2000 British troops stuck on the tiny island of Caros. As the Axis High Command from Berlin had almost bullied Turkey into coming into the war on their side. The men on Caros were doomed unless Allied Help reached them in time (6 days to be precise..).
Now here’s the problem: Two newly designed radar controlled guns on the nearby island of Navarone blocked the only passage to and from the island... Guns too powerful for any allied power to hit... As bloodily explained by Sq. Leader Barnsby (Richard Harris, who I would say excelled in his about 2 and a half minute appearance with a bloody Australian tinge)
Cmdr. Jensen (James Robertson Justice, who again is brilliant in the voice over and the small role as a philosopher commodore...) then orders a team under Major Franklin Roy to sabotage the guns.
The Team
Major Franklin Roy: Anthony Quayle... As Mallory says ’’a man who has still to prove to himself that he is a hero.’’ Well I would say... He rides on his luck a lil too much hoping to be a general one day...
Captain Keith Mallory: Gregory Peck... A captain in the British Army... long overdue for promotion... proficient in Greek, German as he is in mountain climbing... A man who never wanted to be a part of the mission.
Kernel Andrea Stavros: Anthony Quinn... A greek resistance fighter n a really street smart man and most definitely my most loved character of this great film(based on a novel by Alistair Maclean). He was a Kernel of a greek regiment before he encountered battle and personal misfortune...Always lookin’ to be ahead of Mallory though he respects him for his courage and valour...
Corporal Miller: David Niven... A professor of chemistry in private life and an absolute genius at explosives... He is supremely egoistic and never wants Mallory incharge of the team and is looking for a chance to get even with him.
Private Brown: The Butcher of Barcelona... Stanley Baker... He is a man who has decided to make private peace in the pretext that he has been fighting for too long... A genius at radios and mechanical stuff.
Private Spyro Pappadimos: James Darren... Another greek resistance fighter.... whose father is the Chief of Resistance in Navarone and sent the boy to America 10 years ago to get an education... He instead joined the war...
The six men set out to achieve something improbable but not impossible as Jensen himself says ’’sometimes in war people pull out the most extraordinary deeds in the midst of absolute insanity’’... Though there is insanity all around the performances by the lead cast is absolutely sane and of top-rate that justs sends this film catapulting to an all-time classic status rather than just being recognised as a war-classic...
For a length of 2:30 hours this seemed to be a really long English film... and though interested in WWII... I was never interested in how the Allies won..... and more so I thought I would hate to see the Axis lose.... Sure I did see them lose but what I saw was a triumph of cinema....For a 1931 film everything from the effects to the camerawork seems absolutely outstanding... The expressions and the dialogue delivery seem to be just perfect with every scene having its own contribution to the film and the saga of the men....
There are also some amazing quotes... Miller is especially great when he gives his witty comments (and not the least that last comment when he tells Mallory ’’Come down of that cross of yours, close your eyes, think of England and pull the trigger’’). Stavros is also great with his sense of sensing.... and also great is the love angle they introduced between Irene Papas (on screen as Maria Pappadimos, Spyro’s sister) and him of course....
All in all a great film... I cant say no more than the fact that its been two weeks since I first saw this film.... and in this period I would have seen this 15 times on count... not to say I am not seeing anythin’ else but now it is like whenever I am bored or watched something as unwatchable as Waterloo or The Untouchables... I get back to GON
All my life is in brackets...
Imperious but not immortal...