OPERATION CROSSBOW: Blu-ray (MGM, 1965) Warner Archive
A whale of a tale, a hell of a cast, and all the production values and
chutzpah that MGM, even in its dwindling years of supremacy as ‘the king of
features’ could muster to exceptional effect, director, Michael Anderson’s Operation
Crossbow (released in 1965, and later, to be idiotically re-released under
the boring title, The Great Spy Mission) is an exhilarating actioner. If
it takes certain liberties with the last days of the war – and, predictably, the
screenplay by Emeric Pressburger (writing under the nom de plume, Richard Imrie),
Derry Quinn and Ray Rigby (cribbing from a near-forgotten chapter in WWII,
given flourish and finesse by Duilio Coletti and Vittoriano Petrilli) does, the
movie is nevertheless grounded in its ‘real-life’ mission, put forth by Prime
Minister Winston Churchill (played affectingly by Patrick Wymark) - to
infiltrate and destroy a Nazi stronghold, buried under 90 ft. of rock and
concrete, where German engineers and scientists are hard at work creating the
ultimate doomsday device. Ironically, virtually all of their research and
development was based on an American pioneer, whose romanticized view of ‘rocket
travel’ was largely overlooked, if not outright dismissed in his own homeland, later
purchased for barely ten cents a patent by Hitler’s war machine, eager to
capitalize on its earth-shattering technology.
Operation Crossbow – the movie – is the brainchild of William
Douglas-Home, brother of Alexander Frederick Douglas-Home, Britain’s brief
Prime Minister from October, 1963 to October, 1964. Evidently, the idea had
cache, garnering the interest of impresario, Carol Ponti, who wasted no time
acquiring the rights as a vehicle to star his wife, Sophia Loren. Indeed, when
MGM’s management tried to disentangle Loren’s commitment to the picture from
the property itself, they quickly surmised Ponti held all the cards in their
negotiations. It’s odd too, seeing Loren’s name above the title – and ahead of
a cast featuring American hottie du jour, George Peppard (1st Lt. John Curtis),
as well as such luminaries of British stage and screen: Trevor Howard (Prof.
Lindemann), John Mills (Gen. Boyd), Richard Todd (Wing Commander Kendall),
Richard Johnson (Duncan Sandys) and, Tom Courtenay (Robert Henshaw). It is even
a bit more disconcerting to find German actress, Lilli Palmer (the housekeeper,
Frieda), Brit-born Anthony Quayle (Bamford), and Austrians, Paul Henreid (Maj.
Gen. Ziemann), and Helmut Dantine (Gruppenführer Linz) shilling for the other
side in Nazi garb, ably assisted by German-born Barbara Rütting as renown aviatrix,
Hannah Reitsch – the Nazi’s Amelia Earhart.
Peppard may have signed on first - indeed, under his iron-clad
contractual obligations, he had no say in the matter - but Loren’s participation,
as the Italian ex-wife of German engineer, Erik van Ostamgen, a dead man being
impersonated by Peppard’s Curtis, was preordained by Ponti’s pull in the picture-making
biz. Reluctant to partake, Peppard nevertheless signed a new agreement with MGM
– making Operation Crossbow the first of a new 3-picture deal. Peppard,
who could be known as ‘a handful’, got on splendidly with Anderson, whom
he later assessed as “…one of those gifted directors who let you play it
your own way and only when you see (the) rushes do you realize you've been
doing it his way all along.” Michael Anderson’s reputation has largely been
overlooked in the intervening decades, despite his eclecticism on an enviable
spate of projects made both for his native Britain and in America. He marked his debut in 1949, co-directing (with
Peter Ustinov) a frothy rom/com, Private Angelo and then, flying solo on
a B-movie, Waterfront (1950) that garnered some high praise. For Associated British Picture Corporation, Anderson
marched out The Dam Busters (1955) – the highest grossing picture of the
year in Britain – and followed it up by directing Michael Todd’s Oscar-winning
and all-star travelogue, Around the World in 80 Days (1956) after its
original director, John Farrow was fired by Todd. By the end of the decade,
Anderson was at it again with another hand-me-down: The Wreck of the Mary
Deare (1959), taking over from Alfred Hitchcock. Operation Crossbow
catches Anderson at the tipping point of his creative powers and popularity, to
come to not barely a year later with tepid critical response to The Quiller
Memorandum (1966), and then, The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968 – and,
an expensive flop). Of his tenure in
movies, Anderson once reflected, “I like working in the extremes of either
sheer fantasy…or sheer reality. Crossbow (gave) me a wonderful
opportunity to dig into the past and into the truth. I researched Crossbow
like an FBI man on a murder case, flying to the States, France, Holland,
Belgium, Switzerland and Germany because the story concentrates just as much on
the Nazis' efforts to get their V rockets into the air as on the Allies'
efforts to bring them down. This isn't going to be one of those films where all
the German soldiers are square-headed idiots repeating 'Donner und Blitzen'.
The Crossbow mission was a vital mission and had it not come off we
might well have all been doing the goosestep now.”
In an attempt to keep production costs manageable, precisely at a time
when MGM’s corporate boardroom was being repeatedly rocked by a revolving roster
of ineffectual management, Operation Crossbow was shot entirely at MGM
British Studios (formerly Denham, and later to be known as Borehamwood until
being shuddered in 1970). In the days before WWII, Metro’s raja, L.B. Mayer had
viewed his early Anglo-American alliance as a lucrative way to use American
stars with British up-and-comers, to sell American movies abroad, and promote
British talent to American audiences. WWII put a definite period to this brief cultural
exchange. Although MGM continued to produce pictures there after the war, Borehamwood
was hardly the dynamo Mayer had envisioned before the conflict. Nevertheless,
the sets supervised by Elliot Scott and built at this British facility for Operation
Crossbow were among the most intricately conceived for any movie,
dominating two stages with a combined sq. footage of 30,000 ft.; Irwin Hillier’s
cinematography, extending them into perpetuity. Buoyed by a patriotic score by
Ron Goodwin, Operation Crossbow would also benefit from realistic props and
excellent location work; London’s defunct St. Pancras’ power station, subbing
in for the Nazi’s underground power house. For further authenticity, Anderson
insisted all of the German characters speak German – subtitled in English; a
decision co-star, Paul Henreid opposed, resulting in a good many of his scenes
being excised from the final cut. And if Henreid objected for artistic reasons,
he might also have noticed George Peppard’s faux German was utterly atrocious.
Nevertheless, Operation Crossbow had the good sense to keep many
of its ‘real life’ characters true to history, including Frederick Lindemann,
who served as the British government's leading scientific adviser in WWII, and,
Duncan Sandys - Winston Churchill’s son-in-law and Chairman of the War Cabinet
Committee for defense against Germany’s flying bombs and rockets. So too, did the characters of Hanna Reitsch and
Brit WAAF officer, Constance Babington Smith (the latter, portrayed by Sylvia
Syms) run true to form. For ‘artistic’ reasons, Peppard’s star turn was the
most embellished; his penultimate showdown in the bunkers of Peenemünde’s
secret A-10 rocket facility, indiscriminately laying waste to the Hun with a
stolen machine gun, becoming the picture’s action-packed piece de résistance. Operation Crossbow begins in earnest
in 1943, the Nazis toiling on their experimental V-1 flying bomb and V-2 rockets.
In the picture’s preamble, Churchill summons
Sandys to Downing Street for a debriefing of the mission at hand. Mercifully,
Churchill’s plans are abetted by chronic delays in the bomb’s evolution – each test,
prematurely crash landing, after listing severely to the right. Many test
pilots die as a result. But aviatrix, Hanna Reitsch has a theory about these
mechanical shifting miscalculations, and proves it by successfully landing the
V-1 prototype.
Despite opposition from Prof. Lindemann, Sandys is convinced by
intelligence and photo-reconnaissance reports that the Germans are fast developing
a new doomsday device. As V-1 bombers
begin to decimate London in the summer of 1944, Britain’s Bomber Command conducts
air raids on Peenemünde, determined to destroy all of the Nazi’s industrial
complex. Hitler relocates his factory underground and speeds up development of
the deadlier V-2. Now, Gen. Boyd, head of British intelligence unearths an insidious
plan to recruit engineers for an even more experimental prototype. Boyd decides
to plant three spies in the Nazi’s midst: one, American - Curtis, another Dutch
– Henshaw, and, finally a British spy – Phil Bradley (played by Jeremy Kemp),
all of whom speak fluent German and Dutch. The men are hastily trained and sent
to Germany via the Netherlands. Among the volunteers interviewed, though not
selected for this mission, is Bamford, later proven as an undercover double
agent working for the Nazi high command.
Regrettably, just before parachuting into Europe, Boyd learns Henshaw’s
cover as a Dutch sailor has been blown as the real sailor is wanted for the
murder of a young woman. Predictably, Henshaw is mistaken for the real McCoy
and arrested. Nevertheless, and to maintain his cover, Henshaw agrees to become
both an engineer and informant for the Nazis. Regrettably, Bamford, having
returned to Germany as a security officer, recognizes Henshaw from the
recruitment facility. Henshaw is
summarily tortured by the Gestapo, but refuses to divulge the particulars of
his mission. As a result, Bamford orders Henshaw’s execution – his body left in
a ditch behind the rubble of the city.
Meanwhile, Curtis faces his own dilemma after van Ostamgen’s estranged
wife, Nora, having heard a rumor her husband, whom she does not know is
actually dead, is staying at a local hotel, rushes into a faux reconciliation
(she needs his signature on divorce papers) and awkwardly encounters Curtis
staying in Eric’s room instead. Feigning a friendship with van Ostamgen to
throw Nora off the scent, the hotel’s housekeeper, Frieda lies about van
Ostamgen having already gone ahead on another length of his mission. Disappointed,
Nora is all set to believe this lie when Nazi officials arrive at the hotel to examine
everyone’s papers and passports. When Curtis must admit to being van Ostamgen
in front of Nora, she attempts to flee in terror but it detained by Frieda. Sometime
later, Nora is told the truth about Eric’s death and promises, after Curtis
forges van Ostamgen’s signature on her divorce decree, granting Nora full
custody of their children, to remain silent. Although Curtis fully believes
Nora, making Frieda promise to aid in her departure by train later that same
afternoon – shortly after his leave for the Nazi rocket-building stronghold,
Frieda returns to Nora and shoots her dead with a silencer.
Curtis and Bradley infiltrate the rocket-building plant; Bradley, as a
porter/cleaner. Curtis, however, is
brought to the forefront of the project by a former alliance with Prof. Hoffer
(Karel Štěpánek), a crucial member of the scientific team who, not having seen
the real van Ostamgen in some years, accepts Curtis completely as his
reasonable facsimile. Curtis is given the run of the place and afforded
high-level clearance to examine the scientific data and fix a problem with the
rocket engine vibrations delaying the V-2’s development. In the meantime,
Hitler launches daily assaults on London, killing many with his V-1 flying
bombs. Then, the V-2 attacks begin. In London, Churchill assembles nearly all
of the Royal Air Force for a planned attack on the Nazi stronghold – a race
against time, before the scientists can perfect the A-10 ‘New York’ rocket. It
is up to Curtis and Bradley to open the protective doors, thus revealing the
location of the hidden plant to the bombers fast approaching under the cover of
night. Suspecting something is afoot, Bamford investigates the identities of
all the scientists working at the plant, and realizes the photo of van Ostamgen
on file via the Telex, and, the one on the passport presented to them by Curtis
are not the same. Curtis and Bradley make a daring break. Alas, Bradley is
taken hostage; Bamford, threatening to kill him if Curtis does not surrender at
once. Instead, Bradley lunges at the microphone, urging Curtis to pull the R9
switch that will open the main launch doors – thus, exposing the plant to the
bombers flying overhead. Knowing their mission must not fail, and, hearing
Bamford shoot Bradley dead over the loudspeaker, Curtis now steals a machine
gun from a fallen Nazi officer and goes on a shooting spree, isolating himself
in the power house. He is mortally wounded by one of the plant workers, but
manages to delay their escape. The R9 doors are opened wide and the bombers
attack, decimating the plant and incinerating everyone inside it. The A-10 is likewise
destroyed. In London, Churchill congratulates Sandys on a mission well
accomplished; Sandys, pausing to honor the agents who died for their cause. Churchill concludes, without the RAF’s raid on
Peenemünde, the outcome of the war would have been very grim for the Allies
indeed.
Operation Crossbow is a beautifully made spy/thriller – expertly shot by
Erwin Hillier with exquisite Panavision compositions that engage the viewer in
all the picture’s vast and encompassing international espionage. The picture
was released in the U.K. in 70mm, but only made available in 35mm reduction
prints in the U.S. It would go on to run a whopping 19 weeks in three West End
cinemas for nearly six months, a minor coup for a non-roadshow presentation, and
ranking Operation Crossbow among the top 10 box office draws of 1965. In
retrospect, what impresses most about the movie is not its performances –
although, there are many fine ones to mesmerize and sustain the audience’s
attentions. Rather, Anderson’s superb integration of war-themed drama with an almost
documentary-esque passion for the period both sustains and sets the picture apart
as atypical WWII film fare. MGM’s impenetrable
level of high-key-lit gloss creates a slick and stylish affair. The story that
moves like gang-busters, particularly in its last act – a real roller coaster
ride!
In hindsight, Peppard gives the weakest performance here – mostly for his
clumsy and rudimentary smattering of German that would not even fool a 10th
Grader, much less the elite of Hitler’s Reich. Peppard, who first came to notice on TV, and quickly
parlayed his handsome looks into a movie career to include such notables as Home
from the Hill (1960) and, Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), would reach
the zenith of his film career barely a year later, costarring in the Cinerama
all-star colossus, How the West Was Won (1962), and as elephantine, if
hardly as satisfying, The Carpetbaggers (1964) at 150-minutes, a massive
box office bell-ringer for the year. Arrogance likely proved Peppard’s
downfall. He once told an interviewer that his performances ‘bored’ him;
a snub to Hollywood’s shortsightedness in general for seemingly denying him in
meatier roles. And despite his own distinction, that he was not a ‘star’
but an ‘actor’ – another jab under the industry’s ribs for their
overriding preference for easily identifiable personalities, after Operation
Crossbow, Peppard’s career repeatedly stalled. He was meant to headline in a film adaptation
of the Broadway smash, Merrily We Roll Along. But it never materialized.
He walked off the set of Sands of the Kalahari (1965) after only a few
days shooting – a decision to brand him as ‘difficult’. His full-immersion in
the role of a Prussian aristocrat flying during WWI in The Blue Max (1966)
was met with indifference by the critics. By the mid-70’s, Peppard had appeared
in a string of movies of questionable merit. These all but eroded his
reputation as an A-list actor. Financially, television work filled this void,
but it proved as elusive for ever-lasting success, until 1982’s type-casting as
the leader of a troop of mercenaries in the runaway hit franchise, The
A-Team.
Operation Crossbow represents Peppard at the top of the heap, if hardly
at the pinnacle of his powers. The
picture is more noteworthy today for its skillful storytelling, its superb
British cast, and its exceptional pictorial value. And now, Warner Archive
(WAC) debuts Operation Crossbow on Blu-ray with stellar results. WAC is
a tad unclear as to the source used in their remastering efforts. As previously
stated, Operation Crossbow received a limited engagement in 70mm. The aspect
ratio here is 2:35.1 which would suggest 35mm Panavision reduction prints were
used to remaster this image, as 70mm Super Panavision sports an aspect ratio of
2.20:1. However, the image here is so incredibly refined, and yields such a myriad
of goodies – exceptional clarity and contrast, a light smattering of film grain
looking very indigenous to its source, and outstanding color reproduction, one
could easily assume 70mm elements were involved somehow. Perhaps – perhaps not.
The other factor leading me to deduce 70mm elements have somehow been used in
this remastering effort is the sound. The 70mm engagement sported 6-tracks of
stereophonic sound. The U.S. release in 35mm was mono. This Blu-ray is 5.1 DTS
and delivers a magnificent aural experience to match the breathtaking visuals.
So, prepare to be astounded. Your viewing pleasure has been assured by the good
people at WB! Tragically, the only extra here is a careworn short featurette on
the real Operation Crossbow, shot in 1.33:1 and in B&W, utilizing
cropped clips from the movie, along with archival newsreel footage. We also get
a theatrical trailer. Bottom line: great film – perfect looking disc. What’s
not to love? Very – VERY – highly recommended!
FILM RATING (out of 5 – 5 being the best)
4.5
VIDEO/AUDIO
5+
EXTRAS
1
Comments