The 1950's were a surprisingly good decade for the British war movie. During those years of victorious rationing and austerity, one has the impression that the queue-stricken public needed to be reminded as to who actually won the war. Before the universal availability of television, cinema offered the only easy escapism that was available to and cheap enough for the masses. It was the national panacea.
In those days money was scarce and movies cheaply made. But even so, there were lots of truly excellent examples, notably 'Ice Cold In Alex', 'The Dam Busters' and 'The Cruel Sea' - one of the most authentic and gripping war movies of all time.
But this item simply doesn't compare.
Jose Ferrer, the director, seems to have had at least enough funding. Unusually for its genre, it was shot in colour. There was plenty of location-work too - even access to a submarine. Yet the cast was hardly expensive A-list material. Apart from Trevor Howard, there were just a couple of British character stalwarts. And I have never been a fan of Anthony Newley. His 'cheeky-chappie' persona has invariably been a thumbs-down for any movie. I am apt to wonder if Mr Ferrer as the director/star was afraid of being outshone by an excess of talent in the ranks.
Preparations for the mission went on just far too long. As a result, the story began to get lost in trivial minutiae. We saw a tedious, embittered confessional from Trevor Howard's character, which cut to an amateurish female singer; we were obliged to endure her whole routine as she wandered around a bar, flirting amicably with its clientèle like 'Nancy' from Lionel Bart's 'Oliver'. What - was this a musical then? Her song was punctuated with a fight, and finally a childish monologue from Anthony Newley, in testament to his lack of comic skill. The combined takes lasted for almost 9 utterly pointless, meandering and wasted minutes.
I have seen Jose Ferrer do excellent work as an actor, notably in 'The Caine Mutiny'; he's not too bad in this either. But as a director he evidently had no sense of economy. The scenes above and many others would have carried more drama with half as much celluloid. This was a case of cut and cut again. The mission was the big issue here, and should have occupied at least half the movie. If the preparations must be emphasised then details should have been relevant. For example; we see the team ascending and abseiling up and down cliffs, yet none were to be encountered on the mission. They were canoing not climbing. Compare this with 'The Dam Busters' where there is equally lengthy preamble in creating the bomb - from marbles in the garden, to convincing sceptical authorities. Yet all of it is pertinent to the outcome. The pacing is near perfect. Barnes Wallis's chafing impatience replicates the mission's urgency in the movie's early stages.
As the culmination of their work, the destruction of the ships should have been much more dynamic in its presentation, and surely deserved more detail and therefore time. The sequence lasted just 20 seconds, and this in a total running-time of 94 minutes. For comparison; Howard's griping lasted 120 seconds and Newley's prattle 55 seconds. Confused priorities or what?
The destruction itself was pitiful. A few models and firecrackers? Hardly a tribute to those who's courage the movie presumes to extol. Most of the men died for that magnificent anti-climax. Ships are being scrapped all the time. Couldn't they have found a few hulks and really gone to town on some convincing big bangs?
There were also gaping holes in the plot: like their discovery by a dog and Ferrer's character disclosing himself to a large group of French fisherman. He returns, announcing 'They'll be alright'. How did he know? There may have been supporters of the Vichy government amongst them. Twenty times as many French people collaborated with the Nazis than supported the resistance. You couldn't trust anyone. Their mission and their lives depended upon strictest secrecy. And this is where the spare celluloid should have gone: emphasising the eternal moments of danger. The waiting, the not-sleeping, the stress and fear of discovery; so much more could have been done with these issues to emphasise the gripping sense of peril.
Then that needlessly jaunty theme music would keep piping-up. 'A life on the ocean wave'; give me a break. And 'night-time' bore a striking similarity to any winter afternoon, it was so ludicrously light.
As to marching-off down the road accompanied by the ghosts of the fallen - how corny an ending is that?
Mr Ferrer should have stuck to acting.
In those days money was scarce and movies cheaply made. But even so, there were lots of truly excellent examples, notably 'Ice Cold In Alex', 'The Dam Busters' and 'The Cruel Sea' - one of the most authentic and gripping war movies of all time.
But this item simply doesn't compare.
Jose Ferrer, the director, seems to have had at least enough funding. Unusually for its genre, it was shot in colour. There was plenty of location-work too - even access to a submarine. Yet the cast was hardly expensive A-list material. Apart from Trevor Howard, there were just a couple of British character stalwarts. And I have never been a fan of Anthony Newley. His 'cheeky-chappie' persona has invariably been a thumbs-down for any movie. I am apt to wonder if Mr Ferrer as the director/star was afraid of being outshone by an excess of talent in the ranks.
Preparations for the mission went on just far too long. As a result, the story began to get lost in trivial minutiae. We saw a tedious, embittered confessional from Trevor Howard's character, which cut to an amateurish female singer; we were obliged to endure her whole routine as she wandered around a bar, flirting amicably with its clientèle like 'Nancy' from Lionel Bart's 'Oliver'. What - was this a musical then? Her song was punctuated with a fight, and finally a childish monologue from Anthony Newley, in testament to his lack of comic skill. The combined takes lasted for almost 9 utterly pointless, meandering and wasted minutes.
I have seen Jose Ferrer do excellent work as an actor, notably in 'The Caine Mutiny'; he's not too bad in this either. But as a director he evidently had no sense of economy. The scenes above and many others would have carried more drama with half as much celluloid. This was a case of cut and cut again. The mission was the big issue here, and should have occupied at least half the movie. If the preparations must be emphasised then details should have been relevant. For example; we see the team ascending and abseiling up and down cliffs, yet none were to be encountered on the mission. They were canoing not climbing. Compare this with 'The Dam Busters' where there is equally lengthy preamble in creating the bomb - from marbles in the garden, to convincing sceptical authorities. Yet all of it is pertinent to the outcome. The pacing is near perfect. Barnes Wallis's chafing impatience replicates the mission's urgency in the movie's early stages.
As the culmination of their work, the destruction of the ships should have been much more dynamic in its presentation, and surely deserved more detail and therefore time. The sequence lasted just 20 seconds, and this in a total running-time of 94 minutes. For comparison; Howard's griping lasted 120 seconds and Newley's prattle 55 seconds. Confused priorities or what?
The destruction itself was pitiful. A few models and firecrackers? Hardly a tribute to those who's courage the movie presumes to extol. Most of the men died for that magnificent anti-climax. Ships are being scrapped all the time. Couldn't they have found a few hulks and really gone to town on some convincing big bangs?
There were also gaping holes in the plot: like their discovery by a dog and Ferrer's character disclosing himself to a large group of French fisherman. He returns, announcing 'They'll be alright'. How did he know? There may have been supporters of the Vichy government amongst them. Twenty times as many French people collaborated with the Nazis than supported the resistance. You couldn't trust anyone. Their mission and their lives depended upon strictest secrecy. And this is where the spare celluloid should have gone: emphasising the eternal moments of danger. The waiting, the not-sleeping, the stress and fear of discovery; so much more could have been done with these issues to emphasise the gripping sense of peril.
Then that needlessly jaunty theme music would keep piping-up. 'A life on the ocean wave'; give me a break. And 'night-time' bore a striking similarity to any winter afternoon, it was so ludicrously light.
As to marching-off down the road accompanied by the ghosts of the fallen - how corny an ending is that?
Mr Ferrer should have stuck to acting.