Figure 1.--"The Boy from Stalingrad" was set in a small Russian village caught in the German drive on Stalingrad. Scotty Beckett did his part in World War II. A lesser known child actor was Steven Muller. Stephen was a German boy who ironically played a British boy in the film. Steven was Jewish and was forced out of Germany. He learned English in Britain during the Blitz and thus had a British accent. We are not dsure who is who in the still here.

The cast of "The Boys from Stalingrad" included some child stars I have heard of and others that are new to me. Serbian-American child actor Bobby Samarzich (1929- )played Kolya. I don't know much about him. I dont't think he was a war refugee. He only appeared in a few films. Conrad Binyon played Grisha. Mary Lou Harrington played Nadya. Scotty Beckett played Pavel. Scotty Beckett was the best known child star in the film. He did his part in World War II with this film. He would have been about 14 years old when the film was made. Steven Muller played the British boy Tommy. Actually Steven Muller had a real taste of NAZI brutality that the other boys could never fully apprecite. He was a war refigee--a German Jewish boy whose experienced Kristallnacht and other NAZI repression. His family managed to get out of Germany only days before World War II broke out. He was chosen to play Tommy because he had an English accent which he picked up in England during the Blitz. Donald Mayo played Yuri. The boys did as best they could with the script and vet poor plot. The director knew very little about war or boys either for that msatter. John Wengraf played the evil German commander.

Created: 6:20 AM 12/28/2009
Last updated: 6:20 AM 12/28/2009