BlazeLime Strong and Moving!

VividSimon Simply Perfect

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Isbel A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

MartinHafer A group comprised of British soldiers stranded in Crete and local partisans decide to try something quite bold--kidnap the Nazi in charge of the island. Very little of the film actually involves the setup for the kidnapping and the actual event takes place somewhat uneventfully. The bulk of the film consists of a cross-country trek with the prisoner to try to spirit him out of the country.I decided to watch this film because I love the acting of Dirk Bogarde--plus, it being a Powell/Pressberger film didn't hurt. However, my overall impression was pretty unexceptional. Now I am not saying it's a bad film. The acting is fine and the direction seemed good as well. The problem, however, is that the story just never seemed all that interesting--even though it is based on the actual kidnapping of a German general by partisans during WWII. Competent but not enough to merit its being seen as anything more than a moderately interesting time-passer.

zardoz-13 "Night Ambush" qualifies as a minor but factual account about the April 1944 abduction of a high-ranking German general by the British with the aid of Crete resistance fighters. The writer & director combo Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, who made "One of Our Aircraft is Missing," based their screenplay on the 1952 book "Ill Met by Moonlight: The Abduction of General Kreipe" by W. Stanley Moss. British officer Major Patrick Leigh Fermor (Dirk Bogarde of "The Servant") steal ashore after dark and help the resistance capture Kreipe (Marius Goring of "The Red Shoes") and take him on a grueling journey into the mountains across Crete to a rendezvous with a British warship while the Germans scour the terrain in search of their commanding officer who was the top officer on the island of Crete. Ostensibly, there is not much combat action in this thriller about stealth, but the scenery looks spectacular. Michael Gough, who later gained fame as the butler in the Michael Keaton "Batman" movie makes an appearance as Andoni Zoidakis, while future "Dracula" Christopher Lee plays a German soldier. Competently made drama boasts its share of twists and turns in the narrative as our heroes toil on foot to meet the British destroyer that will transport Kreipe to Cairo for questioning. When everything is said and done, General Kreipe salutes Fermor and congratulates him for his daring escapade. The mutual respect and admiration between the British and the Germans was a theme that recurred throughout the war films of Powell and Pressburger. British cinematographer Christopher Challis lensed this atmospheric wartime thriller in black & white. Challis shot the World War II thriller The Battle of the River Plate (1956) for Powell and Pressburger, and the film was later retitled as "Pursuit of the Graf Spee.

ksf-2 Filmed ten years AFTER the end of the second world war, Night Ambush (ILL MET BY MOONLIGHT to the rest of the world) is a story of British operatives in Crete, reporting home on the activities of the Germans. Their plan is to grab a German officer and take him away. The only name I recognized here is British actor Dirk Bogarde, who plays Major Patrick Fermor. In this story, David Oxley plays Captain I.W. Stanley Moss; Moss is also the original author of his own true account of this WWII story, according to Wikipedia. Part of the story is kind of a jolly old adventure, with dancing and singing, which was a little odd for spies keeping a low profile. Take note of the German officer who barges in at the dentist's office to inspect everyone's papers; Christopher Lee (would have been about 30) has played many roles, frequently the villain in Star Wars, Man with the Golden Gun, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and even Sherlock Holmes. Interesting career,he has worked with many of the greats. As others have mentioned, incredible outdoor photography, which seems to be the Italian Alps. Quite good quality sound and photography by the Rank Organisation, for the 1950s. Screenplay and direction by Powell and Pressburger, who had made 25 films together. Good way to spend 104 minutes (although IMDb shows "US version 93 mins", Turner Classics DID show the 104 min version ....there were a couple off- color remarks, but certainly not 10 minutes worth.) Doesn't seem to have won any awards, but interesting spy story from WW II.

daxart What may not be widely known to movie fans is that at least two, or possibly three members of the cast of Ill Met by Moonlight, were former serving British Army Intelligence Officers. Dirk Bogart served as a British Intelligence Officer during WW2 on mainland Europe and in particular in Germany. His job was to round up Nazi Concentration Camp Guards. Bogart was at Belsen CC on day one of liberation. The movie, although based upon a novel by the same name, is not a fiction, but based upon actual events which took place in Crete involving SIS (Secret Intelligence Service) Officers and Greek Army Officers and local Cretan Royalists. The plan was to capture a German general and smuggle him out to Cairo. This was in effect an SAS operation which was highly successful. The movie came too close to reality for comfort and I believe that UK SIS wanted to protect former members of the Cretan Resistance as well as it's own serving officers who had taken part in the operation. To this end, I think SIS saw to it that the movie was dominated by one of their own, Dirk Bogart.daxart