Ski Troop Attack | |
---|---|
Directed by | Roger Corman |
Produced by | Roger Corman |
Written by | Charles B. Griffith |
Starring |
Michael Forest Frank Wolff Richard Sinatra Wally Campo |
Music by | Fred Katz |
Cinematography | Andrew M. Costikyan |
Edited by | Anthony Carras |
Distributed by | Filmgroup |
Release date
|
8 April 1960 |
Running time
|
63 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English German |
Ski Troop Attack is a 1960 American war film directed by Roger Corman. Filmgroup released the film as a double feature with Battle of Blood Island.
A group of ski troopers behind German lines during World War II disrupts Nazi plans and blow up an important bridge.
The Beast from Haunted Cave was filmed simultaneously, utilising the same screenwriter and lead actors.
The film's musical score, written by cellist Fred Katz, was originally written for A Bucket of Blood. According to Mark Thomas McGee, author of Roger Corman: The Best of the Cheap Acts, each time Katz was called upon to write music for Corman, Katz sold the same score as if it were new music. The score was used in a total of seven films, including The Wasp Woman and Creature from the Haunted Sea.
Charles B. Griffith says the script was inspired in part by the Battle of the Hurtgen Forest, with the train crash taken from A Farewell to Arms.
The movie was shot in Deadwood in the Black Hills over ten days. To amortize costs, Corman's brother Gene produced another film, Beast from Haunted Cave at the same time on the same location. Roger Corman hired ski teams from Deadwood and Lead High Schools; one played the Germans and one played the Americans.
When a cast member meant to play the leader of the German ski troop broke his leg, Corman stepped in and played the role himself despite not speaking any German.