Saturday Night Cinema: The Heroes of Telemark

3

Tonight’s Saturday Night Cinema classic is a British 1965 Eastman Color war film directed by Anthony Mann, Heroes of Telemark, staring the great Kirk Douglas, this time as a 20th Century Viking in a portrayal of the true story of the desperate efforts to prevent the Nazis from developing an Atomic bomb. It was all a close-run thing – captured German uranium was used to assemble the Nagasaki bomb. This tale of espionage and adventure set during World War II is inspired by a true story.

https://youtu.be/axBiR8ZipPM

Screen: ‘Heroes of Telemark’ Opens:Film of Norwegian War Feat Is Engrossing Neighborhoods Show Well Done Western
By Bosley Crowther, NY Times, March 10, 1966

Story continues below advertisement

SO long as we must have war films—and war films we evidently must have, so long as there is an audience that can be attracted to them —would they might all be as immaculate and scenically beautiful as “The Heroes of Telemark,” which opened in neighborhood theaters yesterday.

This partly historical telling of the story of a daring attack by Norwegian saboteurs and resistance fighters upon a Nazi heavy water plant (factory of fissionable material) tucked away in the mountains of Norway in World War II is more a pure tale of bold adventure than a glorification of warfare and death. It has some of the finest winter scenery and some of the most beautiful shots of skiing that we’ve seen in a fictional color film.

There are brilliant and breathtaking sequences of the gathering of the small attacking force in the empty snowfields of the jagged mountains, of its sneaking through forests and deep snows up to the plant (which bears a striking resemblance to the descriptions of the Norsk Hydro hydrogen electrolysis plant in Vemork, which was attacked), of assault and dynamiting and flight from the Nazis through the snow.

The skillfully used color cameras of Robert Krasker and Gil Woxholt, who shot the film, mainly on location in Norway, under the tight direction of Anthony Mann, give the whole thing a feeling not only of actuality but of the strange sort of poetic aura that surrounded so many of the marginal adventures in the war.

Such little details as a red light piercing the blue-gray haze of winter dusk as the men approach the guarded factory or a shot of a ferryboat on an inland fjord, veiled in mist, give the viewer much more of a sense of the incongruity and irony of war in an apparently peaceful occupied country than any amount of shooting and shedding of blood.

Fortunately there’s little of that in this picture. It is energized mainly by the tension of stealth and suspense, and just a wee bit of manly personal conflict between Kirk Douglas and Richard Harris as the joint leaders of the expedition, when they pull at odds for a time. Their character appear to be modeled fairly cloesly (and interwovenly) upon the real-life character of Claus Helberg and Knut Haugland, who were in that original attack on the plant at Vemork, and one of whom, Knut, later blew up the Lake Tinnsjo ferryboat

Others who participate convincingly as characters in a straight adventure yarn are Ulla Jacobsson as the ex-wife and underground assistant of the character Mr. Douglas plays; Michael Redgrave as her underground uncle, Roy Dotrice as a Quisling spy and David Weston as one of the most fervid and unfortunate of the saboteurs.

There is a bit, but not too much of the usual rah-rah and fakery of war films in this show. Its punch derives mainly from anxiety and from the visual excitement of the genuine out-of-doors.

THE HEROES OF TELEMARK, screenplay by Ivan Moffat and Ben Barzman; directed by Anthony Mann; produced by S. Benjamin Fisz. A Benton Films production presented by Columbia Pictures. At neighborhood theaters. Running time: 131 minutes.
Dr. Rolf Redersen . . . . . Kirk Douglas
Knut Straud . . . . . Richard Harris
Anna . . . . . Ulla Jacobsson
Uncle . . . . . Michael Redgrave
Arne . . . . . David Weston
Major Frick . . . . . Anton Diffring
Terboven . . . . . Eric Porter
Colonel Wilkinson . . . . . Mervyn Johns
Sigrid . . . . . Jennifer Hilary
Jensen (The Mysterious Stranger) . . . . . Roy Dotrice
Professor Logan . . . . . Barry Jones
Nilssen . . . . . Ralph Michael

The Truth Must be Told

Your contribution supports independent journalism

Please take a moment to consider this. Now, more than ever, people are reading Geller Report for news they won't get anywhere else. But advertising revenues have all but disappeared. Google Adsense is the online advertising monopoly and they have banned us. Social media giants like Facebook and Twitter have blocked and shadow-banned our accounts. But we won't put up a paywall. Because never has the free world needed independent journalism more.

Everyone who reads our reporting knows the Geller Report covers the news the media won't. We cannot do our ground-breaking report without your support. We must continue to report on the global jihad and the left's war on freedom. Our readers’ contributions make that possible.

Geller Report's independent, investigative journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we believe our work is critical in the fight for freedom and because it is your fight, too.

Please contribute here.

or

Make a monthly commitment to support The Geller Report – choose the option that suits you best.

Quick note: We cannot do this without your support. Fact. Our work is made possible by you and only you. We receive no grants, government handouts, or major funding. Tech giants are shutting us down. You know this. Twitter, LinkedIn, Google Adsense, Pinterest permanently banned us. Facebook, Google search et al have shadow-banned, suspended and deleted us from your news feeds. They are disappearing us. But we are here.

Subscribe to Geller Report newsletter here— it’s free and it’s essential NOW when informed decision making and opinion is essential to America's survival. Share our posts on your social channels and with your email contacts. Fight the great fight.

Follow Pamela Geller on Gettr. I am there. click here.

Follow Pamela Geller on
Trump's social media platform, Truth Social. It's open and free.

Remember, YOU make the work possible. If you can, please contribute to Geller Report.

Join The Conversation. Leave a Comment.

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spammy or unhelpful, click the - symbol under the comment to let us know. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

If you would like to join the conversation, but don't have an account, you can sign up for one right here.

If you are having problems leaving a comment, it's likely because you are using an ad blocker, something that break ads, of course, but also breaks the comments section of our site. If you are using an ad blocker, and would like to share your thoughts, please disable your ad blocker. We look forward to seeing your comments below.

0 0 votes
Article Rating
3 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Sauer Thirtyeight
Sauer Thirtyeight
6 years ago

“– captured German uranium was used to assemble the Nagasaki bomb. ”

That’s one of the silliest things I’ve ever heard.

Sonyajjohnson
Sonyajjohnson
6 years ago

Google is paying 97$ per hour! Work for few hours and have longer with friends & family! !pa261d:
On tuesday I got a great new Land Rover Range Rover from having earned $8752 this last four weeks.. Its the most-financialy rewarding I’ve had.. It sounds unbelievable but you wont forgive yourself if you don’t check it
!pa261d:
➽➽
➽➽;➽➽ http://GoogleFinancialJobsCash261OfficePagesGetPay$97Hour ★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★✫★★:::::!pa261l..,..

Poppey
Poppey
6 years ago

Like war films even today, the producers feel they must place an American into the plot or lead role in order for American audiences to go watch it thus protecting their investment.

This one, The Guns of Navarone, taking the enigma decoding machine from a sinking abandoned U boat in the Atlantic, Where Eagles dare the list is extensive but the few who know aren’t deceived. Interestingly the British actor Anthony Quayle in The Guns of Navarone was an actual British wartime Commando raiding German and Italian held islands in the Aegean sea from small fishing boats, the role he played in that film.

Ripping yarn though.

Sponsored
Geller Report
Thanks for sharing!