T-34

Picked this up at Walmart a few weeks ago and just now getting around to watching it.

Surprisingly not bad at all. It's in Russian with subtitles which I turned off and changed it to English. Might be better watching in original Russian with subtitles as it gives the Russians a better effect.

Plot is a bit cheesy and most of the tanks etc are CGI which are good but you can still tell they are CGI.

Pretty much a propaganda type film,

Basic plot is a young Soviet tank officer who really knows his stuff. He gets involved in a tank battle pitting his tank against an entire company of German tanks. He manages to win the battle but loses his tank and is captured in the end. 3 years later he is recruited by the German commander he defeated to act as a training crew for German cadets. He takes the T-34 and escapes. Anything else would be spoilers.

I'm liking it.

A real mind boggler is the Russian movie "The White Tiger" about this mystical white tiger tank that comes out of swamps etc and wastes entire tank companies the tank scenes as far as the T-34 go are good the tiger is a made up thing but the effects are not bad inside the tanks worth a look if not just to see a whole swag of T-34 tearing up the forests.

The White Tiger with subtitles - YouTube

Boy!.. my old age is showing!.. GCI to me is "Ground Controlled Intercept" from my days in the 52nd FG (AD), SCAFB, NY. (Pre SAGE and Data Link).

I hate subtitles but managed the whole movie. A bit disjointed imo but entertaining none the less.

I think the script was in between many Vwodka's WP still some of the battle scenes aren't to bad even if the Tiger tank is poorly done.

The actual T-34 was a good bit of kit, I read about it many years ago, I cant remember if it was the nuts and bolts or was it the bearings? that they only used a few different sizes etc, and only needed a a small tool kit (for the basic things).

I wonder how many of these are lying abandoned around the world ?

If you read the detail of the T34 in WWII use it wasn't as good as its press. Evidently it was good but not that good, with poor mechanical reliability.

Cheap & easy to make with Russian fervor for the motherland being churned out at places like Tankograd a Tiger can only knock out so many T-34's before its swamped, Russia was not really worried to much about cannon fodder there were plenty more of Stalin's recruits ready for the cause.
It was a nasty shock to the German army when they encountered the T-34 and high praise indeed when they copied it in the guise of the Panther another tank design rushed into service to early with the breakdowns and fires doing more damage than the enemy.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Daan Kemp

Evidently it was good but not that good, with poor mechanical reliability.

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That describes just about everything that came out of the USSR.

Saw this today on Amazon Prime. It's either since been dubbed into English, or I've gone senile because the actor's mouths actually appeared to be speaking English. I did catch a few of the CGI images, but for the most part, it seemed realistic. The part where they first started the T34 and were doing "donuts" in the courtyard was pretty obvious. Bogey wheels were static and no track-marks on the concrete...

Russ