Mosquito Squadron (1969)

Director:

Boris Sagal

Writers:

Joyce Perry (written by)
Donald S. Sanford (written by)

Release Date:

January 1969 (UK)

Genre:

War | Drama

Tagline:

To save England, he must sacrifice everything he loves.

Plot:

RAF Squadron Leader Quint Munroe wrestles with the loss in action of his best friend Scotty, falling in love with Scotty's widow Beth...

Plot Keywords:

Squadron | Bouncing Bomb | Mosquito | Military Installation | Bomber

Cast

David McCallum	...	Quint Munroe
Suzanne Neve	...	Beth Scott
Charles Gray	...	Air Commodore Hufford
David Buck	...	Sqn. Ldr. David 'Scotty' Scott
David Dundas	...	Flt. Lieut. Douglas Shelton
Dinsdale Landen	...	Wing Commander Clyde Penrose
Nicky Henson	...	Flt. Sgt. Wiley Bunce
Bryan Marshall	...	Sqn. Ldr. Neale
Michael Anthony	...	Father Bellague
Peggy Thorpe-Bates	...	Mrs. Scott
Peter Copley	...	Mr. Scott
Vladek Sheybal	...	Lieutenant Schack
Michael McGovern	...	Flt. Lieutenant Bannister

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:PG (DVD rating) | UK:U (original rating) | New Zealand:PG | Australia:PG | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:G | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

MGM British Studios, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Company:

Oakmont Productions

Trivia:

The Bouncing Bomb used in the film was a real weapon. Known as Highball (a smaller version of the Dambusting Upkeep bomb), it was originally designed by Dr. Barnes Wallis to be utilized against battleships, such as the Tirpitz. The Highball bomb weighed 1,280lb (580kg), carried 600lb (272kg) of explosive, and was small enough to be carried in tandem by a Mosquito fighter-bomber. Prior to release the bomb was imparted with a backward spin of 700-900 revolutions per minute, and dropped at high speed (360 mph (580km/h)) and low altitude (60 ft (18.2m)).

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Guide wires are clearly visible on some of the miniatures of exploding aircraft.

Quotes:

[During a low level flight to a target in France, Munroe's Navigator leans over to him]
Nav: I hope you brought your driving licence.
Munroe: Why?
Nav: Fly any lower and you're going to need it.

Movie Connections:

Edited from 633 Squadron (1964)

Bad, bland little war movie

The always-overrated David McCallum is one of the few good things in this low-budget World War II adventure piece, yet another quickie from Oakmont Films.

Sometime prior to D-Day – probably early '44 or '43 – a Mosquito Squadron is sent to bomb a V-1 rocket installation in France, when Squadron Leader Scott (David Buck) is shot down and presumed dead. His second-in-command, Quint Munroe (who just happens to be like a life-long brother to him) has to return to England and tell his beautiful blonde wife (Suzanne Neve) the sad news. As one would expect, Munroe and Mrs. Scott slowly fall in love. But when Munroe is chosen to lead a mission to bomb a new V-3 development center, things will chance quite a bit – because Scott is a prisoner held at the target fortress!

From start to finish, "Mosquito Squadron" is a total hack-job – literally. The story is filled with enough contrivances and clichés to drive any mildly serious critic mad. Let us take a brief look at a 1964 film entitled "633 Squadron". In said film, a squadron commander has a best friend shot down over Norway, and falls in love with his sister. Later on, he is assigned to bomb the fortress where his friend is being held. Sound familiar? And that's not all our title film steals! Virtually all of the aerial battle footage is directly lifted from "633 Squadron", while the new footage is comprised almost entirely of horrible-looking miniatures hanging from far-too-visible wires.

The writers have also directly copied another classic war film, "The Dam Busters". The feasibility of Munroe's mission revolves around a bouncing bomb, which will skip along the ground and roll into an open tunnel leading to the V-3 rockets. (I won't even mention how convenient it was to leave a big open tunnel to drop a bomb into). The real bouncing bomb (made famous in 1954's "The Dam Busters") was designed to skip on water to destroy Nazi dams – not the ground as is seen here! The idea of dropping a bouncing bomb on the ground is, simply, ludicrous and impossible. Introduction of this concept kills the storyline immediately.

The low budget shows up in every action sequence: the French resistance force is comprised of a half-dozen men in berets carrying Sten guns, and only a handful of German guards enforce security at the "fortress". The forests are obviously cheaply furnished soundstages, and a face-off with an imitation German "tank" is ludicrously shot. We never really see much of the German-held Château, and when we do it never looks as though we're inside some high-tech development center a la "Operation Crossbow". The scenes set in England fare somewhat better, with some excellent scenes set at airfields and a rather rowdy officer's club.

David McCallum and the cast of little-known English actors do a fair job, even though the no-frills script doesn't give them much to do. McCallum is a fair actor, nowhere near as great as his fans hail him to be, though. He was better suited for television than cinema, and that comes out in every scene. He often looks uncomfortable and awkward, but delivers his often banal dialog convincingly and with conviction. His scenes with Neve are often touching, even though audiences have seen this dozens of times before. There aren't any other actors worth mention among the ensemble, besides perhaps Charles Gray who would go on to play Blofeld in the James Bond film "Diamonds are Forever" a few years later.

Oakmont Productions financed a number of cheap British war films in the late 1960s and early 1970s: "Attack on the Iron Coast", "Hell Boats", "The Last Escape", "The One Thousand Plane Raid" among them. These quickies were best suited for TV viewing instead of theatrical release, but United Artists picked them all up and put them on the big screen. Anyone expecting a classic here – or in any of the aforementioned pieces for that matter – is in for a big disappointment. Check out "633 Squadron" instead.