633 Squadron

"The greatest adventure since men fought on earth - or flew over it!"

1964 1h 42m EN

😐

6.2

MID

★6.2TMDB · 79

DramaWar

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

When Norwegian resistance leader Lieutenant Erik Bergman reports the location of a German V-2 rocket fuel plant, the Royal Air Force's 633 Squadron is assigned the mission to destroy it. The plant is in a seemingly-impregnable location beneath an overhanging cliff at the end of a long, narrow fjord lined with anti-aircraft guns. The only way to destroy the plant is by collapsing the cliff on top of it.

“The greatest adventure since men fought on earth - or flew over it!”

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Cast

Cliff Robertson
Wing Commander Roy Grant
George Chakiris
Lieutenant Erik Bergman
Maria Perschy
Hilde Bergman
Harry Andrews
Air Vice-Marshal Davis
Donald Houston
Group Captain Don Barrett
Michael Goodliffe
Squadron Leader Frank Adams
John Meillon
Flight Lieutenant Gillibrand
John Bonney
Flight Lieutenant Scott

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Walter Grauman
Writers: Howard E. Koch, James Clavell
Languages: English
Countries: United Kingdom, United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

62 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: United Kingdom, United States of America.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Walter Grauman, shot by Edward Scaife. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Bert Bates shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Cliff Robertson and George Chakiris and Maria Perschy carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "The greatest adventure since men fought on earth - or flew over it!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0057811 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

Only 79 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Walter Grauman directs. Edward Scaife behind the camera. Bert Bates cuts. Produced in United Kingdom, United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

162 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
2International production across 2 countries: United Kingdom, United States of America.
3Directed by Walter Grauman, shot by Edward Scaife. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Editor Bert Bates shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
5Cliff Robertson and George Chakiris and Maria Perschy carry the top of the cast.
6Marketing tagline: "The greatest adventure since men fought on earth - or flew over it!".
7IMDB entry: tt0057811 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
8Only 79 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography: Edward Scaife
Editing: Bert Bates
Production design: Michael Stringer
Runtime: 102 min · 1h 42m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG
IMDB: 633 Squadron (1964)

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Walter Grauman

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What people are saying

John Chard2018-12-24
★ 7/10
Fall in for the blood pumping joy of De Havilland's Mosquitoes. A WW2 squadron of Mosquito bombers are training for a perilous mission to bomb a cliff face in Norway; with the aim to bring the cliff tumbling down on the German arms factory below it. 633 Squadron may not be a film for the War enthusiast purists? But the work done here to make this film a winner should never be understated. In this day and age it's often forgotten how these type of film's relied on good aerial photography, deft model work, and a stirring score. All of which this picture contains, thus making 633 Squadron more than a wet day crowd pleaser. Sure the intermittent scenes between the training sequences and the actual mission are mere filler, and the subplots obviously halt the flow of the movie (hello romance, hello sacrifice clichés); but what they do do is give a sort of added feel to the proceedings come the mission at the end. We do after all have to have some sort of affinity with the characters putting their lives at risk, and we get that here courtesy of a well written first half. Also boasting (in my opinion naturally) one of the greatest scores used in a War movie, courtesy of Ron Goodwin, the film triumphs because the ending is all that you hope for. In truth it's never in doubt given the build up we are given (and being the normality for many genre pieces), but with little dashes of poignancy and slivers of adrenalin rushes, the impact is akin to a jingoistic chest thudding. Besides which, if you can't get a tingle on your neck watching the Mosquitoes fly over the Norwegian fjord? Well you got no blood in your body say I. 7/10
CinemaSerf2024-12-02
★ 6/10
We probably ought to bear in mind that this film was designed for success at the American box office, so there is quite a lot of theatrical licence taken with this telling of the story of an RAF squadron tasked with the destruction of a Nazi rocket fuel factory built deep into a Norwegian mountainside. George Chakiris (not too long after his success in "West Side Story") and Cliff Robertson take the lead in this quite stilted, but well made wartime drama. The aerial photography is good, but for 1964, not that good and the characters are a little too stereotyped to be treated very seriously. A journeyman cast offers some support, but frankly, aside from a memorable score from Ron Goodwin, this is a disappointing effort.