Now
I must admit I am partial to a good old fashioned WWII Movie
and when I sat down to watc this one I was hoping it might
have been one of them. How disappointed I was.
Now
I freely admit most of the old WWII Movies are probably completly
non Politically Correct IE the Germans are the bad guys and
the Allies are the good guys with little room for shades of
grey or even a balanced discussion or a realistic depiction
of what they are portraying. Personally this doesn't normally
bother me as long as you accept the story for good old fashioned
"Boys Own" or "Commando" stories (for
our American readers think Sgt Rock).
This
Movie tries to be based on that lines but does not manage
to achieve fully what it wants to be. Ie a HEROIC story of
man against the odds.
Made
in 1955 and starring Trevor Howard this Movie is based on
the raid by Royal Marines to blow up ships in a French harbour
by Kayaks. Source material sounds like it could have been
a very dramatic movie with heaps of suspense.
Instead
the action is very soggy indeed. Have you ever heard of a
nighttime raid being filmed during the day? Yes they did.
Quite often when you see the sky during the raid it is blue.
But pardon me considering the raid was supposed to have been
in December should the sky not have been jet black and very
dark. Completely ruined any sense of the reality the Movie
could have had.
Something
else that was terrible about the Movie. Trevor Howard was
only supposed to be the admin officer on the mission and not
actually go. But 15 minutes before the mission one of the
men is injured and without having had any training he volunteers
to go along. His age in this movie is also at least 50-55
which would have made him completely unsuitable for the mission.
But oh no they take him anyway because "I'm a quick learner"
. Doesn't exactly instill much confidence for the mission
does it ?
Although
Trevor Howard is the best known character in the Movie, the
lead is actually played by Jose Ferrer who was not the most
heroic of actors to play a hero (the film's description ,
not mine) coming across as a bit of a snob and not a great
leader of men as a character in a Movie such as this should
be.
Well
as you can guess the raid succeeds. Did you have any doubt
it wouldn't ? But most of them are captured and they are shot
for being saboteurs. Trevor Howard utters a totally cheesy
line as they are about to be shot "stand firm lads"
as if it mattered that they stood proud as they were
shot. Normally you would feel something for
the characters at this point but I felt nothing for them in
this Movie considering they had not bothered to flesh any
of the characters out other than Howards and Ferrer's and
one of the other soldiers.
If
you see this Movie in your TV listings don't bother. Find
one of the other classic war Movies to watch instead.
Tall
Guy
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