UPDATE: Since writing this review in June, 2014, I finally contacted the chief archivist at Channel 10 in Sydney, a Mr Paul Perigo, in May, 2018. He told me that Channel 10 no longer has any tapes of 1960s shows, and unfortunately, was unable to give me any leads on the series Citizen Soldier.
However, I note that another Australian IMDb reviewer, Paul Svenson, said in July 2017 that he could remember the theme clearly, and was planning to ask a pianist to play and record it. If you read this Paul, please go ahead and post on Youtube. I'd love to hear that stirring music again. Unlike you, I can't remember how it went but I'm sure I'd recognize it in a second. For the record, the theme music was written by the German composer, BERT GRUND, who wrote a string of other TV and movie themes and soundtracks during his illustrious career. I remember his name on the Citizen Soldier credits very clearly.
***My original review is below:
This was the unheralded forerunner to "Saving Private Ryan" and Band of Brothers. Like that movie and series, it had an honest and unsentimental credibility to it. I clearly remember watching this series when I was a kid. Channel 10 in Sydney (Australia) showed this in the late 1960s, when I was in Year 9 or 10 of high school. (Who knows, Channel 10 may still have the original reels in their archive vaults.) I assume it was shot in black and white, notwithstanding the fact that colour TV didn't come to Australia until about 1974.
However, even with intense internet searches over the years, I haven't been able to find out a lot about this series. Just some mentions in US Army catalog lists is all I could find. No wonder some people might think it's only a figment of some people's imagination!
I really looked forward to watching it after I got home from school around 1968.Because it was shot relatively soon after the Second World War, and shot on locale outdoors, it had a very authentic look, and definitely not with a staged, studio hue to it. Many of the episodes were filmed in winter, and it certainly looked very raw, muddy and chilly. The snow looked cold and totally uninviting, and the frost on everyone's breath was real! It made me feel frozen and miserable just looking at it.
I remember the whole series having a semi-documentary look. (Unlike "Combat!" starring Vic Morrow, which was and certainty looked like it was shot in sunny California, complete with "French" eucalyptus trees, and very co-operative Germans who always seemed to shoot too early, and obligingly stood up in the open to make excellent targets of themselves for the taciturn Chip Saunders and his platoon. Oh, and the Germans were always shouting either "Raus, raus!" or "Schnell!" Not much range there.)
Citizen Soldier had a certain honesty, as from memory, it didn't glamorize the 1944-45 war in northern Europe. It lived up to its title - the experience of ordinary men, only shorty before civilians, caught up in extraordinary circumstances. The fact that there were no big name actors or regular cast members added to its credibility. Of course, so much time has elapsed that I can't remember how much Ra-Ra American patriotism it had, but probably no more than "Saving Private Ryan".
I can remember only scenes, not whole plots. For example, there was one scene, based on a true event, where an American soldier is "shot" by a German sniper and plays dead in the snow, while carefully keeping his walkie-talkie next to him so he can keep directing artillery fire. In another episode, also supposedly based on fact, an American chaplain is captured. Just before some hardline Germans are about to execute him, he is saved in the nick of time by the arrival of a superior German officer who insists on observing the rules of war.
I particularly remember the great opening theme music as the titles rolled. It was written by BERT GRUND. Unfortunately, I can't remember it well enough to hum it, but I do remember it was quite stirring, in the same way that William Rogers' theme music for "Victory at Sea" is. I can still remember the theme leading into opening scenes of men and tanks advancing into the snow and cold of a European blizzard a la "Patton". I wish someone would locate it and put it on Youtube, or perhaps put on a whole episode. Why not, as there are so many openings of other old TV series on Youtube now. If only I could just hear the theme music and opening credits once more, it would bring back so many memories, making me a VERY happy Baby Boomer!
However, I note that another Australian IMDb reviewer, Paul Svenson, said in July 2017 that he could remember the theme clearly, and was planning to ask a pianist to play and record it. If you read this Paul, please go ahead and post on Youtube. I'd love to hear that stirring music again. Unlike you, I can't remember how it went but I'm sure I'd recognize it in a second. For the record, the theme music was written by the German composer, BERT GRUND, who wrote a string of other TV and movie themes and soundtracks during his illustrious career. I remember his name on the Citizen Soldier credits very clearly.
***My original review is below:
This was the unheralded forerunner to "Saving Private Ryan" and Band of Brothers. Like that movie and series, it had an honest and unsentimental credibility to it. I clearly remember watching this series when I was a kid. Channel 10 in Sydney (Australia) showed this in the late 1960s, when I was in Year 9 or 10 of high school. (Who knows, Channel 10 may still have the original reels in their archive vaults.) I assume it was shot in black and white, notwithstanding the fact that colour TV didn't come to Australia until about 1974.
However, even with intense internet searches over the years, I haven't been able to find out a lot about this series. Just some mentions in US Army catalog lists is all I could find. No wonder some people might think it's only a figment of some people's imagination!
I really looked forward to watching it after I got home from school around 1968.Because it was shot relatively soon after the Second World War, and shot on locale outdoors, it had a very authentic look, and definitely not with a staged, studio hue to it. Many of the episodes were filmed in winter, and it certainly looked very raw, muddy and chilly. The snow looked cold and totally uninviting, and the frost on everyone's breath was real! It made me feel frozen and miserable just looking at it.
I remember the whole series having a semi-documentary look. (Unlike "Combat!" starring Vic Morrow, which was and certainty looked like it was shot in sunny California, complete with "French" eucalyptus trees, and very co-operative Germans who always seemed to shoot too early, and obligingly stood up in the open to make excellent targets of themselves for the taciturn Chip Saunders and his platoon. Oh, and the Germans were always shouting either "Raus, raus!" or "Schnell!" Not much range there.)
Citizen Soldier had a certain honesty, as from memory, it didn't glamorize the 1944-45 war in northern Europe. It lived up to its title - the experience of ordinary men, only shorty before civilians, caught up in extraordinary circumstances. The fact that there were no big name actors or regular cast members added to its credibility. Of course, so much time has elapsed that I can't remember how much Ra-Ra American patriotism it had, but probably no more than "Saving Private Ryan".
I can remember only scenes, not whole plots. For example, there was one scene, based on a true event, where an American soldier is "shot" by a German sniper and plays dead in the snow, while carefully keeping his walkie-talkie next to him so he can keep directing artillery fire. In another episode, also supposedly based on fact, an American chaplain is captured. Just before some hardline Germans are about to execute him, he is saved in the nick of time by the arrival of a superior German officer who insists on observing the rules of war.
I particularly remember the great opening theme music as the titles rolled. It was written by BERT GRUND. Unfortunately, I can't remember it well enough to hum it, but I do remember it was quite stirring, in the same way that William Rogers' theme music for "Victory at Sea" is. I can still remember the theme leading into opening scenes of men and tanks advancing into the snow and cold of a European blizzard a la "Patton". I wish someone would locate it and put it on Youtube, or perhaps put on a whole episode. Why not, as there are so many openings of other old TV series on Youtube now. If only I could just hear the theme music and opening credits once more, it would bring back so many memories, making me a VERY happy Baby Boomer!