THE HEROES OF TELEMARK: MOD Blu-ray (Columbia/Benton Films, 1965) Sony Home Entertainment

A colorless, rather shameless attempt to repackage the ensemble thrills of the war epic, most recently then popularized in The Guns of Navarone (1961), director, Anthony Mann’s The Heroes of Telemark (1965) features an all-star cast, some breathtaking Norwegian scenery, lensed by Robert Krasker, and a memorable score from Malcolm Arnold. Curiously, the picture founders – rather badly – under the weight of its truthful scenario, based on two competing novels – Knut Haukelid’s all but forgotten 1954 thriller, Skis Against the Atom, and John Drummond’s 1962 page-turner, But for These Men. The mission, this time, is helmed by heavy hitters, Richard Harris and Kirk Douglas as Knut Straud and Dr. Rolf Pedersen respectively. Picture it – Norway, 1942 – cold, windswept and under the cruel dominion of Nazi Germany, in a mad race to develop the atomic bomb. Before the boom, however, must come the research into ‘heavy water’. Thus, when Pedersen and Straud learn of Hitler’s diabolical plans to annihilate the world with the ultimate weapon, they join a mercenary team, assigned to infiltrate the Nazi stronghold in Telemark. It’s a thankless mission, one fraught with peril at every twist and turn, and, no real proof that even if their sabotage succeeds it will impede the German war machine from developing the ultimate weapon by even one hour.

Heroes of Telemark is a one-premised actioner: if Hitler gets the bomb the war is over. This too might have worked in a jejune ‘race against time’ scenario, except that the screenplay by Ben Barzman and Ivan Moffat proceeds to politely churn its political plot with their uber-clever narrative stick, alas never to create the necessary chain reaction to generate megawatt thrills. Herein, it’s the procedural stuff that gets in the way – drawn out, methodically paced, and not terribly prepossessing. Ever try making a movie about critical thinking and slide-ruler calculations? Don’t! Worse, Barzman and Moffat cannot be true to history. And so, we get a lot of rearranging of the actual events to fit into 130-mins., crunched into a by-the-numbers series of vignettes that carry us from points ‘A’ to ‘B’, but never to engage us. Regrettably, Heroes of Telemark feels like a movie twice as long, but only half as good. Absent: any genuine attempt by Mann to maximize either the movie’s scope or sense of danger. Mundanity seeps in almost from the outset, the movie getting less and less alluring as the minutes wear on until all sincere hope for some grandly exhilarating adventure falls apart. It’s a mechanical exercise at best, seemingly stitched from annexed bits of history, but fed through the narrative ‘meat grinder’ with such pedestrian ennui, the results - while undeniably ample – are without aspirations to become a high-functioning classic yarn.

The real problem with Heroes of Telemark is that its characters are cookie-cutter stick figures with no soul – and, apart from their assigned task – seemingly without any altruistic motivations of their own to make us care about their mission. Adding conflict between Douglas’ Petersen and Harris’ Straud dilutes our appreciation for what sets out to be a sort of ‘buddy/buddy’ movie. Only at story’s end does the Barzman/Moffat screenplay afford Douglas’ Petersen a moment of critical introspection worth of Douglas’ star power and acting prowess; Petersen left to grapple with an ethical dilemma, certain to have far-reaching consequences for the world at large. But until this, we are left with a lot of ‘how to’ and more ‘tell’ than ‘show’, even if the backdrop offers some very pretty, snowbound Norwegian scenery; Krasker’s cinematography, always masterfully composed - a stunningly handsome counterbalance to the lackluster turgidity afflicting the plot.

This involves the Norwegian resistance’s sabotage of the Vemork Norsk Hydro plant, located in the town of Rjukan in the county of Telemark, Norway. Here, the Nazis have been hard at work, producing ‘heavy water’ – the precursor to atomic energy. Prof. Rolf Pedersen, a physicist, with seemingly no political affiliations is persuaded by local resistance leader, Knut Straud to join their fight against brutality. Shortly thereafter, both men are secretly taken to Britain where they critically examine the microfilmed plans of the hydroelectric plant, their crash course for a hatched plot to launch a full-scale assault for the Allies upon their return home. Alas, spies have infiltrated their organization. Thus, the Royal Engineers, meant to carry out these details, are instead murdered, leaving Pedersen and Straud to lead a contingent of ill-equipped saboteurs to conduct the raid. The plan works – superficially – but the Germans quickly shore up the devastation and proceed on schedule to their rendezvous with the atomic bomb. Their intent now shifts to shipping the ‘heavy water’ in steel drums, back to Berlin. Mercifully, Pedersen and Straud intervene yet again, this time, sinking the ferry carrying the drums in an unsalvageable part of the fjord.

Originally begun under the working title, ‘The Unknown Battle’, The Heroes of Telemark was actually scheduled for a much earlier release, made independently by Benton Film Productions, co-owned by Anthony Mann and producer, S. Benjamin Fisz, with joint funding supplied by Allied Artists and J. Arthur Rank Productions. Then, the cast was to have featured Stephen Boyd and Elke Sommer (actress, Ulla Jacobsson eventually assuming the thankless part of Petersen’s wife, Anna). Alas, signing Boyd to a contract before sufficient funding had been secured resulted in chronic delays that eventually soured Boyd on the prospect of partaking. Indeed, he had forfeited six other roles, believing his commitments were already established on this movie. When this proved not to be the case, Boyd withdrew and sued Mann for breach of contract. Meanwhile, Mann began to consider other actors, including Anthony Perkins to co-star opposite Cliff Robertson. Nothing ever came of this, and thus, Kirk Douglas and Richard Harris eventually came to the table – Douglas – the American influencer, and Harris, good for the British draw. While much of the movie was shot in Norway, early scenes depicting Pedersen and Straud’s escape were actually lensed around Poole and Hamworthy in Dorset with the TSS Roebuck standing in for the hijacked steamer.

Heroes of Telemark ought to be noted as the last ‘fully completed’ movie directed by Tony Mann, who died 2 years later of a massive heart attack while shooting, A Dandy in Aspic (1968). In retrospect, ‘Heroes’ is a flubbed attempt by Mann to meld that old-time Hollywood stylization in storytelling onto a new generation of war-themed actioner. The results, regrettably, are unsatisfactory, mostly because the Barzman/Moffatt screenplay dives rudderless into an ethical debate to drive a wedge between our two protagonists – one, eager to bomb the plant, resulting in 6000 civilian casualties, the other, slavishly devoted to a more peaceable way to interrupt the research and achieve the same results in their mission. This might have created a kinetic ‘adversarial’ energy. But instead, it merely delays the inevitable, intermittently to re-commit to a few choice war-themed ‘fight’ sequences and a thoroughly tepid ‘love story’ – a very clumsy crossbreed, indeed.

The Heroes of Telemark arrives on Blu-ray via Sony’s MOD program and has been given little consideration here. While the elements sport a competent master, nothing has been done to further correct the ravages of time, since baked in. So, no color correction, which might have helped cure flesh tones of perpetually leaning toward ‘piggy pink’, and anemic contrast levels, dull and muddy during night sequences.  We get age-related damage and speckling, edge halos, smudges and scratches.  I really do not see the point to releasing ANY movie to disc without first applying a bit of basic clean-up and color balancing to ready these surviving elements for their hi-def debut. Oh…right – money. You have to spend some to make some, folks. But I digress. Film grain here looks fairly indigenous to its source. Fine details too are mostly pleasing, especially in close-up. The 2.0 DTS audio never tests the boundaries of vintage sound recording and, in no way lives up to contemporary standards. Everything here is front and center – dialogue, score and effects, sounding tinny rather than spatially evolving to create an immersive environment. True to form for a Sony MOD release: there are NO extras. Bottom line: The Heroes of Telemark is a passable, but unremarkable WWII actioner. Not much else to say, except – pass, and be glad that you did.

FILM RATING (out of 5 – 5 being the best)

2.5

VIDEO/AUDIO

2.5

EXTRAS

0