Introduction

Operation Crossbow, later re-released as The Great Spy Mission, is a 1965 British spy thriller and Second World War Metrocolor film about Operation Crossbow (1943−1945) in Panavision.

It was directed by Michael Anderson and written by Emeric Pressburger, under the pseudonym “Richard Imrie”, Derry Quinn and Ray Rigby from a story from Duilio Coletti and Vittoriano Petrilli. It was filmed at MGM-British Studios.

The film is a highly fictionalised account of the real-life Operation Crossbow, made with a large cast of popular film stars of the time. It does touch on the main aspects of the operation, which embraced all tactics used to thwart the German long-range weapons programme in the last years of World War II. The scenes alternate between Nazi Germany’s development of the V-1 flying bomb and V-2 rocket, and the efforts of British Intelligence and its agents to defend against the threats. All characters speak in the appropriate language, with English subtitles for those speaking German or Dutch.

Outline

In 1943, Nazi Germany is working on terror weapons, the V-1 flying bomb and V-2 rocket. Technical problems with the V-1 lead the Germans to create a manned version to ascertain the problems with the rocket, but all the test pilots are killed flying it. Aviator Hanna Reitsch (Barbara Rütting) successfully flies and lands the V-1 prototype, discovering the problem (mechanical shifting of the rocket’s weight and change of speed) and determining how to solve it, which leads to the mass production of the V-1.

Winston Churchill (Patrick Wymark) is concerned about rumours of a German flying bomb and orders Duncan Sandys (Richard Johnson) his son-in-law and one of his ministers, to investigate. Sandys is convinced by intelligence and photo-reconnaissance reports that the weapons exist, but sceptical scientific adviser Professor Lindemann (Trevor Howard) dismisses the reports as extremely fanciful. (He is proved wrong when V-1s start falling on London a year later, in June 1944.) Bomber Command launches a raid on Peenemünde on 17/18 August 1943 to destroy the industrial complex producing them.

The Germans move their factory underground in Southern Germany for protection and rush ahead with the development and production of the larger, more deadly V-2. The head of British intelligence (John Mills) learns that engineers are actively being recruited across occupied Europe for the new weapon and decides to infiltrate the factory. He finds three qualified volunteers, one an American, one Dutch, one British and all experienced engineers who speak fluent German and Dutch. They are hastily trained and sent to Germany via the Netherlands. Amongst the volunteers interviewed but not selected is a British officer named Bamford (Anthony Quayle), who is actually a German undercover agent.

Just after the Allied agents are parachuted into occupied Europe, British Intelligence learns that one of them, Robert Henshaw (Tom Courtenay), has been given the cover identity of a Dutch sailor wanted by the police for murder. He is arrested but agrees to becoming an engineer to act as an informer for the Germans. However, he is recognised by Bamford, who has returned to Germany as a security officer. Refusing to reveal his mission, he is tortured by the Gestapo and then shot when he refuses to co-operate.

A further awkward complication occurs when Nora (Sophia Loren), the wife of the real man whom USAAF Lieutenant John Curtis (George Peppard) is impersonating, comes to visit her husband to obtain custody of their children. Although innocent, the wife can compromise the mission. Curtis assures Nora that she will be allowed to rejoin her children, but, to maintain the mission’s secrecy, after Curtis leaves, the German contact (and Allied sympathiser) Frieda (Lilli Palmer), who runs the hotel where Curtis is staying, kills Nora.

Curtis and Phil Bradley (Jeremy Kemp) manage to infiltrate the underground factory. Bradley is assigned to work as a porter/cleaner while his papers are checked, but Curtis is brought into the heart of the project, where he is assigned to fix the problem of engine vibration that is holding up the V-2’s development. V-1 flying bombs are shown hitting and destroying London housing blocks, with other V-1’s destroyed in mid-air by anti-aircraft fire. Then the much more devastating V-2 assault begins. They are launched from mobile platforms that are undetectable until the moment of launch. The only way to fight them is to destroy the place where they are built. The two agents learn that the Royal Air Force is mounting a nighttime bombing raid on the facility, but the protective doors on the ceiling that cover the ready-to-launch large A9/A10 “New York Rocket”, must be opened to expose the plant and provide a landmark for the bombers. The controls are in the powerhouse. Bradley takes on the task of finding out which switch will open the doors.

Meanwhile, Bamford has come to the facility and reviewed the photos of all the important staff, searching for a familiar face. He recognised no one, and ordered that all the records of men working there be checked to the smallest detail. This includes receiving photos by Telex, and the face of the man Curtis is playing has been coming through, slowly. At last it is recognisable, and Bamford realises that Curtis is a spy. He sounds the alarm just as the two men are making their way to the powerhouse. Bradley is captured at the threshold, but Curtis – who does not know what switch to pull – is able to shoot his way inside and seal himself in, holding Germans hostage. Overhead, the Allied bombers are looking in vain for a sign. Bamford tries to get Curtis to give up by using Bradley as a bargaining chip, but as the Allied bombers close in and the air raid siren sounds, Bradley lunges for the microphone and in what will be his last words tells Curtis that switch R9 opens the main launch door; he is then shot by Bamford. The powerhouse workers attack Curtis, but he guns them down. One man with a pistol shoots Curtis as he pulls lever 9, opening the main launch door The bombers see the brilliant light. Fighting the pain, Curtis tells his remaining prisoners to sit. The Germans frantically try to launch the “New York” missile, but just as it lifts off, the bombs hit. The raid succeeds in obliterating the facility.

in London, Churchill congratulates Sandys, who observes that the names of some of the brave agents will never be known. Churchill adds that without the RAF’s courageous raid on Peenemünde, London would have devastated. He gives Sandys the assignment of Minister of Works and speaks eloquently of rebuilding.

Production & Filming Details

• Director: Michael Anderson.
• Producer: Carlo Ponti.
• Screenplay: Emeric Pressburger, Derry Quinn, and Ray Digby.
• Story: Duilio Coletti and Vittoriano Petrilli.
• Music: Ron Goodwin.
• Cinematography: Erwin Hillier.
• Editor: Ernest Walter.
• Production: MGM-British Studios.
• Distributor: MGM.
• Release Date: March 1965 (UK).
• Running Time: 115 minutes.
• Country: UK.
• Language: English and German.

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