Judith (1966)

How sad is this?

Best movie ever!

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

I really enjoyed this film, which was made around the time of Exodus, and covered a similar theme, that of desperate refugees from Europe trying to enter the British mandate of Palestine, and the Kibutzim trying to build their settlement. The location shots were excellent, as was the acting and the story was passable, although stretching credibility somewhat, but the casting of Sophia Loren in the lead role was totally wrong. To begin with, she was far too glamorous in her brief short shorts, tight blouses and full makeup. Not to mention the way she thrust out her ample bosom and exaggeratedly wiggled her bottom from side to side as she strutted. I did not know whether to laugh or groan when she waggled her way through the dining room as if her hip joints has become looseIn her first scene, Loren climbs out of the bottom of wooden shipping crate in which she and another woman have been concealed underneath a lathe for however long it took to ship from another country. The other woman has died, but Loren's make up and hair are perfect and she hasn't a drop of sweat on her. Not to mention the fact that the weight of the lathe would likely have broken through the false floor. Another time, she is smuggled into Syria by boat wearing a very smart spotless white suit and high heels. She then parades around a street market in Damascus in these clothes, sticking out like a sore thumb. Four days later she leaves Damascus still wearing the same impeccable suit, but this time with an injured man on a stretcher, with no indication of how they got him out of the market place. Both the arrival and departure from Damacus puzzled me as it appeared to be from a lake or river. How did they get from Haifa to Damascus in a boat? Don't even ask about her running around in all directions when the shooting started rather than taking cover as she was told to do. The film would have been much stronger if the character of Judith, who would have been in her 30's and a survivor of Dachau, should have been played by a veteran actress, preferably European with a world weary air and strong sex appeal, a woman who had suffered, seen it all and done it all, not a conventional glamor girl. Ingrid Bergman, Lily Palmer, Simone Signoret, Anouk Aimee, or Jeanne Moreau.

Judith Aurbach (Sophia Loren) is an extremely rare survivor of a Nazi death camp. She is now(1948) at a refugee camp awaiting a chance to enter the prospective state of Israel. Her husband, Gustav Schiller, a former Nazi tank corps commander, is reported to be in this general area. Her primary goal is to find him and extract revenge upon him for revealing to the Gestapo that she was a Jew, thus fit to be sent to a concentration camp. She also is driven to find her son, if he is alive, also thought to be in this general region. The Jewish underground also wants to capture Schiller, who is reported to be heading the Syrian tank corps. They hope to extract what he knows about the Syrian war plans against Israel and the location of their tank corps. Since there is no good photo of Schiller available to the Israelites, They want to bring Judith into the 'çountry' and use her to identify Schilling, should they encounter him. She is hidden in a secrete compartment of a crate, along with other things, and shipped to Israel, where her crate passes immigration inspection. She is sent to a kibbutz adjacent to a border with Syria. The Syrians occasionally fire ordinance into the kibbutz, mostly to remind the Israelis that they are there. Once, they fired missiles that set part of the kibbutz on fire. She hated most of the menial work assigned to her, and was not pleased that, once again, she was in the midst of a war zone. The British military, preparing to soon withdraw from the region, is reported to keep a file on ex-Nazi war criminals, and which may contain information about the recent whereabouts of Schiller. So, how to obtain such information? It's decided that Judith will travel to Haifa, and try to 'charm' Major Lawton into handing over the relevant file. Seems like an impossible venture, but Judith eventually pulls it off. Now Judith, Aaron(Peter Finch), and a companion are smuggled into Damascus, where Schiller is reported to have been recently. Judith spots him at an outdoor café. He recognizes her, but can't believe she's alive. He doesn't let on that he suspects her, but follows her when she walks toward where Aaron and the other are hiding. When she stops in front of their hiding place, they acknowledge that they are who they think they are. Then, Judith pulls a gun and fires. Schiller falls, badly wounded. Judith is castigated for exercising her chance for revenge over the goal of capturing and interrogating him. Somehow, they smuggle Schiller out of Syria and take him to Judith's kibbutz, where he is interrogated.He refuses to divulge any info the interrogates want. They know that physical mistreatment could easily kill him in his condition, thus the interrogators leave him for the day. But ,Judith later sneaks into his room and gets him to talk some, threatening him with another gun shot. He tells where the attack will mainly come from(Why couldn't this info be obtained from reconnaissance planes?). Schiller also mentions he knows where their son is, but delays telling where. I will stop my summary here, and let you see the climax, perhaps on YouTube.This is a very implausible story, beginning with the chance that the Jewish wife of a Nazi general is one of the very few survivors of Nazi extermination camps. It's very unclear how the little team managed to smuggle a badly injured Schiller out of Syria. Also, the possibility that Major Lawton would hand over sensitive files to Judith(even if she was Sophia Loren) seems preposterous. There are also a few instances when it wasn't clear to me what was going on. On the other hand, it is an interesting story of the chances people will take to accomplish important goals, gives a fair exposure to what kibbutz are like, and has some good battle scenes.

Yes, throughout this film and being an amateur artist who likes drawing & painting beautiful women, I was mesmerised by Sophia's eye makeup considering she played a victim of Dachau yet looked remarkably fit, healthy, well fed and sported top of the range cosmetics especially on her face!Other reviewers have adequately commented on the plot and main characters.Considering I am now 69 and have always liked going to the cinema, I was surprised I had never seen this title before but thanks to www.youtube.com it is now available to world audiences.However,this TV movie seemed to be merely a device for showing off Loren's stunning figure and beauty although the action sequences of the Syrian attack on the kibbutz were well produced.My rating was 6/10.

This is the story of Jewish underground fighters' efforts to track down a former Nazi Panzer commander who has been helping the Syrians with tank strategies in the months before Israeli nationhood was declared. Only one woman can help them identify the commander, so they smuggle her into Palestine. Judith, the central character in the story, is a survivor of Dachau where she lost her son. But she has a darker past at the concentration camp which gives her the ability to identify the German commander. Played by Sophia Loren, Judith certainly has the physical ability to appeal to various men and get the information she needs. She also has a personal reason to find the German which complicates the story. For some reason, this movie has gotten a bad rap from some of the ratings guides but it is an entertaining and well-produced film. The technical aspects are first-rate as is most of the acting with Peter Finch and Jack Hawkins acquitting themselves admirably in opposing roles.