A Time to Love and a Time to Die (Will o' the Wisp) (1958)
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80% of critics liked it
(5 reviews) -
76% of users liked it
(366 ratings)
Douglas Sirk directed this doomed World War II love story, seen from the German side of the war, as filtered through a distinctly late-'50s Hollywood banality. The film is based on the novel by Erich Maria Remarque, the author of the classic World War I anti-war novel All Quiet On the Western… More Douglas Sirk directed this doomed World War II love story, seen from the German side of the war, as filtered through a distinctly late-'50s Hollywood banality. The film is based on the novel by Erich Maria Remarque, the author of the classic World War I anti-war novel All Quiet On the Western Front -- and who makes a cameo appearance in the film as an elderly schoolteacher. The film stars John Gavin as Ernst Graber, a young Nazi soldier home on leave during the height of World War II. While on leave, he falls in love and marries Elizabeth Kruze (Lilo Pulver). With bombs falling all around the young couple, they set up house with a kindly old woman. Then Elizabeth becomes pregnant. But before Ernst can grasp the reality of his becoming a father, he is sent back to the war -- to fight the brutal battle along the Russian front. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Directed By
- Douglas Sirk
- Genres
- Drama
Unrated,
- In Theaters
- Sep 15, 1958 Wide
Critic Reviews
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Dan Callahan, Slant Magazine
Sirk is a past master of handling the most dubious writing and acting and still somehow making it conform to his overall vision.
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Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Douglas Sirk's haunting masterpiece wartime romance story is set in 1944.
See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)
Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)
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Cast
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John Gavin
as Ernest Graeber
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Liselotte Pulver
as Elizabeth Kruse
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Keenan Wynn
as Reuter
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Erich Maria Remarque
as Pohlmann
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Don DeFore
as Boettcher
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Thayer David
as Oscar Binding
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Jock Mahoney
as Immerman
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Dieter Borsche
as Capt. Rahe
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Barbara Rütting
as Woman Guerrilla
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Charles Regnier
as Joseph
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Dorothea Wieck
as Frau Lieser
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Kurt Meisel
as Heini
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Agnes Windeck
as Frau Witte
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Clancy Cooper
as Sauer
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Klaus Kinski
as Gestapo Lieutenant
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Alice Treff
as Frau Langer
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Alexander Engel
as Warden
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Dana J. Hutton
as Hirschland
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Wolf Harnisch
as Sgt. Muecke
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Karl Ludwig Lindt
as Dr. Karl Fresenburg
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Lisa Helwig
as Frau Kleinert
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John Van Dreelen
as Political Officer
