Exciting WWII military thriller including a moving final and overwhelming pyrotechnics . This interesting picture packs big stars , intrigue , action packed , suspense and historic deeds . It deals with a trio (George Peppard , Tom Courtneay, Jeremy Kemp) of Allied agents are assigned by high command (John Mills , Richard Johnson , Trevor Howard , Richard Todd , Maurice Denham) to destroy a Nazi munitions installation . They attempt to infiltrate the Nazis' rocket research site. Their mission is complicated by appearing a wife (Sophia Loren) , one traitor and several dangers .
Thrilling war film in which there are nail-biting action scenes , drama , intrigue , explosion , suspenseful set pieces and almost overloaded with stars . The movie gets a simple emotional appeal , professionalism and being rightly shot . This film's title is the same code-name for the real World War II spy mission, which was code-named "Crossbow". After the Second World War, because of this movie's title, reference to these events popularized them as being "Operation Crossbow" . This blazing WWII yarn pulled the public into cinemas in droves when it was first released . Director Michael Anderson steered skillfully through its numerous twists . Despite receiving top billing , Sophia Loren only appears in a extended cameo role ; producer Carlo Ponti, Loren's husband, believed his wife's popularity in the United States would boost the film's chances at the box office and had her billed accordingly . Filmed on splashy color and brilliant cinematography by cameraman Erwin Hillier . Breathtaking as well as evocative musical score by Ron Goodwin . Excellent production design and nice special effects , for the section of the film where RAF Bomber Command raid the Peenemunde rocket research site the producers used the Avro Lancaster PA474 used by the Cranfield institute of technology . For the scene in which a street is wiped out by a V-2, the filmmakers actually destroyed a row of flats which were slated for demolition , the shot was, necessarily, done in one take.
This movie is based on historical events , as there appears the character of Hannah Reitsch, played by Barbara Rütting , was a real-life person . Reitsch was a German aviatrix and at one time Adolf Hitler's own personal pilot. During the Battle of Berlin, Reitsch attempted to persuade Hitler to escape from the city in a small lightweight Fieseler Storch airplane . Furthermore , appears Duncan Sandys, a character in this movie played by Richard Johnson, was a real-life person ; Sandys was Chairman of the British War Cabinet Committee for the Defence against German rockets and flying bombs , he was the son-in-law of British wartime prime minister, Winston Churchill and was wounded during the Second World War in Norway in 1941 which resulted in him having a permanent limp . The motion picture was professionally directed by Michael Anderson . He was a craftsman with reputation for making a variety of commercial and amusing films , it's well demonstrated in ¨Operation Crossbow¨. His films from 1953-58 were all quite well received , his cycle ended with the best of them , the suspense , thriller ,¨Chase a crooked shadow¨ . Latterly resident in Canada , he has continued to direct , mainly in lower-profile projects and TV adventure movies . Anderson has filmed all kind of genres as cinema as TV ; such as Adventure : ¨Around the world in 80 days¨ , ¨Doc Savage¨ , ¨The sea Wolf¨ , ¨20.000 leagues under the sea¨ ; Sci-Fi : ¨Logan's run¨, ¨The martian chronicles¨ , ¨Milennium¨ ; Thriller: ¨The Quiller Memorandum , ¨Dominique is dead¨ , ¨The naked edge¨ , The wreck of the Mary Deare¨ , ¨Murder by phone¨ and Wartime : ¨Battle hell¨, ¨Shake hands with the devil¨, Damm Busters¨ and of course , ¨Operation Crossbow¨ .
