Paratrooper (1953) User Reviews

Memorable For A Couple Of Reasons

[Theo Robertson · 7/10 · 10 March 2004]

If you`ve no interest in war movies THE RED BERET may just appear to be yet another B movie about the war . It contains all the old cliches like dying soldiers making a speech just before they draw their last breath and as soon as someone is tasked to do something dangerous they`ll do it in a completely blase manner then die in a blackly comical famous last words scene .There`s some corny dialogue from the American characters like " Holy cow , check out those crazy beefeaters " while the Brits are all stiff upper lipped . It should also be pointed out that the " location filming " in North Africa was obviously carried out somewhere else , my guess would be the Highlands of Scotland with its peat bogs and rolling hills . But despite these flaws I can remember seeing this film from my childhood where it retains a soft spot and watched it again for the first time in something like 30 years.

Despite the somewhat patchy production standards I wasn`t really disappointed with this movie and as an adult I was able to notice a few interesting points . One point is that it`s very very similar to SHANE . Both star Alan Ladd and he plays a very similar character in both , in this case a North American called McKendrick who has a guilty past . Also if you look at the production credits you`ll notice that the producer , screenwriter and director would almost 10 years later go on to make DR NO * a movie that changed the face of British cinema . In many ways THE RED BERET is much more enjoyable than most of the British war movies at the time probably down to the fact that it`s made in glorious technicolor rather than monochrome and I`ll probably be accused of being a heretic by saying that it`s more enjoyable than the depressing BAND OF BROTHERS a mini series that has a lot in common with THE RED BERET

* Watch the scene where Major Snow walks into the office and throws his hat onto a hat stand . Sean Connery also does this in the Terence Young directed Bond movies . No doubt a director trade mark

Exciting World War II action

[JSPrine · 7/10 · 19 August 1999]

In real life, Alan Ladd was scared to death of flying (he preferred trains), but you'd never know it in this exciting action adventure set in early World War II.

The old English method of training paratroopers by jumping from balloons is accurately depicted, as is the result of landing with an unopened parachute (the British, like the German airborne, eschewed the use of reserve parachutes).

It's actually a pretty standard war movie, though the score is exciting and memorable, and the combat scenes, though dated now, are pretty well done, considering this movie was shot in 1953.

Definitely worth watching!

More than just an Alan Ladd movie.

[hitchcockthelegend · 6/10 · 26 September 2010]

The Red Beret (AKA Paratrooper) is directed by Terence Young and stars Alan Ladd & Leo Genn. It is based on the book of the same name written by Hilary Saint George Saunders.

"This story tells of one small part of the war. The story of those men who joined the parachute regiment — Men from many different countries and creeds, who were to find themselves one day in a parachute training establishment. Only in the telling and in the spirit of these men themselves do history and fiction meet — even if we dare not show in this film what some of these men did in fact and in real life achieve. For nobody would ever believe it."

Somewhere in England. The year 1940 after Dunkirk.

A rather popular film at the Worldwide box office on release, this in spite of some British complaints about American actor Ladd playing the lead in a British war story, The Red Beret is serviceable as an action character piece. The story is in effect a play on real war hero John Frost, who is here played by Genn as Major Snow (Frost was portrayed by Anthony Hopkins in A Bridge Too Far). With this in mind it's obvious that Ladd, who does OK in his role of the reluctant leader, is purely there for American audience enticement. However, the makers do a good enough job of not letting Ladd's part in the film be the sole point of reference and detract from the real heroes from which the core of the film is based. There's some poor technical aspects to put up with, such as major superimposed sequences that stick out like a sore thumb, but these are off set a touch by the well constructed battle scenes.

If in an undemanding war film mood this just about leaves a favourable impression. 6/10

Leo Genn's character

[tloveridge-2 · 30 December 2006]

The character of Maj Snow is based upon John Frost - the same character played by Anthony Hopkins in A Bridge Too Far. John Frost's paras were those involved in the Bruneval Raid and the drop into North Africa depicted in The Red Beret and were the ones attempting to hold the bridge at Arnhem, depicted in A Bridge Too Far. The film is normally shown in its American version under the title "Paratrooper" This was likely done because in the 1950's few Americans would have understood the significance of a "Red Beret" despite the emphasis given to its presentation during the film. The brief battle scenes depicting the assault on the radar station at Bruneval were also considered authentic enough, at the time, to be used as training films for urban combat.

Good Alan Ladd war Film

[gordonl56 · 7/10 · 9 June 2016]

THE RED BERET 1953

This 1953 Technicolor war film about British paratroopers was produced by Warwick Films and released through Columbia Pictures. The film stars Alan Ladd, Leo Genn, Donald Houston, Harry Andrews, Susan Stephen and Anton Diffring.

The film starts in 1940 at a training base in the UK. The lead, Alan Ladd, is an American who had joined up in Canada to get into the war. The recruits are all going through some rigorous training designed to weed out the less qualified.

Ladd, has a run in with one of the instructors, Stanley Baker, and shows the man up. This draws the attention of the senior officer in charge, Leo Genn. He marks Ladd as a possible officer type.

Ladd soon strikes up a friendship with one of the female parachute packers, Susan Stephen. Ladd, is the loner type and the two have sort of a love hate relationship. The instructor Ladd had a run with, Stanley Baker, is killed in a training accident. This seems to have a change on Ladd.

The men who survive the training are chomping at the bit for a spot of real action. The Regiment is soon assigned to be part of a raid on occupied France. They are to drop on a German radar station and steal secret components from the radar equipment.

The raid comes off, but not without a hitch or two. Several of the paratroopers are killed and others are captured. The men head to the sea for rescue by the Royal Navy. The pick-up is a close run thing with the Germans in hot pursuit.

It is now November 1942 and the Regiment has a new mission. The Allies have just landed in North Africa and are now in the rear of the Rommel's Africa Korps. The Regiment is to be dropped in front of the advancing Allies. The Paras are to destroy an important airbase before the German can use it.

The drop happens but there is a slight problem. The German types have already occupied the base. A first rate donnybrook is needed to chase the German crowd off. Explosives are now laid and the base is put out of commission for when the German's take the base back. The surviving paratroopers now take off on foot towards the advancing Allied forces.

Needless to say the German are not amused with the idea, and set off after the Paras. They corner the Brits on a minefield and it looks like the end of the Regiment. The Paras are taking more than a few losses when Ladd comes up with a plan. He uses a captured German panzerschreck (bazooka) to blow a path through the minefield. Ladd's action and the timely arrival of the Allied forces save the paras from being wiped out.

An interesting film that plays out better than one is expecting. The film is based on a non-fiction book of the same title. It was the first of three films Ladd would make for producers, Irving Allen and Albert R Broccoli's company. The other two were THE BLACK KNIGHT and HELL BELOW ZERO. Broccoli would become famous as the producer of the James Bond films.

The direction was by another Bond regular, Terence Young. Young would be the helmsman on three of the first four Bond films. Another Bond type, screenwriter, Richard Maibaum adapts from the H.S.G. Sanders book. Maibaum wrote the screenplays for 13 of the Bond films.

The film was a massive money maker bringing in 7 million over production costs. (Ladd cleaned up as he had a deal for 10 percent of the profits over 2 million dollars) The film was released the same year as Ladd's masterful turn in the western, SHANE.

Standard post-WWII war movie fare

[textwo · 6/10 · 3 February 2007]

Not too bad for a typical Alan Ladd movie of its time (released in 1953). Not a must-see but it is entertaining. Having seen this movie a number of times, I was recently surprised to see what appears to be a lot of blue screen shots overlaid on backgrounds. Much of the static dialog seems to be shot on a sound stage and then superimposed on whatever was supposed to be going on in the scene.

Of particular interest is the difference in equipment and training between British and American paratroopers. As with most Alan Ladd movies he's portrayed as the arch-typical quiet loner who, when pushed, reacts with sufficient violence as to be given plenty of space. In reality, Ladd was too small to be much of a menace to most (unless he's pulling a trigger). To give you an idea of how diverse his career was at this time, this movie was released in the same year as his hits "Botany Bay" and "Shane".

A Man's Gotta Do What A Man's Gotta Do.

[rmax304823 · 5/10 · 30 May 2011]

Allan Ladd is an ex American bomber pilot. Having seen his friend die during a pre-war accident, Ladd resigns, poses as a Canadian, and enlists as a private in the British paratroopers. They're the ones who wear a red beret. Kids, in World War II you didn't see berets all over the place as you do now. They were distinctive and the mark of membership in an elite unit.

There were no berets anywhere in the American armed forces, boys and girls. As far as Americans were concerned, berets were only worn by effete Paris Bohemian artists who used cigarette holders, drank espresso at sidewalk cafés, and talked snooty talk about Schopenhauer and Diderot and other high-falutin' Greeks. After America enters the war some GI's show up in England and ridicule Ladd and his funny hat. He decks the big guy.

Anyway, Ladd does okay in jump school, except that he snarls a lot, what with his previous tragic military experience. He knows a lot about how things work but he absolutely rejects any promotion, especially to officer rank, because it involves making decisions about life and death, and he's had enough of that.

He keeps his past a secret from everyone except an attractive young woman he meets and spends the night with. Ladd blames her when his superiors find out about it and conflict ensues.

It's all cleared up after a drop in North Africa. The regiment gets the job done but the leader is wounded. The men find themselves stuck in a mine field, sitting ducks for the Germans, until Ladd figures out a way to explode some of the mines and create a path to safety.

How he manages this is a real jaw dropper. He takes an anti-tank rocket and shoots it into -- or barely above -- the ground leading to safety. A half dozen mines explode each time he fires the weapon, and he fires it three times. The physics elude me. Either the rocket is fired INTO the ground where, if its lucky, it will find one mine to explode. Or the rocket skims the earth and explodes the several mines it's passing over -- somehow. There is of course a third possibility, and the film implies it. The rocket is fired INTO the ground but then continues on its path, burrowing through the earth, a foot or so beneath the surface, for about twenty yards. In that case, in addition to bringing back German radar equipment, the regiment should have brought back the specifications for the anti-tank rocket.

There are some genuinely tense scenes. On their first flight, their jump leader tells the frightened men that it's as easy as falling off a log. He jumps and goes all the way in. Everyone gulps and shudders until Ladd gets them cracking again. The African scenes are obviously shot somewhere in Britain. That bunch grass and black peat are unmistakable. And it's interesting to see Anton Differing fighting on OUR side for once, as a Polish volunteer. But, excuse me, was Stanley Baker's rich Welsh voice dubbed over by somebody else???

It's undemanding, inexpensive, and full of clichés. I kind of enjoyed it.

The Pride Of The Red Beret

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 28 April 2011]

Paratrooper which played under the title of The Red Beret originally across the pond was one of three films that Alan Ladd did for Warwick Pictures in the United Kingdom to be released by Columbia in the USA. The old standby gambit of having an American film star playing in a British location be a Canadian was once again used. Only this time it was an integral part of the plot.

Ladd in fact is an American who left the American army when in training he gave an order that cost a friend his life. He's decided he does not want to have responsibility and enlists in the Canadian army when war breaks out. Time and circumstance have put him in Paratrooper school where a unit is being trained under Major Leo Genn. There's also a little time for romance with perky Susan Stephens who looks like an early version of Hayley Mills.

The Red Beret is what is given the British Paratroopers as well as wings upon completion of their training. It's a point of pride with them just as the Green Beret is with the US Army Special Forces. But back in the day it was felt US audiences would not know exactly what the significance was. The British audiences did when Alan Ladd got into a brawl with some visiting Americans when they insulted the Red Beret.

A commando style raid to get some radar equipment and the beginning of the western North African campaign provide all the well executed combat sequences that director Terrence Young provided us. Harry Andrews, Donald Houston, and a favorite British player of mine, Stanley Baker are among some of the other Paratroopers Ladd is in training and combat with.

Of Ladd's British films Paratrooper and Hell Below Zero are pretty well done. But The Black Knight was a disaster. Of course none of these were as good as Shane.

Standard early 1950s WW2 effort

[Leofwine_draca · 5/10 · 16 June 2016]

Like THEY WERE NOT DIVIDED, THE RED BERET is a 1950s war effort made by the team (Albert Broccoli, Terence Young, etc.) who would later go on to make the early James Bond films and thus kick-start a whole genre of cinema. This film stars Alan Ladd as an Canadian soldier who joins forces with a squad of British paratroopers to go on missions behind enemy lines in both France and North Africa.

It's a fairly typical war movie from the era, a little stodgy in places and ridiculous in others. The silly bar-room brawl is straight out of a western and seems to come from nowhere, it's so sudden. Ladd plays a perpetually grumpy fellow but Susan Stephen doesn't have any trouble falling for his less-than-ideal charms. The supporting cast of British talent is better: in his first film role, Harry Andrews is a scene-stealer as the RSM, and there are parts for Stanley Baker, Donald Houston, Anton Diffring, and Leo Genn.

THE RED BERET seems to be suffering from a low budget, because the action sequences aren't quite up to scratch and never convince too much, although there's a novel use for a bazooka which is worth something. The skydiving stuff is better and more thrilling, and Ladd's back story, when it eventually comes to light, is an acceptable one.

Chute The Writer

[writers_reign · 6/10 · 28 January 2015]

I've no real idea why Alan Ladd shot three films in England in 1953 and 1954 though I guess my speculation is as good as that of the next guy. He shot to stardom in 1942 and, under contract to Paramount, appeared in a string of box-office successes throughout the decade. He was never going to give us his Hamlet, Macbeth, Hotspur etc, but he did have a nice line in effortless charm and knew how to carry a gun authentically. By the early fifties his kind of thick-ear melodrama was on the wane (yet ironically his greatest role, in the finest film with which he was ever associated (Shane) came right after Red Beret. I don't know whether it was written into his contract but his was the highest profile by a country mile and the Producers surrounded him with whatever members of the Second Eleven - Leo Genn, Donald Houson, Stanley Bker, Patrick Doonan, Harry Andrews et al who weren't working at the time and, for good measure, gave him a charisma-free non-actress with all the sex appeal of a wart hog. The plot? Don't ask. A natural leader Ladd consistently refuses to become an officer and the reason is, of course, that he blames himself for the death of a friend whilst both were serving in the US armed forces. Just about passes the time.

Why is Lad once again such an angry guy?!

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 30 May 2011]

From the onset, this movie starts with a serious deficit. Like too many Alan Ladd movies, it inexplicably has Ladd playing an angry man--too angry. He sulks and barks incessantly--like he's suffering from a bad case of PMS. While this sometimes works, here it just makes no sense. Even when you later learn about the supposed source of his anger, it still makes no sense. Having Ladd play a NON-CRAZY guy would have made this a better and more realistic film.

Angry Alan has joined the Canadian Army and has volunteered for paratrooper duty. He's such a good soldier that they want to make him an officer but he refuses each time it is offered. Through the course of his training, he somehow gets a girlfriend--though what she see's in grouchy-boy, I don't know. The audience knows that despite his attitude, somehow Alan will make good by the end of the picture.

In some ways this is a very good production and in others it's a disappointment. The paratroop scenes are very good and appear pretty realistic. Genuine American and British planes were used and the fights look nice as do the jumps. However, at other times it comes off poorly--because the little details were wrong. A few examples include post-WWII markings on an airplane (a minor problem but it should have been fixed) and a scene where the sky color changes back and forth in a sloppy manner. So, in a jump early in the film it's dusk and then looks about half an hour earlier and then half an hour later. Again, not a huge problem but seeing the change so quickly was baffling. The final odd thing is a common cliché--but a dumb one. Again and again you see guys pulling the pins from grenades WITH THEIR TEETH! This is a great way to lose teeth--and no one really ever did this--yet you see it in films repeatedly.

As a result of some decent action, wooden characters (especially Ladd) and a few flubs, I think this is in the category of 'time-passer' and nothing more. Even if Albert Broccoli, Terrence Young and a lot of other future James Bond film crew worked on this, it's only average at best.

The story of John Frost

[SteveCrook · 8/10 · 5 May 2005]

This is the thinly disguised story of real life hero John Frost. Portrayed in this film by Leo Genn and called Maj. Snow (I said the disguise was thin).

Lt Col John Frost led the small group of paratroopers who actually got to the bridge in A Bridge Too Far (1977) (where he was played by Anthony Hopkins). Despite only having a few hundred men instead of the whole brigade that they expected to get there, they still held out for four days against an S.S. Panzer group. John Frost got his knees damaged by a mortar bomb so spent the rest of the war in a P.O.W. camp. In this film Maj. Snow gets wounded in the legs by a grenade but is carried to safety by his men.

But Arnhem was just the final move in an amazing wartime career. Frost was one of the earliest volunteers in the newly formed parachute regiment at the start of the war. As a Major, he led the successful raid on the German radar station at Bruneval where radar specialist Sgt Cox (Sgt Box in this film) dismantled the German unit and brought it back to Britain along with some of the operators so that the British could understand the limits of the German radar system. This happened in a very similar way to the raid portrayed in the first part of the film.

The next raid Frost led was on an airfield in Tunisia, just like the second raid in the film. In real life, as in the film, the raid on the airfield was a success but they had some problems getting back to their own lines.

Frost then led the parachute drop on Sicily and a further raid in Italy before his wartime career finished at Arnhem.

This film is quite well made and adapts the story well to fit Alan Ladd in without making it too obvious that he's only there to attract an American audience. The real heroes of this story are John Frost and the men of the Parachute Regiment.

An entertaining war movie

[jpcgillam · 6/10 · 3 March 2021]

A war drama starring Alan Ladd and Leo Genn, about the British Parachute regiment in the early days of the Second World War. It was a solid war movie and was quite well done, although some of it felt a bit cliched. I watched the US version, which was retitled Paratrooper, and so several of the actors were dubbed, including Stanley Baker, presumably to make them more understandable, although it was strange to hear Baker speaking with a completely different voice. I liked the film and the action sequences were good, but there weren't enough of them, and the characters didn't feel developed enough to keep the plot going in between. Still, it was entertaining and well crafted, if not exceptional.

Interesting from a few points of view

[mikeolliffe · 4/10 · 15 September 2019]

Not necessarily from the point of view from being a great film - which it isn't. I tend to agree with most of the other reviewers in that respect. But there's no denying that it does move at a sharpish pace.

The director of photography oddly lit the leading lady's face. Her features appear to be composed of odd angles - in some scenes.

It has the standard issue of military movie tropes - the tough sergeant-major who is really a softie; the antagonist who once wounded, reconciles with the hero; the hero, a brooding type with mysterious problems. who turns out to be decent - as we always knew he would.

Interesting in this is what they thought an action movie should be like seventy-years ago or so.

Several reviewers have mentioned that a number of the behind-the-camera talent went on to make Bond movies. I recently saw a movie - black-and-white- which predates Dr. No by several years. There's a scene in which a character flicks a tarantula off another character and stomps that poor spider to death - exactly as Mr. Bond would go on to do.

disappointing.

[parawright · 22 May 2005]

At the time this film was made (1953) many of the men who took part in ww2 wearing the RED BERET were still around and expecting to see a movie depicting what they had accomplished, and the opening text pays tribute to them somewhat, the film then goes on to a disappointing plot about an American leading man Alan Ladd,whose sole purpose seems to be to sell the movie in the U.S. The action depicting the raid on the Bruneval radar installation is o.k. but the later action which I think is supposed to be the fight in Tunisia gives a very seedy type of appearance,amateur,and certainly unconvincing acting and generally cheap looking sets, possibly a gravel-pit somewhere,(I guess most of the budget was spent on the leading star's salary) although the training scenes were very accurate. It was shot at R.A.F. Abingdon,near Oxford, the Parachute Training School at that time, the Guardroom at the rear gate can be recognized, where they are issued with their Red Berets.Considering all the hard fighting that this regiment actually did in fact do in so many places this had the potential to be a great movie. What was required was a good plot,a good script and less of a romantic storyline and some tight direction, sadly this did not happen and no serious attempt at a movie was made about the heroic actions of the Airborne Forces until "A Bridge Too Far". Other movies like The Cruel Sea, Twelve O'Clock High, Bridge on the River Kwai, King Rat and Das Boot etc.depict the sacrifices made by these men accurately I think, the men who wore the Red Beret must have left this screening very disappointed,I certainly did. Worth having a copy in your collection as I have, if only to think of what might have been.

Alan Ladd made a lot of these..

[ghatbkk · 5/10 · 2 August 2022]

Alan Ladd made a lot of these WWII movies that are sort of telling real stories, mashing in a love story and turning out a very formulaic result.

They'd be so much better if Alan Ladd wasn't such a wooden actor.

Shoddy looking dog of a war film

[andrewg-747-30514 · 2/10 · 27 April 2011]

One of the worst WW11 movies I've ever seen.And I reckon I've seen em all. That's the greenest looking North Africa I've ever seen and the final action(considering the acting talent at hand) is utterly unconvincing, unremittingly bad visual effects and the bazooka minefield escape all seems a bit pointless as relief by the Scots is not far away.The memory of the great John Frost is so much better preserved in A Bridge Too Far..and Alan Ladd in the leading role, with the whole clichéd redemption thing going on..just phones it in.The only reason I haven't rated this film awful(1)is the work of Leo Genn..great actor/great voice...apart from that .. truly astonished at its craptacular badness...Intriguing though to see regular 50/60's Nazi Anton Diffring turning up as a British para.

Marching along to Wagner?Shurely shome mishtake?

[ianlouisiana · 5/10 · 29 January 2015]

What happened to Sullivan or Sousa,not hard enough for the paras perhaps. "The Red Beret" tries but fails to evoke that somewhat blinkered sense of pride that causes members of the Parachute Regiment to refer to all other branches of the British Army as "Crap - Hats". We see the training that disposes of the one actor who might have enlivened the picture - the great Mr S.Baker -very early on just after what might have been the beginning of a beautiful friendship with Pte Mckendrick(Mr A.Ladd) forged in the heat of an unarmed combat session where Mr Baker (in RAF uniform and presumably a "Crap - Hat" himself) is given a lesson in bitch - slapping by Mr Ladd who clearly is not the raw untrained rookie he appears to be. Mr Baker's parachute fails to open,although when Ladd walks up to his body on the ground it looks as if he had merely tripped off the kerb. Mr Leo Genn as the C.O. looks somewhat bemused throughout as though wondering how Mr Ladd managed to get top billing whilst sleeping through his performance.And well he might. "The Red Beret" gives Mr H.Andrews an early chance to hone his senior NCO schtick,although he doesn't quite convince in the accent department it does allow him to speak his deathbed paean to the bagpipes with some authority,bettered only by Sir A.Guinness a few years later in "Tunes of Glory". As for Mr Ladd himself,well,he was about to make the wonderful "Shane" so perhaps we can forgive him for not even attempting to do the Canadian accent and looking as though he was on Quaaludes for breakfast. The love "interest" - if that's not too strong a word - is Miss S.Stephen.How she was chosen over the excellent Miss L.Morris(looking suitably peeved at this omission) is between her agent and the casting director. Her love scene is notable only for the amazing support given throughout by her brassiere in an uncanny echo of Miss J.Russell in "The Outlaw" The back - projection is lamentable,the battle scenes barely competent but the sight of Mr L Genn pulling the pin out of a hand grenade with his teeth is worth the price of admission alone.

Somehow One of My Favorites

[Piafredux · 8/10 · 17 July 2006]

Somehow 'The Red Beret,' by no measure a fine film, remains one of my sentimental favorites, perhaps because in my teens it aired often on late night TV, under its U.S. title 'Paratrooper.' Alan Ladd, even when he wasn't acting, appeared as the sexy strong stoical silent type, and here he again fills that bill. I also love this film because it's one of the many that carved out for Harry Andrews his reputation for playing tough-tender sergeants and sergeant majors; in 'The Red Beret' his last-words line, "Pity the man who hears the pipes and was na born in Scotland," has stuck pleasantly with me into my sixth decade; he also gives a lovely little take when the red berets are issued to him and his men and his character must part with his beloved regimental headgear. Also very sexy here, in his own astute, urbane way - quite different from Ladd's, is Leo Genn (who, in my experience, never gave a poor screen performance, and who was very good as the psychiatrist in 'The Snake Pit' and as Mr. Starbuck in John Huston's adaptation of 'Moby Dick'). Pert, pretty Susan Stephen - in a curls-and-frizz hairdo that was fifteen years ahead of its time! - doesn't act very well here, but I still find her effort affecting as Ladd's character's love interest.

I suppose my affection for 'The Red Beret' is one more proof that "There's no accounting for taste." Which helps to explain, if not to excuse, most of the rubbish studios churn out nowadays for uncritical mass consumption. I wish 'The Red Beret' would release on disc so that once, and many times over, in the wee hours I could snuggle down on the sofa and enjoy it as I did when I was a teenager.

Cowboy American in the RAF

[ETO_Buff · 4/10 · 26 March 2024]

Alan Ladd stars as Steve "Canada" McKendrick, a cantankerous American who acts like he's better than the other trainees (apparently he already has some experience) and enlists in the Canadian Army to join the British paratroopers before the U. S. gets into the war. He already doesn't fit in because he's not a Brit, and to make things worse, he fights or threatens anyone that looks at him the wrong way. There's no reason given for his bad attitude, so maybe it simply stems from the filmmakers' opinion of Americans. Later in the film there is an American flight crew that is very casual in terms of their military courtesy and none of them salute the British colonel when he briefly speaks to them, so the filmmakers obviously regard Americans as a bunch of cowboys, or whatever.

After his unit's first op, Canada is offered a commission due to his leadership ability, which he must have demonstrated off-screen. Maybe the British filmmakers in 1962 didn't think that Brit corporals, sergeants, and other NCOs during the war had any leadership ability, so privates that showed such ability became officers.

The script is bad, and the effects are stupid. A shell from a Navy gun creates the same size blast as a hand grenade, and neither one causes any casualties. However, in one scene, a grenade explodes at the feet of the British commander, causing him to lose his balance and fall over. War is Hell, I guess.

The throwing knives are pretty lethal, though. At one point a Brit soldier throws a knife at a German sentry, which sinks about an inch deep (we see him pull it out right after) into the sentry's back below his shoulder blade and kills him instantly.

Early in the film he hits on an English lass who works as a parachute packer. She quickly warms up to him (it's anybody's guess as to why), and their relationship serves as a subplot. He keeps being a jerk to her and ticking her off, but after one argument, she storms off, he catches up to her, grabs her and says, "Here's one thing you will understand," and kisses her in a very manly 50s fashion. After that things are smooth between them until they have an argument at dinner one evening, and Canada walks off saying, "So long, Baby." That's the last we see of the gal in this fictitious story, which ends with a (probably wildly inaccurate) portrayal of the real-life Operation Biting.

It's a pretty typical film for its era, though certainly not one of the better ones in my opinion.

about those pipes...

[david_downman · 29 December 2006]

The exact quote is, "I'm sorry for the man who hears the pipes and who was na born in Scotland."

The 6/8 march (featured twice and played very smartly) is The Piobaireachd of Dhonald Dhu. It is a regimental duty tune used for "Minutes to the Commanding Officer's Parade."

Ladd's character tries to go for sexy-cool by being difficult and cocky. Sparse moments of unfunny wit, lots of silent suffering and his apparent difficulty reading are supposed to soften his character, but manage to come off as a bit psycho.

The Technicolor is a treat. Colors are so bright and sharp you would think it was colorized.

The supporting cast is phenomenal. Stanley Baker (Lt. John Chard in Zulu) has a brief, but important role. Harry Andrews is wonderfully over the top. Leo Gunn, the epitome of polish, is outstanding as always.

The Paratrooper

[thales-63045 · 5/10 · 6 August 2022]

I first saw this four decades ago and as a young lad thought it was true to life. One of my uncles was a paratrooper during the war and told he it was bunkum. The character played by Ladd wouldn't have lasted a day in real life. They made him (or he played it ) like a tough guy. Maybe in the American market this works but not in 1940's wartime Britain. But hey Ho this film was made to make money for people and not anything else. It's a yarn.

Good film about the start of the British airborne

[SimonJack · 8/10 · 21 January 2016]

This film is a very good look at the start of the British airborne forces during World War II. "Paratrooper" was released in America in late December 1953, more than four months after it premiered in the U. K. where it was called "The Red Beret." That is the name of the book from which the film is adapted, written by Hillary St. George Saunders.

Columbia studios clearly made the film for people on both sides of the pond. So, the plot includes an American who enlists in the British Army in Canada. That's OK, and we know quite a few American fliers joined the war effort early by serving in the RAF. Here it provides the love interest part of the film that Hollywood often included for wider audience appeal. But, I think any number of other actors might have filled the role better than Alan Ladd. His Private McKendrick (aka, "Canada") seemed to have a chip on his shoulder. We learn of his background halfway into the film, and one can understand his experience affecting him. But, not that he would be so touchy and angry toward other men. Whatever the reason, his character doesn't come across as genuine.

That aside, I give this film eight stars for its interesting and early look at jump school training and the start of the British Airborne. Years later, I served as a paratrooper in the U. S. 504th and 509th Airborne regiments (1962 through 1964). Americans train at the Ft. Benning, GA, jump school. I became familiar with the British Airborne while stationed in what was then West Germany. We had NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) military exercises in Europe with the Brits, West Germans, and others. And, I was in charge of our airborne PIO (Public Information Office) when we sent one of our troopers through the British jump school. He photographed and reported on it. And, yes, the Brits were still jumping from balloons in training.

From its very beginning jump training has undergone changes, just as the aircraft, equipment and other things have changed. The film shows the first planes the Brits used. They were modified Wellington bombers and men dropped through an opening in the floor. Soon, "Dakotas" (Douglas C-47s) arrived from the U. S., and troopers jumped out of side doors behind the propellers. In 1962, I trained in C-119 "Flying Boxcars," and then jumped from C-130s (Hercules transports) and helicopters in Germany.

The Brits needed to make seven jumps to earn their parachutist wings. We had to make five jumps in the U. S. The film shows training in hand-to-hand combat. Americans got that in advanced infantry training before Jump School. We don't see any other physical training in the film, but all paratroopers have much more rigorous physical conditioning. One thing was glaring to me - I didn't see a single trooper land with a PLF (parachute landing fall). Maybe this wasn't developed until well after the war, but PLF landing had tremendous results in reducing injuries. In a nutshell, the trooper is trained to turn or orient his chute for a side landing, and then in a relaxed position as his feet touch the ground, he rolls his body to the right or left, with his calf, then hip, then side absorbing the impact. In the 17 jumps I made, I only got hurt once, when I landed on a big boulder right in the middle of my back.

In this movie, Stanley Baker plays one of the training cadre, Sgt. Breton. On the first airplane jump, his chute fails to open and he falls to his death. The Brits called his malfunction a Roman candle. In the American airborne, we call it a cigarette roll. But it's interesting that the Brits apparently didn't carry reserve chutes. They didn't appear to have them on in the film. So far as I know, American paratroopers always have had a reserve chute on the front. If anyone had a cigarette roll or other malfunction, he would release the main chute and pull the ripcord on his reserve. I saw half a dozen or more uses of the reserves in my airborne service. Some other things missing from this film were training jumps from towers. In one scene, I can see what looks like a 250-foot tower in the background. I also enjoyed the portrayal of the chute packing unit. It's too bad they didn't show the actual packing tables. And the funniest thing in this film is the strange looking headgear the Brits wore in jump school.

"Paratrooper" is a good portrayal of the early action of the British Airborne. I thank Steve Crook from London, who's review tipped me off to the background of Major Snow. Leo Genn plays the part very well in this film. Snow was John Frost in real life. He became best known after his paratrooper battalion took the north end of the Arnhem Bridge in Operation Market Garden in September 1944. The Brits held out four days against a German Panzer division. They were captured only after they ran out of ammunition. In the 1977 blockbuster movie, "A Bridge Too Far," Anthony Hopkins plays Lt. Col. Frost beautifully. Frost retired as a Major General in 1968, and was a close adviser on that film.

The only thing I see wrong in this movie is the name of the first operation the troopers had. Major Snow calls it "Operation Pegasus." In fact, it was called Operation Biting, also known as the Bruneval Raid. There was a real Operation Pegasus, and it was the escape plan across the Rhine River for many of the Brits trapped by the Germans in Operation Market Garden.

War movie fans and those who like history especially should enjoy this film.

Love this movie

[wildwoodmusic · 10/10 · 6 February 2007]

Don't know why this movie appeals to me this much except for the excellent Leo Genn who makes any movie better. It is one of those that I can watch over and over. I think it is that there are so many great British character actors and Allan Ladd isn't bad but his usual self. The story line is simple but then I was a small child at the beginning of the war and all the movies were very simplistic. I think that is what I enjoy. Not a lot of side drama, just a straight forward telling of men at war in the old idealized style.

The editing is a bit choppy in places and the old blue screen is obvious in odd places but "Sorry for the man who hears the pipes and was na born in Scotland."

An Effective Wartime British Thriller That Chutes The Works

[zardoz-13 · 8/10 · 15 August 2014]

Future James Bond director Terence Young, who later helmed "Dr. No," "From Russia, with Love," and "Thunderball," doesn't muck about in "The Red Beret," a low-budget but entertaining World War II thriller about British paratroopers. Clocking in at 88 nimble minutes, this Columbia Pictures release is a fast-moving epic with a first-rate supporting cast. Masquerading as a Canadian, Alan Ladd of "Shane" fame joins His Majesty's Army and trains as a paratrooper. He hides a flaw in his character. It seems that Private Steve 'Canada' McKendrick (Ladd)was an officer in the Army Air Corp who had problems and no longer relishes the idea of being an officer. The sparks fly between former pilot turned English and pretty Penny Gardner (Susan Stephen of "Three Spare Wives") who packs his parachute and sticks a handkerchief in it. This turns out to be a quaint old custom that Penny defends. Naturally, any wartime thriller about paratroopers features scenes where chutes don't open, soldiers collide in the air, or they injure themselves when they land. Leo Glenn is well cast as real life Major Snow who saw action against the Germans. Interestingly enough, Anton Diffring plays a Polish paratrooper; later, Diffring would specialize in roles as a German officer. The initial training jump from a balloon goes awry when their sergeant drops out of the balloon but his chute fails to open. Stanley Baker plays that unlucky sergeant. The first mission takes them into Occupied France where our heroes launch an assault on a German radar installation at Bruneval. Young and "Hell Below Zero" lenser John Wilcox stage some exciting combat scenes, especially in the castle setting during the radar raid. Later, the British start jumping from America aircraft, unlike British planes where they jump through a hole in the bottom of the fuselage. Producer Albert R. Broccoli would team up with Young in later Ladd vehicles and eventually they would make the Bonds. Scenarists Richard Maibaum, who penned several 007 epics, and veteran American scribe Frank Nugent of "Fort Apache" insert scenes of battlefield gruesomeness. Not only does one soldier jump to his death, but also another loses his legs during a mission. After the raid on the radar station, the British are flown into North Africa where they are ordered to destroy an airfield held by the Germans. During the battle, Ladd and company stumble onto a deadly minefield and the Germans arrive and set up mortars and machine guns to wipe them out if they refuse to surrender. Something similar to this happened later in the Clint Eastwood war movie "Kelly's Heroes." Anyway, Ladd rounds up a rocket launcher that they use it to clear a path and escape. I don't know why they did resort to their own firearms and blast their way through the minefield the same way that Rock Hudson would do in "Tobruk." Altogether, "The Red Beret" chutes the works with an atmopheric orchestral score from John Addison.