Operation Crossbow (1965)

Allied agents attempt to infiltrate the Nazis' rocket research site.

Director:

Michael Anderson

Writers:

Duilio Coletti (original story), Vittoriano Petrilli (original story),

Stars:

Sophia Loren, George Peppard, Trevor Howard

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sophia Loren	...	Nora
George Peppard	...	Lt. John Curtis
Trevor Howard	...	Prof. Lindemann
John Mills	...	Gen. Boyd
Richard Johnson	...	Duncan Sandys
Tom Courtenay	...	Robert Henshaw
Jeremy Kemp	...	Phil Bradley
Anthony Quayle	...	Bamford
Lilli Palmer	...	Frieda
Paul Henreid	...	Gen. Ziemann
Helmut Dantine	...	Gen. Linz
Barbara Rütting	...	Hannah Reitsch (as Barbara Rueting)
Richard Todd	...	Wing Cmdr. Kendall
Sylvia Syms	...	Constance Babington Smith
John Fraser	...	Flight Lt. Kenny

Storyline

This is the story of the methods used to defeat Hitler's V1 (doodlebug) and V2 (rocket) "revenge weapons" towards the end of the second world war. Even though the Nazis were in retreat these weapons could have turned their defeat into victory. The film includes references to Hannah Reich, who in real life was a German test pilot.

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Plot Keywords:

nazi | rocket | german | v1 | v2 | 

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Genres:

Action | Drama | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some war violence

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English German

Release Date:

1 April 1965 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Great Spy Mission

Filming Locations:

Holkham Beach and Estate, Norfolk, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer British Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

115 min

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) (Westrex Recording System) Mono (35 mm prints) (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Black and White (archive footage) Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

MGM executives did not know the German characters would be speaking German (with subtitles) until they saw the rough cut; they wanted to have the German dialogue dubbed into English, but director Michael Anderson persuaded them to keep the subtitled dialogue.

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Goofs

When Phil Bradley is interviewed for undercover work, he shows off his fluent German. Then, he is given a phony French identity and assigned to Belgium.

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Connections

Edited into Damnation Alley (1977)

User Reviews

How the German V1 & 2 rockets where dealt with.

Excellent suspense movie. This one probably "disappeared among the "Guns of Navarone" imitators during the 60's. A pity, since it is worth having a look at. Some points in its favour: "Unpredictable" - characters who usually don't die in movies like this dies unexpectedly and in unexpected order (it doesn't follow the clichés). The spies sent on undercover missions into Germany are actually forced to speak German, and various ruses to cover up the accents have to be made. One negative aside though. At times it seems that two movies are being shown at the same time, a docu-drama about the actual bombings of England and a totally fictitious (albeit exciting) spy drama.