A Time to Love and a Time to Die

A Time to Love and a Time to Die is a 1958 Eastmancolor CinemaScope drama war film directed by Douglas Sirk and starring John Gavin and Liselotte Pulver. Based on the book by German author Erich Maria Remarque and set on the Eastern Front and in Nazi Germany, it tells the story of a young German soldier who is revolted by the conduct of the German army in the Soviet Union and actions of the Nazi Party in the homefront. According to Variety magazine, the film "was regarded by the company's exec echelon at the outset as fine drama and [a] wham money maker, but the box office disappointment is now ascribed to [a] lack of names". Plot As a German infantry unit retreats across Russia in the spring of 1944, Ernst Graeber's conscience is revolted by the execution of captured civilians. Given his first furlough for over two years, he returns to find his family home bombed and his parents gone. Calling at the house of the family doctor for information, the daughter Elizabeth tells him her father is in a concentration camp because of an unwise remark. Allied bombing continues by day and by night. An old school friend who is now the local head of the Nazi Party offers Ernst accommodation, food, drink, and women. But he prefers to stay with fellow soldiers billeted in a hospital and to get closer to Elizabeth. The two go to the one restaurant still open, which is destroyed that night by bombs.