Opération Amsterdam

From a purely historical point of view, "Operation Amsterdam" is a really cool film. That's because most movies about WWII focus on big, loud and obvious topics--like battles. However, "Operation Amsterdam" is instead about an equally serious problem--what to do with all the diamonds (particularly the industrial grade ones) in Amsterdam--the capital of the diamond industry. This is because lots of war-time machinery (such as precision drill bits) depended on these diamonds and the British were scared the Germans would confiscate them when they overran Holland in 1940.

As far as the film itself goes, it is mildly interesting and has some very tense moments. My only reservation is that the film, at times, seems a tad bland. While it stars Peter Finch--a rather distinguished Oscar-winning actor. Here, however, he isn't given a lot to do other than hide from Germans and Nazi sympathizers. This is not a huge complaint, but the overall film is a bit on the sterile side. Worth seeing, yes, but not a rousing adventure, that's for sure.

OPERATION AMSTERDAM's synopsis and the iniitial voiceover narration seem to suggest a gripping film based on a real WW II operation, but very soon you realize that it is just some news item transferred to the screen with larger than life but rather wooden characters - apart from Anna, played by the gorgoeous Eva Bartok.

Director Michael McCarthy sadly died at just 42, shortly after completing OPERATION AMSTERDAM, but even earlier films - thankfully shorter - like THE TRAITOR (1957) and MYSTERY JUNCTION (1951) stew in a mire of mediocrity, so I doubt he would have reached any quality podium had he lived to 84. What is more, in this film he co-wrote the similarly stall-sputter-jump screenplay.

Pedestrian cinematography and editing by Reginald Wyer and Arthur Stevens, respectively.

OK but unremarkable acting. Finch is described by the narrator as the key man in the operation, a Dutch citizen who knows diamonds inside out and whose father is a diamond cutter, and holds a personal fortune in diamonds that the UK so badly needs to bore and drill as part of the war materiel production effort. He keeps showing unusual interest in the suitcases that Britton carries and never lets anyone touch for a second. Other than his loving relationship with his father - well portrayed by Malcolm Keen - Finch has the unenviable role of trying to seem to matter. In the end, what is best remembered from his performance as Jan Smit is that he gets the girl.

Tony Britton plays the British major leading the operation and he certainly pulls rank several times, otherwise he just goes around with those suitcases and disappears for a long stretch. At the end we learn that the cases contained explosives to blow up the main Shell oil deposit in Amsterdam - the aim being to deprive the Germans of its use, just as with the diamonds.

Saving the best for last. Beautiful Bartok may speak English with a raw accent, and wear trenchcoat most of the time, which does not reveal her fabulous figure, but she steals the show without trying. 6/10.

Unseen Nazi jackboots are marching into Holland in the darkest days of WWII and Churchill's government is worried about all the industrial diamonds lying around in Amsterdam that could be used for the German war effort. Being British, we're obviously not going to rely on Frenchy to nip across and spirit the city's entire stock away before the invading hordes arrive so we send a rather colourless secret agent in the form of Tony Britton, the son of an Amsterdam diamond merchant (Peter Finch) and another chap who just seems to be along for the ride (Alexander Knox, who looks worrying dispensable throughout but somehow manages to emerge from the entire escapade unscathed).

Our unlikely heroes hitch a lift to Amsterdam from a distraught Eva Bartok who has just witnessed her boyfriend's boat being bombed by the Luftwaffe and is about to drive into the harbour waters to look for him. At first they fear she might be a fifth columnist, but she turns out to be a plucky heroine, picking up the machine gun of a fallen resistance fighter to sullenly strafe the enemy at one point.

Operation Amsterdam is one of those films that deserves to be better known because it's really quite good. The location photography of an eerily near-deserted Amsterdam is effective, and the tension is ramped up quite nicely until the whole thing seems to run out of steam in the final reel as our heroes make their getaway. The problem is that nobody is really aware that they are in fact getting away because their exploits haven't yet been uncovered. Anyway, when the film isn't testing our heroes it's commenting on the unenvious position in which the City's diamond merchants – many of whom are Jewish and only too aware of the treatment meted out to their creed by the Nazis. One old chap tries to bargain a place on the boat back to Britain for his sick, elderly wife but is gently rebuffed.

Perhaps the film's main weakness is the suspicion that something wasn't quite right during post-production. Midway through, the film seems to take a disconcerting leap forward, and suddenly there's little Melvyn Hayes sitting in the back of a car with our fellows. Now where did he come from? A neighbour of hero number three's mum, apparently (so that's why he tagged along), although we're never see this mother-and-son reunion – even though you suspect the scenes were filmed.

The 'flaws' noted above are not really that serious. Firstly, yes the sudden appearance of Willem suggested a cut scene, a frequent occurrence in many movies, owing to pacing and duration considerations - could have been better handled, but it was explained briefly. Secondly, the various groups of Dutch soldiers, some fighting each other, was fully explained several times in the dialogue - the city has been infiltrated with German fifth columnists, and nobody is sure who is friend or foe! In the battle scene by the canal the late arrivals have been sent by the man at the government department, to help the 'good guys'. Thirdly, you are correct that the OFFICIAL Dutch resistance was not yet organised, but the resistance fighters in the story are early volunteers who are trying to hamper the German occupation of Amsterdam, and will no doubt form the nucleus of the resistance movement that would soon follow. So, you see, not really serious flaws at all!

Operation Amsterdam is a no frills war thriller about a special mission to the Netherlands. British major Tony Britton is sent there accompanied by a pair of Dutch diamond merchants, Peter Finch and Alexander Knox. Their mission is to clean out as many industrial diamonds as they can from the diamond brokers which the city is known for.

Those industrial black diamonds ain't pretty and don't sparkle. But they are the hardest things on planet earth. Drill bits to shape metal are invaluable in an industrial economy, all the more so on a war footing. The Nazis could really use them and they are hours away from occupying the Low Countries.

This one moves at a nice clip with grainy black and white cinematography to demonstrate the coming darkness to fall on the Netherlands and Europe.

Along the way the men of the mission save Eva Bartok from suicide and she proves invaluable. Her own wartime experiences gave her depth to her role that was unique. No time for romance, but Finch is clearly interested and might be looking her up after the war assuming both survive.

No super heroics, just some men, Dutch and British doing a job that needed to be done in Operation Amsterdam.