Price: $19.99 as of 11/23/2009 15:48 EST
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 9780767896610
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DTS Surround Sound, DVD, Subtitled, Full Screen, NTSC
ISBN: 0767896610
Label: Sony Pictures
Languages: EnglishSubtitledEnglishOriginal Language
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Sony Pictures
Region Code: 99
Release Date: June 04, 2002
Running Time: 108 minutes
Studio: Sony Pictures
Theatrical Release Date: April 24, 1992
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Editorial Review:
Amazon.com:
William Wharton's autobiographical novel of World War II becomes a moving portrait of war's madness in the microcosm of a small intelligence patrol on the German front in 1944. The unit, composed of high IQ soldiers, is sent to scout ahead. They discover a small platoon of Germans hiding in the forest, but these soldiers would rather fight with snowballs than guns and exchange Christmas presents instead of mortar fire. The young, rather unsoldierly Americans are offered the opportunity to "capture" the Germans without a fight--until a fatal misunderstanding plunges their efforts into tragedy. Director Keith Gordon, who also penned the screenplay, creates an unusually eloquent, offbeat platoon drama shot amidst the tranquil beauty of a snow-covered forest. His excellent cast includes future stars Ethan Hawke and Gary Sinise, with Frank Whaley, Kevin Dillon, Arye Gross, and Peter Berg rounding out the platoon. Though little seen upon its 1992 release, this moving drama received high praise for its vivid characters and delicately wrought imagery and remains one of the most powerful pacifist dramas of the post-war era. --Sean Axmaker
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
a tremendous film...that should have recieved many more accolades than it did!!!!!..watch this film!!!!!..the acting is first rate as is the cinematography and sets!..the DVD was long over due!
Rating: -
Can anyone please tell me why this b-rated movie is so darn expensive?...I truly love the movie,but not at this exorbitant price....!!!,,,thanks..
Rating: -
I watch this film every Christmas Season.Odd choice? Well, if you consider that the Season is about "peace,good will to all" then yes.A MIDNIGHT CLEAR is a look at the two small platoons of beleagured soldiers from America and Germany (who make it quite clear that they are not Nazis, and the F%$# Hitler!) who meet quite unexpectedly in the Ardennes Woods in December 1944 in the final year of WW2.The point of the film is to show that War is not all that some glorify it to be.This is a "different" approach to War, much like the recent LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA where human faces and emotions are placed upon both "the home team" and "the enemy." That both of these platoons discover each other at Christmas and exchange gifts,songs and negotiate a "surrender" removes us from the battlefield and allows us to examine the lives and the feelings of "greenhorns" weary of War.This film does not end on a happy note, but rather on an note of irony;War goes on and lives are still infected and affected.
The book from which this film derives it's source is autobiographical, and much more absorbing than the film, but the film still does an excellent job at recreating the intensity of emotion that is in William Wharton's book.One scene when they are "anointing" their fallen comrade is quite surreal!
A great companion film to this would be JOYEUX NOEL which tells a similar story about friendly troop exchange during WW1 and I believe to be the better of the two films.DAS BOOT is also another WW2 film that helps us see "the other side" as human.Warmongers will doubtlessly not find this film intriguing I should imagine! People of peace will!
Rating: -
I always check to see if this is out on DVD around this time of year. I have read the book twice, so far back I cannot remember the year, then again a couple years ago. I passed it to my daughter who passed it to her friend and so on... to read. Have the movie on VHS but still wish this was available on DVD at a reasonable price. Only caught it on cable many years ago and never saw it aired again. One of the best movies I have seen.
Rating: -
As an Army vet, I can say that the characters in this movie are just as crazy and varied as you're likely to find in any military unit. Falling somewhere between the Dirty Dozen and Jacobs Ladder, this sleeper is not for everyone. It's pace is slow. It's full of surreal moments. But such is life in a combat zone -- I saw some very surreal things in Desert Storm. I'll admit the writers took it a little too far a couple times, but most of their risks worked, and these accomplished actors pull it off somehow. Overall the movie stands out as one of the great commentaries on war. If you're not too much of a literalist, I'd highly recommend this movie.
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