I bought "50 Combat Classics" for 10 bucks at Walmart, not expecting much, and the version of Partizanska Escadrila, called "Battle of the Eagles" on Disc 8 lived down to expectations. This is not to say my 10 bucks were wasted, there have been some pleasant surprises in the 50 films, but this was not one of them. The film included on this DVD set, is the chopped up, and dubbed version, as described by other reviewers.As is clear from the IMDb summary for Partizanska Escadrila, this is a Yugoslavian production from 1979. Why somebody felt compelled to produce a pure propaganda piece 34 years after the War, WWII, is a mystery to this reviewer.It is hard, for me, to judge acting or actor ability with a dubbed film, but, while there are an abundance of stereotypical, war movie characters, there are no obvious instances of histrionics or blatant overacting. On the checklist of characters, there is the cool, firm, competent leader (the Major). The free-spirited, skilled, and reckless pilot. The sullen, sulky, reluctant, volunteer (the non-communist that steals a plane from the Germans, to serve the homeland). His doomed sidekick, who has to earn his trust. The goofy kid, that rises from incompetence to hero. The quiet woman of compassion, who loves the leader (the radio operator). The goofy kid's, every-woman, love interest, who sacrifices all to be near him. All the stock characters seem covered.The action in this film requires a major suspension of belief, as the hopelessly outnumbered heroes, in hopelessly outdated planes, take on a supposedly modern Air Force AND Army on equal terms. By equal terms, I mean that there are losses on both sides, and there are mission successes on both sides. (The Luftwaffe, when fighting planes of the quality depicted in this film, swept away the entire organized Air Forces of THREE countries (Poland, Holland, Belgium) in less than a week, cumulatively.) The climactic air duel, pits the Major, leader of the partisans, against the evil, I guess (more on this later), German Gestapo officer. What a policeman, which is what the Gestapo was, is doing in a Luftwaffe fighter, is, yet another, mystery to me.About the Gestapo guy...I guess he is evil, but, as I speak nearly no German, at all, I cannot be sure. That is because on the dubbed version provided in this film collection, ONLY THE YUGOSLAV DIALOGUE IS DUBBED IN English! The DAMN Germans SPEAK ONLY UNTRANSLATED German! The only German word I could even correctly translate myself was the "Scheiß" (shit), as the sullen guy stole the German plane. So, nearly a third of this film was incomprehensible to this viewer! In summary, a somewhat predictable Yugoslavian flag waver of limited entertainment value to this monolingual English speaking viewer. Not the worst film I've seen in the aforementioned DVD collection, but not nearly good enough to warrant a repeat viewing.

It really amazed me to see that someone would take so much time to assess such a bad movie. The beginning (of the film) had some truth in it. The Partisan "AF" was started in 1943 when two communist pilots from the Croat Ustashi AF deserted, together with their observers, in Breguet 19 and Potez 33, respectively. The aircraft saw some action in strafing and hand-bombing, but didn't last very long. One crew was killed and the other survived, the pilot being killed later while flying a Spitfire Vc. The real Partisan squadrons were established when RAF detached two of its (Yugoslav) squadrons of Spitfire Vc and, Hurricane IIc , respectively, manned by Ex Yugoslav Royal Airforce pilots, and allotted them to Tito's forces on the Island of Vis. Even those were never engaged in air-to-air activities, but strictly for ground support. So the film was one giant cow manure, to put it mildly, and the lowest point for its, otherwise not at all bad, director. By some quirk of fate I was present on the filming of the last sequence of the movie, when dozens of German aircraft were destroyed (Yugoslav 522 trainers, used also in the flying sequences) on the Mostar military airport. The pyrotechnics were impressive, and the Scotch served lavishly by the film crew was even better. Otherwise, the film was a shameless lie was and frequently joked about by the contemporary audience.

Partizanska Eskadrila was an obsession of every kid in early eighties (making me no exception). It tried to follow the contemporary Hollywood action scheme and presented advanced visuals for that time. Partisans and Germans were the inspiration for Yugoslav movie makers for forty years. They colonized nearly every genre, of course action movies were the most convenient ground for them. However after seeing it twenty years later it amazed me how many similarities it features to - the first Star Wars movie: The protagonists: Dalibor (Luke Skwalker ) – the young unexperienced partisan fighter who during the film fulfills his ambition to become a pilot and a hero at the end Vuk (Han Solo) – a stubborn pilot who steals the German plane and does not fit entirely into the partisan unit (he doubts in partisans, but hate Germans) until the victorious ending. Major Dragan (Obi Wan) the wise but determined squadron leader Major Dragan, who gained much experience in a previous (Spanish civil) war. He even mysteriously flies away at the end of film wounded in a plane, which we don't see being destroyed. The elements of the film story include (just the most evident elements): -stealing something (a plane) from the enemy base what provokes "special measures" from the Germans, whose Vader is impersonated by a merciless SS Klauberg. -infiltrating the enemy airport (death star), causing mayhem and then escaping -the final the attack of the entire squadron with a goal to destroy a "heavily protected" bridge in a canyon where the partisans battle both enemy planes and ground defense and when the negative character is also defeated -The most evident similarity, which looks a bit funny in both films is the ending scene in film where the three heroes got awards and march through the line up of their fellow fighters and admirers. No, wonder the Partizanska Eskadrila was released in 1979 in a time when SW "A new hope" was a widely admired film.

Throughout the 1950s and into the 60s, 70s and even into the 80s, a slew of war films were produced in the former Yugoslavia, glorifying the heroism of the "Partisans" – civilians who turned out to fight a guerrilla war against the invading German forces. Hajrudin Krvavac, who's generally only known in Eastern Europe, directed quite a few of these "partisan" stories; unfortunately, only a handful of them were ever exported to the rest of the Europe and the United States. "Battle of the Eagles" is a rare, low-budget look at the formation and exploits of the Partisan Air Force.Marshal Tito decrees that a Partisan Air Force must be formed to combat the German Luftwaffe in the skies over Yugoslavia. A group of former pilots join forces with two small biplanes and begin raiding enemy bases and convoys; over the course of several months, more pilots and planes join the ranks, eventually forming a formidable air force. Maybe it's history, or maybe it's fable – whatever it is, it sure isn't convincing, but a cast of great actors sure try to make it work.The film opens strongly with a well-shot German air raid on defenseless partisans. The nuts and bolts of the plot come together almost immediately, and for a short while the audience is treated to a rather patriotic series of scenes. Then the action starts, and this title quickly becomes yet another low-budget, by-the-numbers adventure. All of the characters are familiar clichés: Major Dragan (played by a well-meaning Bekim Fehmiu) is our typical patriotic, heroic leading man. He blasts away at strafing planes with a machine-gun and even has an aerial duel with the villainous Klauberg (Radko Polic), a completely predictable and corny climax with an equally predictable outcome. The rest of the partisans are familiar: Ljubisa Samardzic ("The Battle of Neretva") is a Zare, a hotshot playboy; Bata Zivojinovic ("Hell River") is Voss, a veteran flyer who comes out of the woodwork now that his country needs him; and Rados Bajic ("The Day that Shook the World") is Dalibor, a young messenger boy who moves up through the ranks, eventually becoming a seasoned combat pilot. The characters and their stories are familiar to any war fan, and Krvavac doesn't try to build upon these stereotypes. The cast does a fair job, and despite the two-dimensional script, every player is engaging and fun to watch. Bajic, in particular, has some great moments – when he's going to take his first flight as a gunner, and later, when he is forced to land a plane after the pilot is killed. The plot merely consists of a string of air raids against the Germans, and subsequent retaliatory acts.Krvavac handles the action sequences competently with a mix of actual footage and miniature effects. Unfortunately, the miniatures are so cheap and false-looking that the transitions between actual aerial photography and toy planes are jarring and laughable. Some of the strafing and bombing scenes look shockingly real, while dogfights involving scale models, complete with action figure pilots, are just plain pathetic. Sometimes smoke puffs from the "machine-guns" are so big that the smoke engulfs the entire model plane. Worse, the editors often superimpose shots of fighters over real footage. Although the aircraft are usually in proper perspective, they're surrounded by a distracting glow which hinders any attempt at realism. All of this action is set to an incredibly familiar and annoying score by Bojan Adamic."Battle of the Eagles" also suffers from a very poorly edited English-language release. To begin with, 28 minutes of footage is missing – cutting the film from 130 minutes to a mere 102. The missing segments were carelessly excised, and the cutting looks very sloppy. Music cues are abruptly cut off and scenes are abandoned before they are resolved. In the last third of the film, the story falls apart, and only some badly-needed action scenes can try to save it from total incomprehensibility. Then, there's the dubbing… all of the scenes revolving around the Partisans are dubbed in English (rather poorly, however), yet several lengthy scenes remain in German, without the benefit of subtitles. The film might have made much more sense had the German-language sequences been excised instead of crucial scenes revolving around the Partisans.On the plus side, Krvavac handles the outdoor footage quite well. There is never a moment where the audience feels like they're on a soundstage. In particular, the German Luftwaffe bases are expansive, complete with dozens of Messerschmitt fighter planes and extras costumed in leather flying jackets. The scenery is fresh and green, and Krvavac isn't afraid to shoot scenes with extremely wide angles or from far away simply to convey the scope of a battle or long trek. A German ambush of a partisan unit early on in the picture stands out, as does a sequence where Zare and Dalibor escape from an enemy base.As it exists on home video, "Battle of the Eagles" is just another of many stories about the Yugoslav Partisan movement. There is nothing to set it apart from the rest of the crop, and the terrible special effects and drastic editing put it a notch below acceptable. Try to avoid this one unless you can find a full-length copy.