Sven Hassel Movies ??
Has any other novel by Sven Hassel been put to film?
They should.
Don't think any other Sven Hassel novel has had the movie treatment, Shame.
shareI agree that other Sven Hassel novels should have the movie treatment, as well. But if this is ever the case, I hope they get a better treatment than "Wheels of Terror". The film has not a lot to do with the book at all (apart from a few chapters, maybe).
On his official web-site Sven Hassel says himself: "The people who made this film didn't understand the book"
He is right !!
"Assignment Gestapo" should be made into a movie !! It is quite a depressing story with a very strong anti-war-message but still offers all the typical Sven Hassel ingridients.
Opinions please...
Assigment Gestapo may well be the darkest of all Hassel books, especially the fate of Ltn. Ohlsen. But I don't know if any single book works as movie, maybe it should be done in some sort of "best-of" collection with the best bits of the Hassel books: officer baiting, combat, drunken holidays, brothel visits, gruesome fates, guard duty, Torgau, Porta's gambling and stories, some black marketing by Wolf, new animal for the regiment (we already have cat, dog, bear and deer), and of course, the pitch black humour with strong anti-war messages that are present in every Hassel book (maybe apart from Comissar).
Should the movies be made with german actors or with english actors?
Nationalities of actors doesn't matter so long as they're good in their roles.
Monte Cassino would be a great movie visually but you'd need at least half the budget of Saving Private Ryan to do it justice.
I always felt that "Cross of Iron" bore a passing wink to Sven Hassel. Coburn and Schell were magnificent in that.
Very true, Coburn's finest hour, as well as Schell's.
I do agree that if they are good, nationality matters little, but it adds somewhat better immersion. My knowledge of european actors is somewhat minimal, and I can't even think of hollywood actors who could work for such insane characters.
jatrius:
Don't know if Sven Hassel was in Peckinpah's mind when he filmed "Cross of Iron." You may want to check out the novel it was based on, of the same title, by Willi Heinrich. He wrote at least one other novel based on Ostfront action called "Crack of Doom," and a cold war novel called "The Lonely Conqueror" about a black American sergeant's love affair with a German woman, set some time in the fifties. There may be more.
I am not familiar with the Sven Hassel character, but it rather sounds like he may be in the same vein as Gunner Asch, a wisecracking, rule breaking noncom (aren't they all, whatever the nationality?) on the the Ostfront. Asch hails from a series of short novels by Hans Helmut Kirst, who also blessed us with "The Night of the Generals."
"I'm not from here, I just live here. . ."
James Mc Murtry
SirSalvatore is right.
I have previously re-read the books to see if they could stand up as movies but by and large they are too 'bitty' and I think would only work if you combined 2 or 3 into one storyline. I did it as a writing exercise, trying to pull together a strong enough story from the books.
It began when I had a very vivid dream about a possible movie trailer in which I imagined Jason Flemyng as Josef Porta. It was such a clear and complete dream I woke up and wrote it all down. After that I started looking at the books again. The last 3 or so are not so good.
I had hoped Inglorious Basterds might have been like a Sven Hassel movie but I was very disappointed with that movie. (Christoph Waltz might have made a good Julius Heide).
...now I do it just to watch their f----n' expression change.
Yes-I'd like to film the lot as they werre written.Would mean suspending disbelief and continuity.
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