Counterpoint would make a suitable addition to any World War II library programming.
December of 1944 turns out to be particularly eventful for one USO touring group in Belgium. The story begins with a philharmonic orchestra led by Lionel Evans (Charlton Heston) performing for a group of Allied officers in a bombed-out cathedral. The orchestra is playing when the Germans make an advance on Allied lines, forcing a hasty retreat by the civilian corps. Led astray by enemy agents, the USO bus and its occupants are taken captive by Nazi troops and led to an ancient castle turned Nazi forward base.
There, in pursuit of a private concert by a musical idol, General Schiller (Maximilian Schell) defies orders direct from Berlin and saves the philharmonic from the firing line. What follows is a struggle for power between two autocrats: one a Nazi general, the other a symphony director. The film continues on as the symphony attempts to escape and desperately holds out for time against Schiller’s ultimatum and the mass grave being dug outside their modest quarters in the old castle chapel.
Directed by award-winning Ralph Nelson and accompanied by the Los Angeles Philharmonic, this classic Universal film is a tense thriller with compelling stakes and an interesting story. Within the first scenes, we are thrown into a Nazi plot that traps American non-combatants behind enemy lines and it’s never quite clear if the orchestra will actually make it out alive. The use of music to cover their attempts at surveillance and escape make for some very tense moments and the guile of General Schiller is simply chilling.
There are few performances in this film that fail to impress in some way with the occasional spot of humor within this tense hostage situation which keeps the viewer engaged as the story moves along. Some interesting cinematography here and there makes up for the old-school simplicity of most of the filmmaking. While the moral battle pitched between the characters of Evans and Schiller falls a bit flat, the characters themselves are quite interesting and display some very human traits and reactions. All told, Counterpoint is recommended for anyone looking to expand their classic film collection.