Notable for being the penultimate film of Gerald Thomas, the director of the Carry On comedy series, the film has little else to make it an interesting watch. There are some strong moments and a mysterious atmosphere is established well amid the bleakness of ice and snow, however the plot is a bit muddled and hard to follow, plus the addition of a typical love subplot just distracts from the meat of what plot can be deciphered. The acting is hammy, especially from Birgit Doll, and other than some superb locations and a few things that the film has to say about occupying powers in foreign nations, there simply is just nothing much to the film. In spite of all, it is still fairly watchable stuff
just not very good stuff.
3 Reviews
a WW2 "whodunnit" which slows down after an ok start
siideri_lasu11 February 2003
The movie is set in Austria just after WW2, the driver and friend of a British officer of the occupation force is murdered and this incident leads to a new conflict between the winners and the losers..
In my opinion this movie was okay, it has an experienced cast (mainly german speaking veteran actors like Mario Adorf and Wolfgang Preiss) who try their best in a mediocre script, Anthony Andrews looks a bit lost a few times though.
One of the more brighter performances is by Helmut Griem, who is very good as the manic police officer.
I give this film ** out of *****
In my opinion this movie was okay, it has an experienced cast (mainly german speaking veteran actors like Mario Adorf and Wolfgang Preiss) who try their best in a mediocre script, Anthony Andrews looks a bit lost a few times though.
One of the more brighter performances is by Helmut Griem, who is very good as the manic police officer.
I give this film ** out of *****
It's a weird sidestep for AIP.
tarbosh220004 April 2013
Warning: Spoilers
For today's plot synopsis, we're going to quote the back of the AIP VHS box. It reads (in part): "Just after the end of WWII in the winter of 1945, the fighting has ended, but the brutality of murder and the pain continue. Army Major Mark Hanlon (Anthony Andrews) has been appointed Occupation Officer and, although he retains an idealistic vision of harmony, he finds that his vision turns to bitter revenge when his good friend is senselessly murdered. Hanlon must discover the hidden mystery behind the death and finds that sometimes the Second Victory is more difficult to achieve than the first." The Second Victory is a dour and dry drama, with virtually no action, but a whole lot of talking. This AIP pick-up was seemingly added to their catalog to try to appeal to older viewers, or more mainstream viewers. Perhaps feeling cornered into the "shirtless meathead with a machine gun" market, the higher-ups at AIP decided to diversify. But diversify on a budget. So they settled with this tepid, play-like drama, perfect for undiscerning senior citizens for Sunday afternoon viewing. Presumably Grandma and Grandpa weren't watching Maximum Breakout (1991) or Killzone (1985), so AIP decided to tap into the sweet, sweet "old person" market.
There's nothing wrong with AIP attempting a bid for "respectability", but it seems they didn't stick with it and were soon going back to what they knew with fare like Triple Impact (1992) and Elves (1989). We say it's better that way. Go with what you know. As far as The Second Victory, or T2V as all the kids are calling it, it has some nice Austrian locations, and Max Von Sydow improves things when he's on screen (which is far too little - he's under-used here), but the problem is, this movie has a slow pace and is a standard, boring, no-frills drama that desperately needs some pep. A few skiing scenes aren't going to solve their problems.
So it's more serious, adult fare than what AIP fans are used to, which is fine, but this movie is just so "square". Seeing as most of the AIP catalog is weird, wild and wacky, this one just stands out like a sore thumb. It's hard to imagine even WWII buffs getting into this one.
So it's a weird sidestep (not necessarily a "missstep") for AIP - not representative of their catalog at large. Not that it was bad, but we just can't really find any outstanding reason to recommend this one.
For more action insanity, drop by: www.comeuppancereviews.com
There's nothing wrong with AIP attempting a bid for "respectability", but it seems they didn't stick with it and were soon going back to what they knew with fare like Triple Impact (1992) and Elves (1989). We say it's better that way. Go with what you know. As far as The Second Victory, or T2V as all the kids are calling it, it has some nice Austrian locations, and Max Von Sydow improves things when he's on screen (which is far too little - he's under-used here), but the problem is, this movie has a slow pace and is a standard, boring, no-frills drama that desperately needs some pep. A few skiing scenes aren't going to solve their problems.
So it's more serious, adult fare than what AIP fans are used to, which is fine, but this movie is just so "square". Seeing as most of the AIP catalog is weird, wild and wacky, this one just stands out like a sore thumb. It's hard to imagine even WWII buffs getting into this one.
So it's a weird sidestep (not necessarily a "missstep") for AIP - not representative of their catalog at large. Not that it was bad, but we just can't really find any outstanding reason to recommend this one.
For more action insanity, drop by: www.comeuppancereviews.com
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