Heroes of War Collection - Frontline Combat (D-Day: The Sixth of June / Guadalcanal Diary / Halls of Montezuma / Decision Before Dawn) (4-DVD)

GUADALCANAL DIARY: Wartime account of the Marine invasion of the Solomon Islands during WWII. Clearly intended to bolster home-front morale, but the better-than-average cast of tough guys and the proximity of the release to the events themselves give the action an added urgency.

DECISION BEFORE DAWN: At the close of WWII, German defeat is almost within Allied grasp and many Germans are "defecting," offering their services as spies behind German lines. Col. Devlin is not taken in by their wiles, but there is one prisoner whose claims seem genuine, and he decides to send Karl Maurer (Oscar Werner) on a dangerous, top-secret mission. Will he prove trustworthy, or will he negate all that the Allies have gained so far' Klaus Kinski (AGUIRRE, WRATH OF GOD; MY BEST FIEND) appears in a cameo.

HALLS OF MONTEZUMA: Richard Widmark stars as Lt. Carl Anderson, a tough Marine officer who has been ordered to take a patrol and capture prisoners who must be interrogated about a Japanese experimental rocket-launching facility in the Pacific Islands. His platoon is split between weary veterans like Lt. Gilfilan (Richard Boone) and Pidgeon Lane (Jack Palance), and nervous recruits such as Coffman (Robert Wagner) and Cpl. Stuart Conroy (Richard Hylton). Despite his own ailments, Anderson must motivate this group of individuals to work as a unit.

D-DAY: THE SIXTH OF JUNE: Hollywood once again looks back at the undeniably compelling story of D-Day, this time through the device of two officers, one American and one British, facing the coming battle and recalling their love for the same woman. The movie is full of solid battle sequences, but the atypical plot is the hook.