Customer Reviews

Operation Crossbow [VHS]

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

With a terrific international cast and excellent effects, this fast-paced thriller about spies infiltrating a German rocket installation is entertaining, and though much of the antics are improbable, especially in the final sequence, it does have a historical context to it. There was an Operation Crossbow, when Winston Churchill (well played by Patrick Wyman) was concerned about what misslies and rockets the Nazis were making.
The V-1 "Buzz Bomb" was a nightmare for those living in London in the summer of '44, and perhaps the most gripping part of the film is its depiction of London being hit with these dreaded missiles, with some amazing cinematography by Erwin Hillier.

George Peppard is a smooth spy, and does many scenes speaking German, though he looks 100% American, perhaps because of the hat he wears pushed back on his head, which would have been a givaway had he really been in enemy territory.
Richard Johnson is wonderful as Duncan Sandys, who believes action is imperative and that "in war, decisions almost always have to be made on incomplete knowledge; if you wait until you're certain, you're sure to be too late", and goes against Trevor Howard as Professor Linderman, who is not convinced that the situation is serious, or even exists.
(Duncan Sandys was Churchill's son-in-law, and not a very popular fellow with the RAF, because he thought the future of air warfare was in missiles and rockets, and not in manned flight).

Other top-notch actors are Sophia Loren looking beautiful, Tom Courtenay, John Mills, Jeremy Kemp, Anthony Quayle, Richard Todd, and Lilli Palmer marvelous as a resistance worker in Holland.
The film has a certain stylish slickness that it probably owes to the popularity of the James Bond films in the early '60s, and in the Bond tradition has many lovely ladies in all levels of the work force (even as a German engineer/test pilot) and lots and lots of action. A film that almost makes it to 5 stars but just misses the mark, it still makes fine viewing, with some history (though a little jumbled) thrown in for good measure.
Total running time is 115 minutes.

This engrossing war drama places stars George Peppard and John Mills as trained sabatuers in an underground factory where V-1 and V-2 "Buzz-bomb" rockets were being manufactured in Germany during world war II. This gripping drama is as suspensefull as it is realistic. Their mission is to destroy Hitler's ability to manfacture those terrible incendiary rockets which were terrorizing London during the latter stages of the war. Sophia Loren, thinking her husband already dead, discovers George Peppard impersonating him, and the action accelerates from there. This movie has it all, romance, great suspense and special effects as well as a thrilling climax. Several scenes are in German with English subtitles, and as a high school German teacher, I found this a pleasant addition to the film. This movie has aged well since its release in 1965. Give it a try.

I loved this film when it first came out in 1965 (keep in mind the war was over for fewer than 20 years at that point, so the public's collective memory of the V-1 and V-2 weapons was much crisper then). The movie is superbly cast, despite producer Carlo Ponti's insistence that wife Sophia Loren get top billing. Paul Henreid (Casablanca) has a minor, but important role as the general in charge of testing the flying bombs. Lili Palmer plays her usual anti-Nazi resistance role with great believability. George Peppard, young at this point, plays the role as the central allied saboteur -- ably assisted by Jeremy Kemp and Tom Courtenay. The Loren character (a mother of two looking for her Nazi-loving husband) is superimposed over the mission to penetrate the underground Nazi missile factory and destroy it. The photography is spectacular, with thoughtfully conceived dissolves and segues that look just as good today as they did in 1965. For anyone who remembers London during the blitz, this is a must-see. No doubt, it will produce chills. Buy this movie, before some dope in Hollywood decides to cut it out. They should only transfer it to DVD. It's a real treasure. Take the phone off the hook when you watch, so you're not distracted.

In the same vein as "The Guns of Navarone" and "Where Eagles Dare" comes the 1965 WWII espionage movie "Operation Crossbow," which ranks among my personal favorites and will hopefully arrive soon on my favorite format - DVD.
With a stellar international cast this movie curiously gave Sophia Loren top-billing even though her role is little more than an extended cameo. It appears that the producer wanted to give the movie a greater appeal at the American box-office and so he asked his wife (Loren) to play the role of wife to the character which Peppard's character (an Allied agent) is impersonating. As such her appearance is unnecessary and feels tacked on (as it probably was).
But never matter, this is a solid war movie and the cast all handle their roles well. As far as stars go it's a virtual embarrassment of riches with the likes of Sir John Mills, Trevor Howard and Anthony Quayle (this time as a German agent) all performing admirably.
Taking as it's basis the development by Nazi Germany of the rocket technology that terrorized London in the closing days of the war this movie follows the initial British investigation into the possibility of a rocket threat (with Howard as the sceptic and Mills as the lead proponent), through the recruitment of German and Dutch speaking agents and on to the infiltration of the Germans underground bases.
It's all handled very well and is in fact a very handsome production with some excellent sets and locations. The suspense is also ratcheted up nicely in the closing minutes as the bombers close in on the base, looking and looking for the agents on the ground to "light" the target.
This movie comes recommended and here is hoping that Warner (who own the rights even though it was initially made by MGM) will finally release this movie on DVD.
UPDATE - Yes! Finally this movie has made it onto my favorite home video format. Very glad to see it will be released in December. As soon as I saw this I immediately ordered a copy.

I've been a War movie fan for decades. One of the first I remember is seeing Hell is for Heroes when I was eight. Yet somehow, until recently, I was totally unaware of Operation Crossbow. I assumed it would be a low-budget affair of little consequence. To my delight, I was totally wrong and found it to be a rare gem of Mid-Sixties War Cinema.

From what is said about the film, we learn it didn't do well at the box office. Some claim it was a lackluster script, some even blame the title (which I think is great). I won't talk about why I'm sure the movie didn't do well now, but I will save that for the last paragragh because if you haven't seen it, it will spoil the suspense. Rest assured it does not have a bad script! In fact, it is VERY well done in examining the un-uniformed secret men and women who fought with incredible distinction in WWII. I couldn't help but be reminded of the various escapades from the book, A Man Called Intrepid, and would recommend that for further reading for anyone who is interested in Operation Crossbow.

Technically, OC is better than The Guns of Navarone. Yes, that's right and I stand by that statement! The program for Germany's V-1, V-2, and impending "New York Rocket" is convincingly portrayed. The sets are worthy of a top-notch 007 film and I have to admit, when the lady pilot rode the V-1 in a death-defying research flight, I was cheering her on until I came to my senses and thought, "Oh great, now they can kill thousands of innocent women and children!". George Peppard and cast are excellent, restraining melodramatic acting from penetrating their highly dramatic situation. Sophia Loren is an absolute knock-out, but is in a supporting role, which must have disappointed fans seeing her name on top in the cast list. Tom Courteney, Anthony Quayle, Lilli Palmer and Richard Johnson are marvelous in support. How can anyone claim this is a poor script when the entire cast, no matter how big their part, stands out and makes a memorable impression on the viewer? So why didn't the movie do better with the general public? I can tell you why, but watch the movie first before reading on.

Where The Guns of Navarone succeeds is that it was made for entertainment. It is a high-adventure story made for the screen. There is war and death, but there is also survival. Imagine The Magnificent Seven where the villagers win, but ALL the Seven die. In Operation Crossbow, they all die. They succeed, but for the audience, the price seems too high to yield "entertainment". This kind of a bummer is not good for box office. Tom Courtney's death is tough to deal with. Even though Anthony Quayle is a Nazi, his pleading with Courtney to avoid execution is heart-breaking. Courtney dies heroically, yielding nothing to his captors, but in the end is he nothing more than another body in a ditch? This provokes uncomfortable thoughts in a moviegoer who might have come in looking for a good Alistair MacLean type plot. The real nail in the coffin at the box office is Sophia Loren's role. Her death is a slap in the face by the reality of war and leaves the audience with a very poignant, painful witnessing of seeing children orphaned from their mother who was only trying to bring them home. From that point, the viewer has passed what I call, the point of redemption. Nothing, no matter how good, just, or heroic will overcome the bad that has transpired. The villains, in this case just the conditions of war, have done something so barbaric, that the audience cannot get past that, no matter what the heroes accomplish. This by no means makes Operation Crossbow a bad movie, because it is just realistically portraying war. And as we all know, the truth sometimes hurts.

Why it took so long to get this film on a good-quality DVD I shall never understand, but here it is.
The transfer is remarkably good, considering the film is now nearly 42 years old. And even the 6-channel soundtrack on the original 70mm print has been turned into an acceptable 5.1.
The movie, although fictitious in parts, still holds up well today.
The bombing of the rocket testing location on the Baltic coast did take place, but the attack on the underground Nazi rocket factory did not. In fact, as many people already know, the factory was captured along with many of the German rocket engineers and workers. (That's how Werner von Braun came into to the U-S space program).
But, I digress. This is still well-done cinema, and comparing the DVD version the Laser Disc (which I also have) finds a welcome improvement in video and sound quality.
For any World War II buff, this film is a must.
Now, where's Triple Cross on DVD?

After only being available on a brutal DVD release, Operation Crossbow has finally been released in a format that will please movie fans everywhere...WIDESCREEN! Set in 1943 and 1944 (D-Day is mentioned here and there as the Allies prepare for the '44 invasion and the conclusion is after the landing), Operation Crossbow shows the efforts of the Germans to build pilotless bombs to attack London, but maybe more importantly the development of V2 rockets. Allied Intelligence catches wind of the German efforts and sends agents disguised as scientists and engineers in to see what they can find out. Really, this is two different movies. The first thirty minutes gives backgrounds from German and Allied perspectives about the bombs and rockets, the Germans building them and the Allies trying to destroy them. The last 90 minutes covers the efforts of Allied agents infiltrating German factories to sabotage the rocket development. While the two parts have different tones, they combine for a very exciting movie. The background info is very interesting, and the excitement level really takes off with the introduction of the Allied agents.

In a cast of big names, Sophia Loren gets top billing for a cameo! She plays the wife of a German engineer who she isn't aware is dead yet. Loren seems to be there for eye candy and to draw more of an audience in, but only sticks around for about 20 minutes midway through the movie. George Peppard is the rightful star of the movie as Lt. John Curtis, a recruited American agent posing as Loren's dead husband to infiltrate a German rocket factory. Peppard brings just the right amount of humor and seriousness to the role. Richard Johnson, John Mills, and Trevor Howard are excellent in smaller parts as members of Allied Intelligence who must figure out how to slow down the German efforts to build rockets. Tom Courtenay and Jeremy Kemp support Peppard as Robert Henshaw and Phil Bradley, two agents who might have bit off more than they could chew. The movie also features Paul Heinreid, Anthony Quayle in an excellent, creepy part, Lilli Palmer, and Helmut Dantine. Some are making brief cameos, but part of the fun is picking them out throughout the movie.

The recently released DVD is very well put together and long overdue, especially considering how bad the previous release was. The DVD offers a smooth-looking widescreen presentation, a trailer for the movie, and the vintage featurette, "Looking Back at Crossbow," which covers the early history of rockets while also tying into the movie's actual history. So for an above-average WWII spy/secret agent adventure movie with an excellent ensemble cast, look for the new DVD of Operation Crossbow!

OPERATION CROSBOW is an Outstanding WWII espionage adventure film. They don't make films like this any more. Made at the height of his career George Peppard stars as Lt. John Curtis a volunteer sent on a perilous mission to uncover the production site of Nazi Germany's V2 rocket site. This film is very suspenseful and cold blooded in its depiction of the Allies' resolve to eliminate Germany's weapon of terror. It truly is spectacular and is very interesting in its approach and vision of sacrifice willing or not. The cast is impressive and includes Sophia Loren, Richard Johnson, Jeremy Kemp, Tom Courtenay, Anthony Quayle, Richard Todd, Trevor Howard, John Mills and Lilli Palmer. Great score by Ron Goodwin.

Having framed my opening, I saw that I had been anticipated by the Amazon editorial reviewer. Yes, this does qualify for consideration as an "OLDIE" (although, from my perspective, 1965 is 15 years too young to earn the designation). That means one is allowed to factor in the nostalgia factor (how nice again to see wonderful Lili Palmer) and the fact that it exemplifies the traditional war film.
With that in mind, one can say that it is far from the best of films about WW2, and far from the best of 1960's WW2 films. Nonetheless, it is a decent film that keeps one's attention by offering some of our cherished scenes of heroic espionage agents, sturdy patriotic underground workers, and chance-taking organizational leaders winning out over fat-headed doubters. The cast is filled with many British and American players of the day who handle the varied roles they play with aplomb. All in all, a film that will not stir the core of your being but will entertain for a couple of hours.
I will add a note of personal interest. There are scenes of a German woman in uniform flying an early prototype of the so-called "flying bomb" and seemingly being treated with respect by high ranking German officers (one played by Paul Henreid). It was my understanding that no such situation could have existed in the very traditional German army. My error, as indicated in this paragraph lifted from an internet article on women in uniform during WW 2.
"Fascist ideology dictated that a women's role in society was as a mother and frowned upon women working in any capacity. A few German women did find ways to work, some in jobs such as ferrying and test pilots. Melitta Schiller was awarded the Iron Cross for conducting 1,500 test dives of new dive bombers. And Hitler favorite Hanna Reitsch, a record-breaking glider and test pilot before the war, flew every Luftwaffe plane and helicopter. Denied permission to organize a women's flight squadron, she organized a suicide squadron that would use V-1 rockets modified with seats to hold pilots to attack British industrial centers. The program was eventually dropped. In the final days of the war, she flew a Luftwaffe general through Soviet artillery fire and fighters to land on a road in central Berlin and meet with Hitler just days before he killed himself."
It was this Hanna Reisch, who it would seem, was the prototype for the woman in the film.

Very good WW II movie. Fairly accurate. Not too much schmaltz. It is always harder for a movie to be believable with big name stars, but they do a good job.