Assault on a Queen (1966)

A group of adventurers refloat a WWII German submarine and prepare to use it to pull a very large heist; The Queen Mary which they plan to rob on the high seas.

Director:

Jack Donohue

Writers:

Jack Finney (novel), Rod Serling (screenplay)

Stars:

Frank Sinatra, Virna Lisi, Anthony Franciosa

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Frank Sinatra	...	Mark Brittain
Virna Lisi	...	Rosa Lucchesi
Anthony Franciosa	...	Vic Rossiter
Richard Conte	...	Tony Moreno
Alf Kjellin	...	Eric Lauffnauer
Errol John	...	Linc Langley
Murray Matheson	...	Captain
Reginald Denny	...	Master-at-Arms
John Warburton	...	Bank manager
Lester Matthews	...	Doctor
Val Avery	...	Trench
Gilchrist Stuart	...	Officer #1
Ronald Long	...	Officer #2
Leslie Bradley	...	Officer #3
Arthur Gould-Porter	...	Officer #4

Storyline

A group of adventurers refloat a WWII German submarine and prepare to use it to pull a very large heist; The Queen Mary which they plan to rob on the high seas.

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Plot Keywords:

u boat | german | heist | submarine | love triangle | 

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Taglines:

They stick up the Queen Mary in mid Atlantic

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Genres:

Adventure | Crime | Thriller | Action | Drama

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 June 1966 (USA)

Also Known As:

Asalto al Queen Mary

Filming Locations:

Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures, Seven Arts Productions, Sinatra Enterprises

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In its entry for this 1966 movie, the 2003 edition of Leonard Maltin's 'Movie and Video Guide' repeats a popular American terminological inexactitude by referring to the ocean liner as "HMS Queen Mary", thus implying that it was a warship at the time of the events depicted in the movie. The truth is that its designation has always been "RMS", traditionally meaning "Royal Mail Steamer" but nowadays sometimes taken to mean "Royal Mail Ship".

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Quotes

Mark Brittain: Do you always look this good in the morning?
Rosa Lucchesi: You will have time to compare; there will be thousands of mornings.

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Connections

Referenced in Mystery Science Theatre 3000: Operation Double 007 (1993)

User Reviews

Terrific novel but poorly directed film

First of all, this poster for this movie is incredible. One of my all time favorites. This movie was really hard to find until recently (just came out on blu-ray April 2012) so years ago I found an old paperback of the Jack Finney novel and read it. Loved the story. Then, finally, I was able to see the movie ... disappointing. My biggest complaint is the direction: absolutely flaccid, dull and without any creativity. Not surprisingly the director, Jack Donohue, was a hack TV director almost his entire career and only directed a handful of movies - none of them good. And so Assault on a Queen feels soooo slow when it really should be fast paced and have high energy. The great Rod Serling wrote the script from a fun novel, so I'm not going to blame the writing. And the acting was fine too. The only other problem was the music: poorly used and sparse and never seemed appropriate for the scene. I suppose I can blame the director for this too since he'd be the one overseeing where it was used.

Anyway, worth watching for fans of 60s heist movies. I like it, but wish it were better.