Operazione Crossbow

After a pretty dull beginning, "Operation Crossbow" increases its tensions and becomes a fascinating action/adventure film set in WW2. A little-known representer of that genre, but not much inferior to "The Guns of Navarone". Lots of suspenseful moments and an interesting cast full of familiar faces.

"Operation Crossbow" was quite a hit in its day but is not seen as being in the same league as films such as "The Guns of Navarone" or "The Great Escape". Nevertheless, it is a very worthy film on many levels.

Firstly, the cast is uniformly excellent with supporting roles taken by some of Britain's acting luminaries such as Trevor Howard, John Mills and Richard Todd. The leading man is George Peppard who plays the role with his characteristically understated charm and, when called upon, a very believable physicality. Some have been critical of the fact that Sophia Loren is billed as a co-star and has very limited screen time. However, her performance as an innocent caught up in a desperate and finally unfairly cruel situation is worth watching. So too is the performance of her killer played by Lilli Palmer who embodies the emotional control, deceptiveness, resourcefulness and cool ruthlessness required by resistance contacts whose every move was potentially their last. Bouquets to Barbara Rutting who plays the real life character of Hannah Reitsch with a steely resolve and belief that had me looking up the life story of the Nazi test pilot. She remained a dedicated National Socialist until her death and was highly critical of post-war Germany and Germans. She was appalled at the fact that German soldiers by the late 60's were allowed to wear beards and that Germany was in her words now a "nation of bankers and car builders". She won many awards for her feats of aviation after the war. Other historical figures such as Constance Babington Smith, a key figure in identifying V1 rocket sites, and Professor Lindemann, who dismissed the Nazi rocket program as being a hoax, are, to my knowledge, faithfully portrayed by Sylvia Syms and Trevor Howard respectively.

The pace of the film is another highlight. The story is told through a number of points of view including the Nazi rocketry program and its own attempts at espionage and counter espionage. Almost every scene has an element of suspense - a mini story within the story. There are also some moments of humour seamlessly laced into the drama. Well done to the editor who was faced with the complex task of melding so many story elements into a very cohesive whole.

Lastly, the action scenes and in particular the final destruction of the rocket production plant is comparable to any such "destroy the villain's lair" scene including those in the Bond series. The stunts and special effects stand up very well after almost 50 years.

In some ways an old-fashioned, star-studded, overstuffed "mission" movie, "Operation Crossbow" has, to me, an authentic WWII feeling to it. I'm guessing this movie's scenes and attitudes may have resonated with people in 1965 who'd lived through that period.

World War II was Big, and that's reflected here. The movie's individual characters are less important than the group war effort, something they're very aware of. And the nothing-personal killing of one character by a Resistance member, is pretty stunning. My hat is off to that.

Side note: During the '60s did Thomas Pynchon ("Gravity's Rainbow") go see this movie? He was then working on his big novel about the V-2 rocket. People have noodled about a possible cause-and-effect between movie and novel, including Dave Kehr in the NYTimes. FWIW, somewhere in "Gravity" I think there's a description of someone's wristwatch being worn on the inside of the wrist, "World War II style." (So the luminous hands wouldn't show during night operations??) That's the way George Peppard wears his watch.

Excellent suspense movie. This one probably "disappeared among the "Guns of Navarone" imitators during the 60's. A pity, since it is worth having a look at. Some points in its favour: "Unpredictable" - characters who usually don't die in movies like this dies unexpectedly and in unexpected order (it doesn't follow the clichés). The spies sent on undercover missions into Germany are actually forced to speak German, and various ruses to cover up the accents have to be made. One negative aside though. At times it seems that two movies are being shown at the same time, a docu-drama about the actual bombings of England and a totally fictitious (albeit exciting) spy drama.

This is actually a very good movie with a lot more truth behind it than one might imagine. As this is a British movie, it was a very smart marketing idea to have a famous American actor, George Peppard, and a famous Italian actress, Sophia Loren, co-star in it. This way they could say "Starring (insert famous British actor name here)" when marketed in Britain, and advertise it as "Starring George Peppard" and "Starring Sophia Loren", when marketed in the U.S.A.and Italy respectively. This gives the makers of the film a much larger audience than just Britain. George Peppard and Sophia Loren have significant roles, but are not the stars of the movie. Details like portraying Hanna Reitsch and having accurate, and very good special effects make this far better than most World War II movies. Especially since most of the stars of the movie don't survive. If you enjoy historical accuracy, a well thought-out plot, and the unexpected, then I think you will find this movie a top-notch production and well worth watching. Without spoiling the ending, I will tell you though that the Gemans did not win the war.