Operation Crossbow (1965)
Directed by Michael Anderson

Plot Summary: Allied agents attempt to infiltrate the Nazis' rocket research site. This is the story of the methods used to defeat Hitler's V1 (doodlebug) and V2 (rocket) "revenge weapons" towards the end of the second world war. Even though the Nazis were in retreat these weapons could have turned their defeat into victory. The film includes references to Hanna Reitsch, who in real life was the world's first female test pilot and really did fly some of the first 'flying bombs.She was the only woman ever to be awarded the Iron Cross and Luftwaffe Diamond Clasp.

Interest in the history of German rocket development is not recommended for enjoying this movie, as many details are presented wrongly.

Most people who were killed in the RAF Bomber Command raid on Peenemünde in August 1943 were prisoners of war and forced labour, but the movie suggests all were top German officials who received a military burial. RAF Bomber Command was a huge mass (the infamous bomber stream) and was easily detected by German air defence radars, so that its attacks were preceded by air raid warnings a couple of hours in advance, and they could not make a surprise attack as shown in the movie.

The huge underground plant to where the production (but not testing) of V-2 rockets was transferred later, existed in reality, indeed, but it was never seriously bombed. The first V-2 used in action was aimed at Paris, not London.

On the positive side, however, the movie shows rather accurately what the impact of a V-2 looked and sounded like, its supersonic approach rumble arriving only after the explosion.

The movie's basic outline concerns the development of the German V-1 and V-2 weapons and the subsequent allied attempt to infiltrate the underground factories at Peenemünde, where most of these these so-called `Vergeltungswaffen' ('Vengeance' weapons) were assembled

Richard Anderson is the British government top official who puts a team together- Peppard, Kemp and Courtenay- posing as Dutch engineers volunteering to work for the Reich.

The movie runs just under 2 hours, and the first half hour is dedicated to setting the stage. The leads aren't even introduced for 30 minutes, and they only appear in about half of the film total.

As the spy story itself is undoubtedly heavily fictionalised the rest is partly historically accurate. The movie has an elaborate script featuring a plot full of twists and loopholes instead of relying on big battle scenes or derring-do, which is probably the reason why it was ignored by the public and critics alike on its release. Moviegoers were expecting some straightforward war epic as "The battle of the Bulge", "The Heroes of Telemark" or "Von Ryan's Express", all released in 1965, with plenty of action but seriously lacking in the historic credibility department.

Producer Carlo Ponti's wife, Sophia Loren, is on hand for a really pointless part. She plays the wife of the scientist Peppard is impersonating, and complicates matters for a time until she is simply shot by the resistance. She plays this sappy role to the core, but it's still a waste of talent. She was given this cameo roll simply to include her name in the cast as a box office draw. Trevor Howard (VON RYAN'S EXPRESS) has a horrendous role as a skeptical scientist. It's easily his worst acting role ever.

The actors are solid but watch out for Anthony Quayle as an unusually shrewd German counterintelligence officer and the fact that some of the main stars get killed halfway through the movie. Special effects in recreating the V-weapons and their subsequent effect on London are, definitly for that time, very well executed.

There are several subplots, one involving Sophia Loren, but most interesting is the one with the famous female Nazi test-pilot Hannah Reitsch (Barbara Rütting), as what must be the only time she is personified on the big screen. The movie shows her test flying the V1, which was no more then a flying bomb but the Germans first wanted to use it as some sort of semi-kamikaze contraption, with the pilot bailing out at the last minute. After several killed pilots they wisely opted for a simple unmanned version. These were launched en masse at London and other already liberated European cities. Incidentally, the biopic `The Glen Miller Story' (1954) has a scene with Miller's orchestra playing while being under attack from a V1. Quite another beast was the V2, a real ballistic missile and a 'wonder' weapon if there ever was one. It was capable of going up in to the stratosphere reaching speeds of up to mach 2 and at that time impossible to detected by radar or shoot down. A few hundred were launched and did some damage to major supply lines (especially the vital Belgian port of Antwerp) but never seriously endangered the allied offensives. The later ICBM's carrying nuclear warheads are all based on the V2.

Finally the produces must have realised they had to put some action sequences in to justify the star cast and budget resulting in a very Bondlike action sequence trying to prevent, with the help of Bomber Command, a test flight of an improved V2 capable of reaching New York (!).

The British actually bombed Peenemünde several times, which seriously delayed construction time and was instrumental in moving almost the whole plant underground (as was most German heavy industry after 1943).

British Director Michael Anderson is best-known for another WWII tale `The Dam Busters', also the SF-epic `Logan's Run' and the TV-series `The Martian Chronicles' He was active until 2000, still turning out the occasional TV-movie.

George Peppard and Jeremy Kemp would team up again the following year in the spectacular `The Blue Max' this time not involving rockets but WWI flying crates.

See Operation Crossbow in its original Cinemascope format. Sadly the BBC choose to air in the so-called 'pan-and-scan'version, seriously harming the colour and perspective.

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