Sturmtruppen is a 1976 comedy film directed by Salvatore Samperi. It is based on the homonymous Sturmtruppen comic books created by Bonvi.[2][3]
Strumtruppen is a film based on a comic book series written by Bonvi about the conflict in the trenches of World War II from the point of view of the German army.[1][4] The comic series originally appeared in 1968.[4] The idea to adapt Bonvi's scripts to a film came from producers Ermanno Donati and Luigi Carpentieri who had recently produced another popular Italian production set in World War II, Salon Kitty.[4] The two got in touch with Bonvi through screenwriter Vittorio Vighi.[4]
Filming was initially set to start in June 1976.[4] The project eventually went through several different stages as Donati and Carpentieri were not convinced by the original director Ennio De Concini's vision of the film.[4] The script was originally written by Vittorio Vighi and Maria Pia Fusco but these parts were dropped and director Salvatore Samperi signed as the director.[4] De Concini later spoke about his involvement in Strumtruppen, stating that he "felt that my relationship with cinema was running out. [...] I did not feeling like doing [Strumptruppen]. I would have made a bad job and a bad movie."[4]
Sturmtruppen was released in Italy in 1976.[1] The film was a big box office hit in Italy, grossing over a one billion lire at the box office.[5] The film's success led to a sequel Sturmtruppen 2 - Tutti al fronte which was written by Bonvi and again directed by Samperi.[5]