Battle of the V-1

Michael Rennie stars as a block of wood...er as a stoic member of the Polish Resistance who along with a compatriot get themselves captured with the hopes of getting sent to a German labor camp where they can spy on the new wonder weapon the V-1. Based on a true story and supposedly close to what actually happened,which usually keeps things lively, this was a tough go through for me. The problem was that the performances are very stiff. Michael Rennie's performance seemed to consist of standing rigidly and looking something like concerned. Most of his fellow actors were similar in what I can only describe as statue like performances. I'm forced to wonder if the stiffness was due to a limited wardrobe budget since no one seems to get dirty or change their clothes. Its all very serious in life or death way, but at the same time some of the deep pronouncements sound very silly in a "we must soldier on" sort of way.

Christopher Lee, despite having a relatively high billing, is in a couple of scenes as a Nazi camp officer. His performance is as animated as Rennie's is rigid making me wonder if he either thought this was a comedy, or was angry with the director and gave a bizarre reading of the role.(Of course it could be simply that he had some life while the rest of the cast was blocks of wood.) The story is a good one, but as told here its a long 80 minutes that makes you wonder why they bothered. Recommended for those times when you are in a forgiving mood and want a WW2 drama you haven't seen before.

This one of those rare films, that managed to get made without Hollywoods gross miss-interpretation. The truth has not been distorted for sensationalism, the facts are correct. It is a pity that stories like these are not remade today but with extra information about the story and maintaining the integrity, the truth makes a better story than those made up in Hollywood. Details about always having clean suits and the hair always in place, well what can you expect this was the style of movie making in those days. But the story line has not been altered to distort the truth, obviously certain details are missing, as these were still listed under the Official Secrets Act of the UK. Most the of the soldiers walking around seem to be SS in their black uniforms, but it is certainly better in its facts than later movies made about the war, ie. Enigma and U-571 which are an insult to those who took part in the original actions, and lousy education to those who are not aware of the original stories.

This is a simple, boys own adventure that is hard to believe.

Two resistance men are deliberately captured and sent to a labour camp so that they can spy on the scientific experiments.

They stand out from the rest of the inmates like two sore thumbs, always wearing their suits even when "breaking rocks!"

They use clumsy methods of communicating with the resistance and by some miracle the German guards don't suspect a thing.

The V1 rocket is being made and tested at this camp and our two spays successfully send information back to base resulting in the works being bombed out of existence.

This film is of interest only for two things.

Firstly, Christopher Lee appears as the Camp Commandant.

Secondly, and perhaps most interesting, It features an uncredited early appearance of Rod Steiger as a bespectacled German officer.

Of course this is a low budget effort, of course the acting is stiff and very odd to our modern eyes.

It is of the time and included the rather funny way that actors and directors of the old English school did things. Note the early scene with Rennie's farewell, she studies the ground and then looks away from him, these sorts of dramatic methods of "showing deep sorrow or concern" are never used today and really do look quite funny.

In addition to the clean suits and perfect hair, check out when the 2 German soldiers get their uniforms taken by the leading men but even though the Germans are from the same unit, the uniforms are quite different a while later. There was simply not enough money to do it right.

Better to fast fwd some of the more obvious bits and just enjoy this period film of a long gone time.

1943: A schoolmaster called Stefan Novak (Michael Rennie) and his watchmaker friend Tadek (David Knight) are working for the Polish resistance lead by Stanislav Muski (Peter Madden) and allow themselves to be captured by the Nazis and taken to a labour camp on the Baltic coast so that they can spy on the operations there. Stefan and Tadek discover that the camp houses a huge production unit where the V1 rocket is being built, which Hitler intends to use to destroy London. The pair succeed in informing the resistance of what is happening who in turn tip off the allies who launch a full scale raid on the plant and destroy it therefore setting back the Nazis' plan by months. However, the fight is far from over as Hitler's generals proceed with plans to build yet another plant and Stefan and Tadek are faced with a dangerous challenge, they must capture a complete V1 rocket and help in smuggling it back to Britain so that the allies can prepare themselves for Hitler's proposed invasion...

A low budget wartime drama, which is based on half facts and half fiction. Produced by Eros Films whose output largely consisted of routine poverty row b-movies so this was probably their sole attempt to go into the big time. The film also utilises footage of actual allied air raids. All in all, The Battle Of The V1, is quite entertainingly put together and in some instances it gets its facts right though once or twice I couldn't help thinking that it bordered towards the improbable. Nevertheless, the film is delivered in a likable boys own adventure story fashion by director Vernon Sewell who could easily lay claim to being one of this country's most prolific and veteran filmmakers. Indeed in the early 1990's when he was interviewed for the only time in his life at the age of 91 by Brian McFarlane, the author of the splendid "Autobiography Of British Cinema", he went on to regard The Battle Of The V1 as his most important film. Good performances are given by Rennie and Knight as the two Polish prisoners of war who risk their lives to save London and at the same time drive the enemy out of Poland. Also of note is a young Christopher Lee who appears as a Nazi Labour Camp Captain. At this time he was just starting to carve his niche as an international star with Hammer as the cinema's most famous Dracula. Lee would also work with Vernon Sewell again nine years later in The Curse Of The Crimson Altar co starring alongside another horror icon Boris Karloff.