The movie was good for a low budget. After looking at the reviewers, I wonder if it would have been a bigger hit because the movie had some graphic scenes: 1) Henry Silva suffocating the baby and in other scene, he throws a bayonet at a German doctor or medic orderly and you see the bayonet penetrating the person's throat.
2) A German sailor looking over the side of his boat and then a grappling hook is embedded in the side of his face.
I don't think that William Campbell play a good imposter because he did not look like the Commandent of the Fortress plus we don't know if he knew how to speak German. I also wonder what he said on the telephone that cause the Germans to send out armed patrol to search the fortress. It seems to me that the plot was to get the Italian General out of the fortress without having the Germans stop them.
I know that during World War II, some German SS officers had an German Army eagle sewn on their hats and/or on the left sleeve of their arms instead of an SS one. SS General Sepp Detrich was famous for having an Army eagle on his SS hat. However, in this case, it look like the entire German garrison had Army eagles on their left sleeves instead of the SS eagle and it looks like they were Panzer uniforms instead of field gray.
Some people stated that the the characters of Henry Silva and Spela Rozin had bonded together; however, it didn't look like it to me considering the fact that Silva's character came from prison, and in prison, guys tend to want to have sex with even ugly members of the opposite sex after being in prison for awhile and the Spela Rozin's character was married.
I agreed that the movie was like the Dirty Dozen, Guns of Navarrone, Were Eagles Dare, Band of Brothers, Hornets' Nest etc., where a lot of Germans get killed off and the Germans are lousy shooters. Frankly, I am surprise that some of the members were not killed by Germans when they had a gun running battle on the rooftops, and the Germans were only a few yards away from them; yet, none of the convicts and the major were hit by enemy fire when they finally fled the scene. Spela Rozin's character reminds me of Sylva Koscina's character in the movie Hornets' Nest where both ladies take a submachine gun and all of a sudden they become firearm experts at killing Germans.
I also wonder Roger Corman did not write the partisans into the script in helping the Italians when they attack the Germans.
2) A German sailor looking over the side of his boat and then a grappling hook is embedded in the side of his face.
I don't think that William Campbell play a good imposter because he did not look like the Commandent of the Fortress plus we don't know if he knew how to speak German. I also wonder what he said on the telephone that cause the Germans to send out armed patrol to search the fortress. It seems to me that the plot was to get the Italian General out of the fortress without having the Germans stop them.
I know that during World War II, some German SS officers had an German Army eagle sewn on their hats and/or on the left sleeve of their arms instead of an SS one. SS General Sepp Detrich was famous for having an Army eagle on his SS hat. However, in this case, it look like the entire German garrison had Army eagles on their left sleeves instead of the SS eagle and it looks like they were Panzer uniforms instead of field gray.
Some people stated that the the characters of Henry Silva and Spela Rozin had bonded together; however, it didn't look like it to me considering the fact that Silva's character came from prison, and in prison, guys tend to want to have sex with even ugly members of the opposite sex after being in prison for awhile and the Spela Rozin's character was married.
I agreed that the movie was like the Dirty Dozen, Guns of Navarrone, Were Eagles Dare, Band of Brothers, Hornets' Nest etc., where a lot of Germans get killed off and the Germans are lousy shooters. Frankly, I am surprise that some of the members were not killed by Germans when they had a gun running battle on the rooftops, and the Germans were only a few yards away from them; yet, none of the convicts and the major were hit by enemy fire when they finally fled the scene. Spela Rozin's character reminds me of Sylva Koscina's character in the movie Hornets' Nest where both ladies take a submachine gun and all of a sudden they become firearm experts at killing Germans.
I also wonder Roger Corman did not write the partisans into the script in helping the Italians when they attack the Germans.