The Battle of Neretva (Film 1969)

Battle of Neretva (Serbo-Croatian: Bitka na Neretvi, Битка на Неретви) is a 1969 Yugoslavian epic partisan film. Written by Stevan Bulajić and Veljko Bulajić, and directed by Veljko Bulajić, it is based on the true events of World War II.

The Battle of the Neretva was due to a strategic plan for a combined Axis powers attack in 1943 against the Yugoslav Partisans. The plan was also known as the Fourth Enemy Offensive and occurred in the area of the Neretva river in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Battle of Neretva is the most expensive motion picture made in the SFR Yugoslavia. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, the year after Sergei Bondarchuk (playing the role of Martin in Neretva) won the honour for War and Peace. The score for the English-speaking versions was composed by Bernard Herrmann. Battle of Neretva was the first of a series of huge state-sponsored World War II film productions. It had a staggering budget approved by Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito. Shot over 16 months with funds put up in largest part by over 58 self-managed companies in Yugoslavia, the movie featured a combined battalion of 10,000 Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) soldiers. Four villages and a fortress were constructed for the film and destroyed. Several JNA-inventory Soviet T-34 tanks, touched up to look like German Panzers, met the same fate. Even used several Yugoslavian planes Soko 522 like germans luftwaffe planes with Balkenkreuz on the wings.

Cast & Characters:
Sergei Bondarchuk as Martin
Yul Brynner as Vlado (Vladimir Smirnov)
Curt Jürgens as Gen. Lohring
Bata Živojinović as Stole
Sylva Koscina as Danica
Boris Dvornik as Stipe
Hardy Krüger as Col. Kranzer
Franco Nero as Capt. Michele Riva
Lojze Rozman as Ivan
Ljubiša Samardžić as Novak
Orson Welles as Chetnik senator
Milena Dravić as Nada
Špela Rozin as Vlado's aide
Pavle Vuisić as Jordan
Fabijan Šovagović as Mad Boško
Anthony Dawson as Gen. Morelli
Dušan Bulajić as Chetnik Commander
Renato Rossini as Sgt. Mario
Oleg Vidov as Nikola
Kole Angelovski as Žika
Stole Aranđelović as Šumadinac
Demeter Bitenc as Capt. Schröder
Ralph Persson as Lt. Horst
Radko Polič as Vuko
Miha Baloh as Ustasha Commander
Faruk Begolli as Stevo
Zaim Muzaferija as tall peasant in the Partisans column
Hajrudin Hadžikarić as Vladimir Nazor