Silent Raiders

A gritty, low-budget, WWII drama high-lighted by fine performances from a cast of virtual unknowns. Commando team lands on the beach just prior to D-Day to knock out Nazi communications center. Stars Lyon and Bartlett turn-out great drama. Lyon wrote and performed the haunting title song. This is obviously a quickie production, hence the plot isn't as well developed as it could have been, however, for a first entry by the film makers it remains respectable. Also of note is the score by "newcomer" Elmer Berstein. Sadly, this film is over-looked and seldom available for viewing. NO, this was NOT one of Lippert's 'overseas endeavors' but was directed and produced by Bartlett and Lyon, released by Lippert, and filmed in Malibu California. In a recent interview, producer Lyon revealed that the picture was made for a measly $27000! Lyon and Bartlett also worked on the Lippert produced "Silver Star" and "Lonesome Trail."

Seven commandos are sent out before the D-Day invasion to knock out a German communications center three miles inland.

This 65-minute movie proceeds at a glacial pace, with the raiders having long conversations, wrangling, and stalking a goat. While it may be true that adventure is mostly boredom interspersed with violence, this attempt to demonstrate it fails because all the violence is packed into the last five minutes. There are lots of shots of the actors posed interestingly. There are lots of sequences in which they amble leisurely without covering much ground. By the time the violence happens, I had long lost interest in the mission, the characters -- such as they were -- or what the D-Day invasion succeeded. Written by, directed by, and starring Richard Bartlett and some performers I didn't recognize.

Shot for what was less than my annual salary when I was last employed and even less than my New York state pension, The Silent Raiders has the look of cheapness that Sam Katzman pioneered at Monogram and that Lippert Pictures did its best to uphold. A cast of people you will not know are in this World War II film about Commandos raiding into France to blow up a communication station 24 hours before D-Day.

Even at that they were wrong at the beginning of The Silent Raiders as the opening credits say that this took place in SOUTHERN France. With that I thought this was about the landings that took place a few months after D-Day on the Riviera. The only movie I recall ever being made about that operation or the aftermath thereof is the Frank Sinatra/Tony Curtis classic Kings Go Forth.

And of course it bothered me that the term Commando was used. In the American army I thought the proper term was Ranger.

Slightly over an hour in running time, The Silent Raiders is mostly preoccupied with the two sergeants on the mission and a subdued rivalry between the two of them. But what totally through me for a loop was the fact that when they got to their objective one of the men sees a German soldier being entertained by some cute French mam'selle and decides to cut himself in on the action. I mean really.

Films like this killed Lippert Pictures.

True, you won't see many familiar faces in this cast, however, they do turn out some first-rate performances. Bartlett is the career sergeant, and Lyon the "Hollywood-type" just in for the duration, but both are driven, in the end to do their duty and serve their country. The low-key, downbeat ending is chilling, but realistic.