Armored Attack! (aka The North Star)

When the school year ends, five friends from a small Ukrainian village decide to travel to Kiev. Their trip is cut short when German aircraft attack and their town falls under occupation. While many escape to the hills to form an anti-Nazi resistance group, a German doctor, Dr. Otto Von Harden (Erich von Stroheim), begins to use the children for medical experiments and as sources of blood transfusions for wounded German soldiers. Directed by Lewis Milestone (ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT), this story of valiant resistance stars Dana Andrews (LAURA), Anne Baxter (ALL ABOUT EVE), and Walter Huston (THE TREASURE OF SIERRA MADRE) as the Russian doctor who discovers the nefarious German plot. In 1943, the North Star was nominated for six Academy Awards. THE NORTH STAR (1943) was re-released in the midst of the Cold War as Armored Attack! (1957). The original references to the allied Russian military were excised and an overtly anti-Communist narration track was added. This disc includes the original theatrical cut, THE NORTH STAR, which runs 30 minutes longer and preserves Milestone's initial version of the film before these politically-motivated changes were made.