Time to Love and a Time to Die, A (1958) review

During the latter stages of World War II, German soldier Graeber (John Gavin) is given leave time, so he returns to his hometown to look for his parents, can't find them, and instead spends time with a girl he meets, Elizabeth (Liselotte Pulver), and marries her before returning to the front.  There's something inherently off-putting about Sirk's custom brand of melodrama and bright Cinemascope cinematography mixed with the horrors of war - bombs never stop dropping, interrupting nighttime snuggling and fancy dinners - not to mention the questionable talent of its two leads (Pulver, in particular, acts like she's playing Gretel in a fairytale).  Graeber is the lone "Good Nazi" in the movie - his tragic end reminds me of that adage "No good deed goes unpunished" - although the author that wrote the source text, Erich Maria Remarque, has a small but potent role as a professor who helps hide Jews (who knew novelists could act?) ... and I'd have preferred following his character around instead.