Vladimir (Gregory Peck) leads a group of guerrillas against the Nazi invaders in the forests of Russia. His small group is waiting for the order to attack. It finally comes with the message "The snow will fall".The film is well acted with tense moments, eg, when the German soldier makes his escape with only Nina (Tamara Toumanova) in the hideout to defend herself alone against him. The group dynamics are well portrayed within this troupe of rebels and there is a very human element to the story. There are poignant scenes including Nina's silence when Mitya (Glenn Vernon) is taken by the Germans and the film has a memorable ending. It's patriotic but it's still a good film.

Being a product of watching dozens and dozens of U.S. WWII propaganda films throughout my childhood on 1950's black and white TV, a few of them made a lasting impression on me. This is one that did. I still vividly recall the final scene where Peck and the heroine are being overrun by a Nazi tank as they jointly fire some sort of armor-penetrating rifle at the beast to no avail. I read in the last few years that the no known copies of this film survived, and I regret that. (I suppose the last copy fell to pieces in the projection room of Channel 62 to Sioux Falls or some such place.) Being Peck's first film and also his first as a leading man, you'll just have to take my word that it was worth watching! It compares favorably with Errol Flynn's 1943 "Edge of Darkness," which portrayed the same theme but with Norwegian resistance fighters. (That one's still around and rivals Eastwood's "Where Eagles Dare" for most Nazis killed by the fewest people.)

During the 1941 invasion of Russia by the Nazi's the odds are overwhelming as the German army marches across the land. However resistance among the brave Russians makes up with heart what it lacks in sophistication and size.One such outfit is a small group of guerrilla soldiers lead by Vladimir. The new arrival of an 'outsider' creates tensions within the group but the capture of a German soldier offers the possibility of information and the potential for a demoralising strike at the invading army as well as his attempted escape helping the group trust one another again.Perhaps understandably the Russian/German front has been largely ignored by Hollywood in the past few decades and even now it is possible that Days Of Glory is only increasing in circulation because the embarrassment factor has faded. During the cold war, nobody really wanted a WWII propaganda piece that shows the Russians (our enemy) as upright, heroic and American (!). However now we are all in the War on Terror together, I notice this film has started being seen more than it was ten years ago. I was attracted to this by the director and the presence of Peck – however this is far from being one of Tourneur's famous films and Peck was in his first screen role. Essentially this is a big 'thank you' to the Russian soldiers by putting them in a story where they talk endlessly about why they are fighting while falling in love, looking heroic and sacrificing their lives. It is as basic and uninspiring as all that sounds and it smacks of a film that puts propaganda first and entertainment second.This is not to say that it doesn't try because it does, with some action, some human drama and the standard wartime romance. It is not terrible but it does get a little dull at times and has far too much heavy handed preaching while the emotional music swells in the background. The cast features a surprising amount of people in their screen debuts – I'm not sure if that was deliberate but it doesn't show that much. Peck shows the sort of furrowed brow and screen presence that made him a famous leading man while the rest of the cast do OK in average characters who are either jovial, heroic or brave depending on what point the film is trying to get across.Overall this is an interesting film because it is unusual to see an American propaganda film bigging up the Russians. It has some involving action towards the end but mostly it is too talky and preachy, relying on music and heroic sacrifice to pull our heartstrings rather than writing real people who we can get emotionally involved with and care about.

Excellent cast, Peck is great in this vehicle with limited resources. Co-star Tamara Toumanova is beautiful as his love interest. Depects the sacrafice the russian peoples army made fighting the Nazis. The army was made up of ordinary people banding together in small units to harass and eventually drive the germans out of their homeland. Excellent personel interaction between the actors that gives you the feeling of their inner thoughts, fear, love and bravery and not just war action. Patriotic and tearfull at times.