Os Sobreviventes

The Fifties were Jose Ferrer's peak years as an actor and he was getting acclaim for all kinds of roles he was trying out. Ferrer has never been thought of as an action hero, but in a film in which he directed himself The Cockleshell Heroes, Ferrer is outstanding in a part that someone like Clint Eastwood would have been more identified with.

This was one impossible mission given to the Royal Marines. I'm sure rowing crew at Oxford would have gotten one a starring birth on this squad. The idea here is to demolish German ships in the port of Bordeaux and render the harbor useless. The problem is that Bordeaux ain't on the coast, it's up the Gironde River.

In an amphibious operation the idea is for a picked bunch of Royal Marines to row kayak like canoes up the river after having been landed by submarine at the coast under cover of darkness. The canoes are there to insure silence so that no unaccounted for motors are heard on the river. Then the Marines are to attach mines to the various ships and hopefully they will blow up and the Marines would escape inland with the help of the French Resistance.

Sounds absolutely impossible, but it really did happen. The film takes us through the training and the mission and most of the Marines are killed.

This was typical back in the day, get a known American star for a British production to insure international distribution. In Ferrer's case having one of the great speaking voices ever in film, he could be acceptably British for the audience.

Ferrer the director got some great performances out of Ferrer the actor and the rest of his cast, particularly Trevor Howard as his second in command and administrative officer. Howard was the best in the cast, a tough man with a deep secret, he failed under fire just as World War I was ending and has a black mark on him. He gets a second chance 25 years later in another war.

Also to be noted is David Lodge the young Royal Marine who goes AWOL to settle some trouble back home with an unfaithful wife in Beatrice Campbell.

The film bears some resemblance to The Dirty Dozen and The Devil's Brigade, American productions from the next decade. But these Royal Marines weren't misfits made into a fighting force. They were some of the best of that generation who went on a mission impossible knowing that they most likely would not come back.

And it's to them and the rest of the Royal Marines that this American dedicates this review to.

I saw the cockleshell heroes many years ago and greatly enjoyed it.I was impressed enough to read the factual account of the unit and mission depicted in the film.The film was good but did not begin to show the reality of the training and the hardships these men went through.The actual mission was pretty much as depicted in the film.The Royal Commandoes that made up the real unit went on to form the nucleus of what is now known as the SBS or special boat section.This is the British version of the Navy Seals,but formed many years earlier.I highly recommend reading the book.You will appreciate the film even more.

This has been a favorite movie of mine for many years. Its narrative relates the story of a group of eccentrics--the British Army leaders were looking for imaginative minds--to undertake a hazardous mission is small rowing boats--cockleshells--against the Nazis' ships berthed up a river. The body of this very-entertaining film comprises four parts: 1. recruiting the volunteers. 2. early training of the successful applicants. 3. later training under better discipline and 4. the raid itself and its aftermath. The underlying theme here is that even minds free of dictatorial-system thinking require self-discipline, and regulation by authorities. The films is B/W and very ruggedly filmed. The director was Jose Ferrer also, with major contributions by writers Bryan Forbes, Richard Maibaum and George Kent. Music by John Addison adds greatly to the proceedings. The serviceable cast includes Jose Ferrer as the group's enigmatic and unorthodox leader, Trevor Howard as the man who wants more discipline and is proved correct, Anthony Newley, Victor Madden, Dora Bryan, David Lodge, Peter Arne, Percy Herbert and many others. The highlight of the early part of the film is an illegal challenge exercise--the volunteers hare told to try to get back to camp from a long way off with no resources whatever. Training at managing the kayak-like craft to be used on the raid also provides some early laughs. This is an honest, well-mounted and vastly- entertaining film whose subject is really human nature and the demands made on imagination and on self-discipline in times of war. The great raid itself is staged mostly at night and is extremely well-presented visually and in its blocking. The escape following the success of the raiders' efforts against German ships that are their targets is the final achievement in this taut and very-well-made film. But the individuals, their relationships, characters and actions are what one remembers. A very-well remembered film, and one admired by many, including myself.

This is an excellent movie that depicts a little known part of WWII history and well acted with a good story line. Jose Ferrar did an excellent job of acting and directing this movie and I am trying to locate a VHS (North American) Copy to add to my library.

I was ten-years-old, growing up during the war in England, when this, and other raids were being made against the Nazis.

In 1955, I had completed a three-year enlistment with the U.S. Marines, and therefore extremely interested in commando-style warfare.

"Cockleshell Heroes" was entertaining, even though Columbia Pictures capitalized on a suicide mission and glorified it, thus overlooking the rugged training, and horrible cost in lives.

Nonetheless, glory aside, the film triumphantly displays loyalty, dedication, that is the trademark of the Royal Marines. But after reading the first person account of the raid, you don't really appreciate what these heroic men did until you read the book.

The first misconception given in the film is that this was a commando unit, when in fact, the dozen selected, were regular Marines who volunteered. The hardships endured don't come across as hard in the movie as they do in the book. The loss of food, inability to move for hours at a stretch, not able to relieve themselves, are just a few of the oversights that would have shown the ruggedness of the mission.

However, even with some sour notes, I still like the film for showing the Marines as one of the best fighting forces in the world.