Ill Met by Moonlight (1957) aka Night Ambush – Unbelievable but true
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Genre – War Movie (true story)
Time: 1 Hours 30 minutes
Platform: You Tube
Director: Michael Powell, Emrich Pressburger
Powell and Pressburger, forged their collaboration during World War 2, as they produced war propaganda films, including the wartime classic 49th Parallel (1941). Their films epitomize British cinema and the English way of life. Nothing screams “English” more than a bold mission to capture a German General in occupied Crete, showcasing the eccentricity the English take pride in.
The Battle of Crete occurred from May 20 to June 1, 1941. For the first time in history, an island was to be captured in an airborne operation, by the elite German paratroopers, the Fallschirmjaeger. The paratroopers faced a casualty rate of nearly 70% because of strong British defences and were low on food and ammunition. In an incredible mistake attributed to “Fog of War”, the British abandoned Heraklion airport, the main focus of the airborne operation, which allowed German paratroopers to be swiftly reinforced by air-landed troops at the airport. The British and their Greek Allies withdrew from the island. Those who remained back faced a harsh German occupation. To raise the morale of the local Cretans, the British decided to hit back with an audacious operation – kidnap the German commander on the island.
The plan was postponed for one reason or other and finally was put into action in April 1944, three years later. Simply put, the British “kidnappers ” managed to kidnap the German Commander General Heinrich Kreipe without firing a single shot. Kreipe and his British captors then went on a three-week trek of the island, while being hotly pursued by the Germans. Finally, the British team and their captors were ex filtrated off the island by a British ship.
The film remains true to the story except for some minor differences which can be ignored and attributed to “British style masala”. Dirk Bogarde plays Major Patrick Leigh Fermor, the man who led the team. (In the early 1970s, General Kreipe and his captor met for a TV show). The film was shot in Southern France and Italy, which easily passed off as the razor mountain-like landscape of Crete.
The operation in the movie is depicted as a joyful picnic; this is due to the 1950s mentality of showing the British as “clever” victors and the Germans as fools which was hardly the case in real life. Lead actor Dirk Bogarde’s somewhat self indulgent , foppish performance also doesn’t help.
As expected, after Kreipe’s kidnapping, the Cretan locals faced heavy punishment, including wholesale destruction of villages that were thought to have aided the British team.Naturally, the film does not depict this, as it only presented a British success.
In the overall scheme of things, the kidnapping hardly an operational impact as Kreipe was replaced by a more ruthless German Commander. Crete became a backwater, was bypassed to rot , while the Allies focused on the Italian and Normandy operations. Yet the overall audacity of the operation cannot be denied and it remains the ONLY operation during WW2 where a German commander was kidnapped successfully (there were unsuccessful operations against Rommel) and brought back safely to Allied lines.
Real History/ Historical Background – 4 out of 5
Script – 3 out of 5
Story – 4 out of 5
Direction – 4 out of 5
Photography – 4 out of 5
Total – 3.8 out of 5