Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Dirk Bogarde | ... | Lieut. Graham | |
Denholm Elliott | ... | Sergeant Corcoran | |
Akim Tamiroff | ... | Captain George One | |
Gérard Oury | ... | Captain George Two (as Gerard Oury) | |
Eric Pohlmann | ... | Captain Nikolides Papadapoulos | |
Alec Mango | ... | Patroklis | |
David Peel | ... | Sergeant Evans | |
Sam Kydd | ... | Marine Boyd | |
William Russell | ... | Lieut. Poole (as Russell Enoch) | |
Peter Burton | ... | Marine Barrett | |
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Harold Siddons | ... | Lieut. Stevens R.N. |
Michael Mellinger | ... | Toplis | |
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Anthea Leigh | ... | Marika |
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Kay Callard | ... | Nightclub Singer |
Lisa Gastoni | ... | George Two's Girlfriend |
In Greece, during World War II, a small group of British commandoes and patriots land on an island with orders to attack two airfields from which the Luftwaffe is threatening allied forces in Egypt. The island is crawling with troops, and even moving by night, the men soon run into trouble. Written by Jeremy Perkins {J-26}
"They Who Dare", which Lewis Milestone directed in 1953, comes across as a kind of preamble for "The Guns of Navarone" and was handsomely shot on location. It deals with the exploits of a small group of British and Greek soldiers tasked with blowing up German air bases on Rhodes but is rather lacking in action; most of the time is spent on the journey to the targets thought when the fighting does start it is lively enough. This is Dirk Bogarde in handsome, dashing leading man mode rather than Bogarde the actor he was ultimately to become and others in the cast include Denholm Elliot and Akim Tamiroff, though they are both wasted. It's hardly comparable to Milestone's other war movies but it's far from being a right-off either.