Operation Crossbow (1965)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Michael Anderson

Writers:

Duilio Coletti (story) &
Vittoriano Petrilli (story) ...

Release Date:

1 April 1965 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Drama | War

Plot:

Allied agents attempt to infiltrate the Nazis' rocket research site.

Plot Keywords:

Nazi | Rocket | V1 | Bomb | Test Pilot

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Sophia Loren	...	Nora
George Peppard	...	Lt. John Curtis
Trevor Howard	...	Professor Lindemann
John Mills	...	General Boyd
Richard Johnson	...	Duncan Sandys
Tom Courtenay	...	Robert Henshaw
Jeremy Kemp	...	Phil Bradley
Anthony Quayle	...	Bamford
Lilli Palmer	...	Frieda
Paul Henreid	...	General Ziemann
Helmut Dantine	...	General Linz
Barbara Rütting	...	Hannah Reitsch (as Barbara Rueting)
Richard Todd	...	Wing Cmdr. Kendall
Sylvia Syms	...	Constance Babington Smith
John Fraser	...	Flight Lt. Kenny

Also Known As:

The Great Spy Mission (UK) (USA) (reissue title)
Code Name: Operation Crossbow

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some war violence.

Runtime:

115 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English | German

Color:

Black and White (archive footage) | Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) (Westrex Recording System) | Mono (35 mm prints) (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Iceland:12 | West Germany:12 (f) | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | Sweden:15 | Argentina:16 | USA:PG-13 | UK:PG (video rating) | UK:A (original rating)

Filming Locations:

Holkham Beach and Estate, Norfolk, England, UK

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer British Studios

Trivia:

First film role of Philip Madoc.

Goofs:

Continuity: The same victims appear after both V-1 and V-2 attacks - the footage showing the rescue from a collapsed building has a shaggy headed (for 1944) man being helped from the wreckage (on the right side of the frame), shown as a distance shot through a hole in a wall, then first appearing, and finally stumbling out. Note there is one rescuer with a white helmet in all these scenes.

Movie Connections:

Edited into Damnation Alley (1977)

Terrific

This is truly a remarkable film, a thinking person's war movie. Characters never seem to end up doing what you expect them to do (or end up having done to them what you'd expect of major stars). It keeps you on the edge until the spectacular ending which is as full of action as the rest of the film is full of intrigue. Everyone from the actors to the technicians are at their best in this epic. A good double-bill would be Guns of Navarone, though frankly, this is the more believable film.