Battle of the V-1

I saw this film on British TV for the first time and didn't even notice Christopher Lee. The other Germans are however, laughable. They are all caricatures and we even see a sadistic blonde female camp commandant who may have been modelled on Irma Grese. The best scenes in the film are those showing the technical side of things, particularly the one in which the explosive in the rocket is defused, which is quite good for the tension.

This is an old-style war film without glamorous actors and spectacular special effects; all the characters look quite ordinary, even the often-suave Michael Rennie, and there's no great romance. Thank goodness; this film is all the better for it. Other comments suggest there's a lot of fact in the film, and I'm not sure how much was liberty was taken with the actual heroic efforts of the Polish Resistance. A quick Google suggests that the Poles did find a V2 (not V1) rocket that had been fired, but that it was a Danish naval officer who discovered an early test version of the V1 that had crash-landed on a small island between Germany and Sweden. The officer sent a photograph and sketch of the bomb to Britain. In the film an actual rocket is loaded on to a Dakota aircraft in a sequence that I found unconvincing.

A previous commentator reckons that Rod Steiger made a brief uncredited appearance as a German officer. By the time the film was released, Steiger had starred in several films, not least "Run of the Arrow"; established actors sometimes make uncredited cameo appearances for fun or as a favour, but I was surprised by the claim that Steiger did appear in this film; if it was he, his acting against type was extremely good! Christopher Lee gets a high billing, but makes only a brief appearance.

1943: A schoolmaster called Stefan Novak (Michael Rennie) and his watchmaker friend Tadek (David Knight) are working for the Polish resistance lead by Stanislav Muski (Peter Madden) and allow themselves to be captured by the Nazis and taken to a labour camp on the Baltic coast so that they can spy on the operations there. Stefan and Tadek discover that the camp houses a huge production unit where the V1 rocket is being built, which Hitler intends to use to destroy London. The pair succeed in informing the resistance of what is happening who in turn tip off the allies who launch a full scale raid on the plant and destroy it therefore setting back the Nazis' plan by months. However, the fight is far from over as Hitler's generals proceed with plans to build yet another plant and Stefan and Tadek are faced with a dangerous challenge, they must capture a complete V1 rocket and help in smuggling it back to Britain so that the allies can prepare themselves for Hitler's proposed invasion...

A low budget wartime drama, which is based on half facts and half fiction. Produced by Eros Films whose output largely consisted of routine poverty row b-movies so this was probably their sole attempt to go into the big time. The film also utilises footage of actual allied air raids. All in all, The Battle Of The V1, is quite entertainingly put together and in some instances it gets its facts right though once or twice I couldn't help thinking that it bordered towards the improbable. Nevertheless, the film is delivered in a likable boys own adventure story fashion by director Vernon Sewell who could easily lay claim to being one of this country's most prolific and veteran filmmakers. Indeed in the early 1990's when he was interviewed for the only time in his life at the age of 91 by Brian McFarlane, the author of the splendid "Autobiography Of British Cinema", he went on to regard The Battle Of The V1 as his most important film. Good performances are given by Rennie and Knight as the two Polish prisoners of war who risk their lives to save London and at the same time drive the enemy out of Poland. Also of note is a young Christopher Lee who appears as a Nazi Labour Camp Captain. At this time he was just starting to carve his niche as an international star with Hammer as the cinema's most famous Dracula. Lee would also work with Vernon Sewell again nine years later in The Curse Of The Crimson Altar co starring alongside another horror icon Boris Karloff.

Michael Rennie stars as a block of wood...er as a stoic member of the Polish Resistance who along with a compatriot get themselves captured with the hopes of getting sent to a German labor camp where they can spy on the new wonder weapon the V-1. Based on a true story and supposedly close to what actually happened,which usually keeps things lively, this was a tough go through for me. The problem was that the performances are very stiff. Michael Rennie's performance seemed to consist of standing rigidly and looking something like concerned. Most of his fellow actors were similar in what I can only describe as statue like performances. I'm forced to wonder if the stiffness was due to a limited wardrobe budget since no one seems to get dirty or change their clothes. Its all very serious in life or death way, but at the same time some of the deep pronouncements sound very silly in a "we must soldier on" sort of way.

Christopher Lee, despite having a relatively high billing, is in a couple of scenes as a Nazi camp officer. His performance is as animated as Rennie's is rigid making me wonder if he either thought this was a comedy, or was angry with the director and gave a bizarre reading of the role.(Of course it could be simply that he had some life while the rest of the cast was blocks of wood.) The story is a good one, but as told here its a long 80 minutes that makes you wonder why they bothered. Recommended for those times when you are in a forgiving mood and want a WW2 drama you haven't seen before.

Thuis film is one of many that use an historical background for what is in fact a fictional story. Now there is nothing wrong in that except that scholars may in future take the films information as fact. You see the V1 (FZG-76 as it was known to the Germans) was never a rocket nor was it rocket powered! The film makers even use a rocket type sound effect when the engine is supposedly running. Yes there was a flying bomb and yes it was designed (but not built) in the Baltic, but that is where the facts stop. The V1 was in fact powered by a pulse jet, a sort of repeating explosion. Once heard never forgotten. The part at the end where a rocket is tested is inspired by the later V2, but never by the V1. If you are researching the German V weapons please do not take this film as factual. If you intend teaching the subject then please look elsewhere!