Operation Crossbow

"Sabotage of Hitler's ingenious weapons of mass destruction...the V1 and V2 rockets!"

1965 1h 55m EN

👍

6.7

SOLID

★6.7TMDB · 126

DramaWarThriller

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Allied agents infiltrate the Nazi rocket complex at Peenemunde in order to obtain their secrets and sabotage the plant. The film alternates between German developments of the V-1 missile and V-2 rocket (with a German cast speaking their own language) and discovery by British Intelligence of the weapon.

“Sabotage of Hitler's ingenious weapons of mass destruction...the V1 and V2 rockets!”

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Cast

Sophia Loren
Nora Van Ostamgen
George Peppard
Lt. John Curtis
Trevor Howard
Professor Lindemann
John Mills
General Boyd
Richard Johnson
Duncan Sandys
Tom Courtenay
Robert Henshaw
Jeremy Kemp
Captain Phil Bradley
Anthony Quayle
Bamford

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Michael Anderson
Writers: Duilio Coletti, Derry Quinn, Ray Rigby
Languages: English, German
Countries: United Kingdom, Italy

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

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $0.1M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Grossed $4M — a 32.2× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

61 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, German.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: United Kingdom, Italy.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Michael Anderson, shot by Erwin Hillier. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Ron Goodwin. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

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

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Michael Anderson directs. Erwin Hillier behind the camera. Ron Goodwin scores. Ernest Walter cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United Kingdom, Italy. Dialogue in English, German.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $0.1M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
2Grossed $4M — a 32.2× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.
361 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
4Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, German.
5International production across 2 countries: United Kingdom, Italy.
6Directed by Michael Anderson, shot by Erwin Hillier. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
7Original score by Ron Goodwin. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
8Editor Ernest Walter shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
9Sophia Loren and George Peppard and Trevor Howard carry the top of the cast.
10Marketing tagline: "Sabotage of Hitler's ingenious weapons of mass destruction...the V1 and V2 rockets!".
11IMDB entry: tt0059549 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography: Erwin Hillier
Original score: Ron Goodwin
Editing: Ernest Walter
Makeup / hair: George Blackler
Runtime: 115 min · 1h 55m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $115,000
Box office: $3,700,000
Return: 3217% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: Operation Crossbow (1965)

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Michael Anderson

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Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2015-11-20
★ 6/10
If you're chute doesn't open, change it for a harp! A passable WWII movie boosted by star casting and a grand finale. Plot essentially is about some Allied agents planning to infiltrate the Nazis' secretive rocket factory in Holland and destroy their deadly V rockets. Much of the pic is given to character forming and painting political, army and human passion based groundwork. Unfortunately the narrative often sags and has some uneven patches that can take one out of the story line. On the plus side the finale is worth waiting for, full of suspense and heroics, while the espionage angle holds interest throughout. 6/10
JPV8522019-12-01
★ 7/10
Engaging war-thriller doesn't always hit on all cylinders but the finale was suspense-filled and I do appreciate how the filmmakers handled the deaths, not at all sensationalized. No real standout performances but the cast did a fine job, though a bit surprising to see Sophie Loren got top-billing but only in it for maybe 15-minutes. 3.5/5
CinemaSerf2024-09-05
★ 6/10
There is something a little bit reminiscent of "The Adventures of Tartu" (1943) about this film. The Nazis are using ever increasingly effective missiles to bombard South East England and when the boffins discover their new, portable, V1 and V2 rockets then a team is assembled to go into the heart of the Reich to carry out some dangerous sabotage. George Peppard, Jeremy Kemp and Tom Courtenay are the three despatched and these characters alongside an interestingly, but effectively, cast Anthony Quayle as their Nazi antagonist work well building a sense of peril as they set about their tasks. It's a little bit cluttered by a bit of a contrived sub-plot with Sophia Loren, but for the most part it is an efficient drama that has just about every British actor you can shake a stick at appearing somewhere - John Mills; Trevor Howard; Richard Johnson; Richard Todd et al. Of course it uses a little cinematic licence - Peppard's Dutch accent (via Detroit) is a bit of a stretch at times - but it's still an engaging piece of wartime adventure cinema with quite an exciting climax.