JamesM

Two Terence Young directed, Cubby Broccoli-Irving Allen produced, Richard Maibaum scripted WWII adventure films featuring Leo Genn are being released by DDHE on 05/11/07.

Steve Crook

Is that 11 May or 5 November?

The Red Beret (1953) is the thinly disguised true story of some of the early raids carried out by the Parachute Regiment in WWII. Alan Ladd is the focus, playing a Canadian because the US hadn't joined the war by then, and Ladd is the main box office attraction.

The first part of the story based on the wartime raid on the German radar station at Bruneval. The raid was a combined services operation and the 2nd Battalion of the 1st Parachute Brigade was led by Major 'John Frost' (Major Snow in the film, played by Leo Genn). An RAF radar expert, Flight Sergeant C.W.H. Cox (Sergeant Box in the film, I said it was thinly disguised) accompanied the raiders to tell them what to take back to England.

The second part sees the Paras on a raid behind enemy lines in Tunisia. As in the real thing, the raid itself was a success but then they had difficulty getting back to their own lines. In the film they have Major Snow getting wounded by a mortar round. In reality John Frost got back from this one OK, and from the landing on Sicily. It was at Arnhem that he was finally wounded by a mortar round after he'd led the small force that actually got to the "Bridge too far".

The plan had envisioned the whole division of 9,000 men holding the bridge for two days until XXX Corps got there. John Frost and 700 other men held the bridge for 3-4 days!

Steve

Windthrop

Some of those Alan Ladd britflicks from the '50s are entertainingly bad - infact that goes for alot of the movies made in this country with Amaricans in the leads (though mostly they were stars on the slide like Ladd and Victor Mature). Favorite one of the Ladd crop is 'The Black Knight' where two centuries of English history are shoehorned into one time period and Stonehenge Cathedral is created !

Ladd is too old and fat to play the young village smithy !

orpheum

The Red Berets was made just after Shane,and from then on it was all downhill for our pintsize hero and his elevator shoes

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batman

At least 'Red Beret' has Stanley Baker in it.

Bats.

orpheum

But not his voice.he was dubbed

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Lord Brett

Apparently it depends on if you are watching a print made for export or not. It'll be intersting to see what's on the DDHE version. I believe there's an old thread on this subject.

Not that bad a film, though I prefer Hell Below Zero, and it's the opriginal source of the scene in From Russia with Love where Bond uses a flare gun to blow up oil cans floating on the water. In the version here it's mines blown up using a bazooka, which doesn't seem as likely.

batman

In the VHS version I saw of Red Beret Stanley was dubbed .... I think Max was dubbed in Madness of the Heart as well. Must be something about my favourite actors and the French accent!

Hell Below Zero is a great film and shows just what a huge business whaling was at that time, even for British whalers. It's a pity Stanley didn't get more screen time as he is far more interesting to watch than Mr Ladd.

Last time they showed this on TV I taped it, only for Mrs Bat to tape over the last 45 minutes .... I was not a happy Bat!

Bats .

orpheum

bet you had a whale of a time

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Windthrop

The movie from that stable Ive always wanted to see is 'Interpol' cos its supposed to predate the Bond flicks and, according to old 'alliwell, Trevor Howard's performance is 'electrifying'