Night Ambush (1957)
"Ill Met by Moonlight" (original title)

Led by British officers, partisans on Crete plan to kidnap the island's German commander and smuggle him to Cairo to embarrass the occupiers.

Directors:

Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger

Writers:

W. Stanley Moss (adapted from the book: "Ill Met By Moonlight" The Wartime Diary in Crete of), Michael Powell,

Stars:

Dirk Bogarde, Marius Goring, David Oxley

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Dirk Bogarde	...	Major Patrick Leigh Fermor D.S.O. O.B.E. also known to the Cretans and the German Secret Police as PHILEDEM
Marius Goring	...	Major General Kreipe
David Oxley	...	Captain W. Stanley Moss, M.C.
Dimitri Andreas	...	Niko (as Demetri Andreas)
Cyril Cusack	...	Sandy
Laurence Payne	...	Manoli
Wolfe Morris	...	George
Michael Gough	...	Andoni Zoidakis
John Cairney	...	Elias
Brian Worth	...	Stratis Saviolkis
Roland Bartrop	...	Micky Akoumianakis (as Rowland Bartrop)
George Eugeniou	...	Charis Zographakis
Paul Stassino	...	Yani Katsias
Adeeb Assaly	...	Zahari
Theo Moreas	...	Village Priest

Storyline

Based on the true story of how, during World War II, a gang of desparadoes (British officers enlisted for "hostilities only" and local partisans) went to the occupied island of Crete and kidnapped a German General from under the nose of his army. That was the easy bit !!! They then had to get him back to Cairo, dodging an intense air and land search.

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Plot Keywords:

crete | partisan | general | secret mission | nazi occupation | 

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Taglines:

Un exploit sans précédent dans l'histoire de l'espionnage

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Drama | War

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English Greek German

Release Date:

July 1958 (USA)

Also Known As:

Night Ambush

Filming Locations:

Alpes Maritimes, Alps, Italy

Company Credits

Production Co:

Rank Organisation, The, Vega Film Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

104 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to Michael Powell's book, "Million Dollar Movie," the film's composer, Mikis Theodorakis, considered it shameful that a story about Cretan resistance fighters would be told by anyone other than Cretans. He told Powell and Pressberger that they were both political "interlopers" -- a label he also used in describing Patrick Leigh Fermor.

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Goofs

General Brauer is shown in the film as wearing army (Wehrmacht) uniform. As a paratrooper, he should be wearing air force (Luftwaffe) uniform. Contemporary photographs show him doing so on Crete.

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Quotes

Major General Kreipe: You're not going to leave me in the hands of these... Cretans?

User Reviews

Powell and Pressburger's last film

"Ill Met by Moonlight" is a different kind of film for The Archers, and sadly, their last venture together.

It's a World War II film, based on real-life events in Crete, about the British army and members of the Crete resistance who kidnap a German officer (Marius Goring) in order to send him to Egypt.

The British are headed up by Dirk Bogarde.

It's a slow moving film, without a tremendous amount of suspense, but I have to say I enjoyed it. It's rich in humor and examples of camaraderie among the soldiers and resistance workers. The photography is excellent, though it's no Black Narcissus.

The problem with it is that it isn't up to the usual standards of Powell and Pressburger and not representative of them. I do love Dirk Bogarde, though, in everything.