Los héroes de Telemark

THE HEROES OF TELEMARK is an espionage yarn involving a daring plan to prevent the Nazis from advancing plans to create atomic bomb components during the height of WWII, resulting in the sinking of a German ship.

Directed by Anthony Mann (his last film) with a mostly British cast, and starring KIRK DOUGLAS and RICHARD HARRIS, it's based on a little known true-life episode. Their mission: to return to Telemark from England and see whether ground invasion is possible--rather than bombing, because the village nearby is heavily populated. As someone else observed, Kirk and Richard spend more time fighting each other than the Nazis. Whatever animosity lies beneath the surface of these two stars, it shows on the screen.

Douglas reluctantly joins a group of nine men who go on the ground mission after a bombing raid wipes out some of the resistance fighters. Director Mann gets every bit of suspense out of the perilous mission...and the aftermath when the men are hunted by the Gestapo and wanted dead or alive.

Some of the derring-do has been fictionalized, I'm sure. Douglas manages a narrow escape on skis even though he's been wounded with a gunshot to his ankle. Several other aspects of the story have the ring of dramatic license.

It's tense and taut with remarkably good performances from KIRK DOUGLAS and RICHARD HARRIS especially. Well worth seeing and enjoying as a World War II adventure yarn based on a true incident.