They Who Dare

This film will be of great interest to WW2 Aviation enthusiasts as it features several authentic Italian Savoia - Marchetti S.M. 79 three - motor bombers. These aircraft were provided by the Lebanese Air Force which was the last operator of the type.

I would make an educated guess that this film was shot on Cyprus as there is an abundance of British Army trucks and armoured cars modified and painted to resemble German vehicles. A Bristol Beaufighter aircraft can also be briefly glimpsed during the airfield attack sequence.

The special effects ,such as model aircraft being blown up, are not up to modern standards but they are no worse than other 1950s war movies such as "The Dambusters".

Not sure what I expected from this one. Dirk Bogarde is my favorite actor and I have had pleasant encounters with Milestone as well. Here the latter screws up on multiple occasions.

First off the cinematography is way too light and some of the shots are rather clumsy. The script could be faltered as well. And some of the acting, especially from the one playing a character who keeps singing this awful and quite annoying tune.

Mind you it's not bad. Bogarde's performance makes it worth while. But really if it hadn't been for him this would have been below mediocrity. It got a few strong moments and whenever Bogarde is on screen you nearly forget everything else that has been going on.

I will not recommend this but overall it was OK. I think the casting apartment did some horrible choices though.

The veteran director Lewis Milestone, who made the classic "All Quiet on the Western Front", takes on a British World War II picture with this exciting movie. It's notable for being shot in Technicolor, with outstanding location photography by Wilkie Cooper, differentiating it from so many black & white movies about the war.

Dirk Bogarde and Denholm Elliott lead a dozen men on a dangerous mission to blow up two airfields located on the Italian & German occupied Greek island of Rhodes. It's not to be accomplished as an air raid but by Dirk's men planting bombs by hand, arriving and hoping to escape by submarine.

Milestone sustains considerable suspense as we wonder who might survey the mission, and an ensemble cast does a convincing job of keeping the dialogue lively. Not very well-known in its genre but well worth watching.

A British war drama; A story about a band of British commandos assigned to sabotage two Nazi outposts in the Aegean. This film is based on the British military mission Operation Anglo during World War II, an inspiring tale of a Special Boat Service attempt to disrupt the Luftwaffe from threatening Allied forces in Egypt. However, the film lacks thrills and is a rather predictable men-on-mission tale. Danger and action come without much suspense, and the film has a throwaway ending. Dirk Bogarde seems miscast as the leader of a deadly commando unit, and the rest of the cast, who perform well, are poorly served by sloppy dialogue. To its credit, the action is convincing, it has some attractive locations, and the colour and light of the setting are richly captured.

A SAS team is sent to Rhodes to sabotage enemies airfields. They bring along four locals (two guides and two officers) and they all get into a mighty mess.

Unfortunately, some of the drama seems contrived and suspenseful situations seem created to add a pep to an otherwise boring plot.

As in any decent war movie, don't expect everybody to survive.