MovieChat Forums > Attack (1956) Discussion > tanks

tanks

posted 12 years ago by denham
4 replies | jump to latest

Anyone know what the tanks were? They didn't look to me much like any German WWII tanks. I read that Aldrich couldn't get the US military to lend him any and so had to scrounge a couple from wherever; maybe they were non-German tanks (US M5s?) that were modified in an attempt to make them look like... something vaguely German. And when they fired a round, wasn't the sound curiously thin? Having a plausible sound effect shouldn't have been that difficult, even on a tight budget. The way the gun support comes and goes is a peculiarly glaring continuity mistake too, of course the support shouldn't be there at all.

"I beseech ye in the bowels of Christ, think that ye may be mistaken."

[–] pac52 12 years ago

I didn't recognize any of those funky vehicles that were called tanks. If they were modified to look more "realistic," then it was a big fail.

[–] mike-848 12 years ago

I'm no tank expert but they looked like the US WWII Stewart light tank. The gun barrels looked like they were mock ups to try to give the tanks more of a beefier appearance that gave the tank a really clumsy look.

[–] Toshi51 9 years ago

They appeared to be modified M3s.

[–] HenryCW 9 years ago

It is fairly obvious that the German tanks in the film were in fact US tanks, as can be seen easily from the wheel arrangements. This was understandable for a film made in 1956 with presumably a modest budget.

The greatest goof of all, however, was that those tanks were seen firing with the flimsy gun supports still in place. That would never have happened. The gun supports would be in place only when the vehicle was resting or moving in transit to another place, never in a battle. Even guns in armored vehicles without turrets had some limited degree of traverse. With the gun support, the gun would not be able to traverse, elevate or depress to reach the target.