”

 

The Bridge at Remagen – 1969 - As the Allied armies close in, the Nazis decide to blow up the last Rhine bridge, trapping their own men on the wrong side. But will it happen?

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1.    Filming in Czechoslovakia was interrupted by the Soviet invasion of August 1968. Cast and crew were taken to safety in a convoy of 28 taxis, except for Robert Logan, who stayed behind with film gear in order to capture the invasion on film and photo. The movie was completed in Italy and Austria. After their daring escape from Czechoslovakia filming was resumed near Hamburg, Germany and near the Pope's summer house, Castelgondolfo, Italy

2.    At a cost of $250,000, the movie company, United Artists, blasted a tunnel on the east side of the river Vltava in the town of Davle, Czech Republic.

3.    Because of the heavy river traffic of coal barges, tourist boats and other ships, the Germans did not allow United artists and David Wolper to make the movie at Remagen.

4.    The producers were granted the right to blow up large parts of the town of Most, but they decided not to blow up the local communist party headquarters building, in order not to cause trouble with the Russians who were already preparing to invade Czechoslovakia during the filming in 1968.

5.    One of the first films to be shot behind the Iron Curtain. Czechoslovakia was seen by Russia as becoming too liberal in its values. In attempting to justify the forthcoming invasion by the USSR, Soviet agents spread the rumour that the American soldiers were real. Actually most of them were played by Czech students. Pictures of stored movie props were published as "proofs" of weapons shipments from the United States to arm local "reactionaries". It was even reported that American tanks were rolling through the streets and occupying the towns.

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6.    This movie's closing epilogue states that on 17 March 1945, ten days after its capture, the battle bridge at Remagen collapsed into the Rhine River. This was due to excessive bombing by the German enemy.

7.    The specific Bridge at Remagen which is this film's title, The Bridge at Remagen (1969), is actually the bridge known as Ludendorff Bridge as in the movie and in real life. The bridge was frequently known as the Bridge at Remagen during World War II. It was a railway bridge that ran across the River Rhine at Remagen in Germany. The bridge connected the town of Remagen with the town of Erpel, situated between two ridge lines of hills which flanked the Rhine River. In 1945, during the Second War War, the Allies captured the Ludendorff Bridge between March 7 and March 8 of that year. Today, the remaining towers of the bridge house a museum.

THE BRIDGE AT REMAGEN

8.    The Bridge at Remagen aka Ludendorff Bridge can also be seen portrayed in the video-games Call of Duty: Finest Hour (2004) (VG) and "Panzer Front".

9.    According to the book The United Artists Story by Ronald Bergan, "The Bridge at Remagen was the last bridge standing over the Rhine [River] in 1945, which both German and American forces fought to control."

10.    Peter van Eyck's last completed movie before his death.

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