Console best movie i've ever seen.

Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Tymon Sutton The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

SimonJack While not a well-known film about World War II, "Operation Daybreak" is a well-made movie about an historical event that shook the Nazis. For, up until the May 1942 assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, the Germans had seemed invincible to themselves and to much of the world. This film shows the Czech underground and resistance, little known to that time. For that alone, it is an important film for any WW II collection. It also shows the brutal German retaliation in its slaughter of civilians. And it shows questionable judgment about one of the men chosen by the British for a companion mission who betrays his fellow Czechs, and the consequences of his treason. This film is a joint Czech-American production. It's based on a 1966 book by Alan Burgess, a former RAF Pilot who became a prominent biographical author. "Seven Men at Daybreak" tells the story about the British Operation Anthropoid, that was planned and carried out to assassinate Heydrich. The movie was filmed in Prague, Czech Republic in 1975. I didn't see it or remember it from around its release date and only came across it in recent years. It apparently didn't have much notice when it was released – at least in the U.S. That may have been due as much to the times as anything else. By 1975, World War II was three decades past and the wave of serious films about the war had run its course. And, well before then, a splashy, fictional wave of dark comedy war films had had its run ("The Dirty Dozen" in 1967 and "Kelly's Heroes" in 1970 among the better known). Finally, the Vietnam War had just ended in 1974, and the public was tired of war. Only occasional war films would be made after that – a few about Vietnam and some yet about WW II. Most of those would be about resistance in various countries, the Holocaust, or special operations that had not been made public during the war. Then there's the question about how widely Warner Brothers distributed this film in the U.S. For whatever reasons that it's not well known, "Operation Daybreak" (aka, "The Price of Freedom" in the U.S.), is a superb WW II movie. It is based on a true story, and gives a fine depiction of the Czech underground and resistance to Nazi Germany. Other reviewers note some distinctions between the factual details and the movie. But overall, this is a marvelous portrayal of the British special operations mission, "Anthropoid." Reinhard Heydrich, aka the Butcher of Prague, was the second most powerful henchmen in the Nazi regime, right below Himmler. He was the planner of the Third Reich's Final Solution, and the chief overseer of the Holocaust to that time.The operation was planned by Czech intelligence services in exile with the British Special Operations Executive. It was carried out by trained Czech paratroopers who jumped into their homeland on Dec. 28, 1941. The two principals of the operation were Jozef Gabcik and Jan Kubis. Kubis was a late replacement for Karel Svoboda who had suffered a head injury in training. One of seven others sent along for other missions, Karel Curda, turned traitor for one million Reichsmarks. He revealed the Czech collaborators who were rounded up and executed, and through whom the Nazis found the hiding place of the assassins. The movie has Curda staying with his wife and child in a rural area. He supposedly wanted to protect them. As the movie credits report at the end, he was hanged for treason in 1947. As the movie shows, more than 500 people from two towns were shot or sent to concentration camps where they were killed. The towns of Lidice and Lezaky were burned to the ground, and Lidice was then razed. The bishop and priests of the Orthodox Cathedral where the Czechs hid were all killed, and all the civilians who had hid the men were rounded up and killed – some in concentration camps. Several memorials today pay tribute to the people, the towns and the heroes who gave their lives. The entire cast of this film is superb. Timothy Bottoms is Jan Kubis, Anthony Andrews is Jozef Gabcik, Anton Diffring is Reinhard Heydrich, Martin Shaw is Karel Curda, and Nicola Pagett is Anna. This is a great movie.

qormi What was wrong with this movie? Horrible directing and screen writing. The actors, to their credit, almost surpassed the cheesy soundtrack, inept direction, and poorly developed characters. Heydrich was indeed a monster and he was arguably second in command of the Nazi regime to Hitler. It would have been more interesting to have an actor around his own age (32) to have portrayed him rather than one 25 years older than the actual Heydrich. I cannot underestimate how shoddy the production was, devoid of nuances, amateurish pacing, lighting; everything. They probably had a sub par caterer as well. The question remains as to whether the assassination of Heydrich was worth it. It was common knowledge that the assassination of a German officer in occupied territory usually meant that 50 innocent civilians were rounded up and shot. It shouldn't have been much of a surprise that two villages and their inhabitants were erased as a result of killing the second highest ranking Nazi. Yet had he not been killed, Hitler would have left him in charge of all of occupied Europe. Heydrich was the chief author of the Final Solution and there is little doubt that at least a million more Jews would have been killed under his supervision. The ambitious, scheming Heydrich was a more cunning and efficient killer than Hitler. He may even have found a way to do away with him and extend the war.

gbeausang A fantastic film. I first saw it about 15 years ago and remembered being extremely moved by it, then I recently bought it off the web and watched it again. It was every bit as stirring.The strengths of this movie lie in the beautiful simplicity of the performances. The characters exude courage and patriotism, set against the backdrop of the savage and brutal Nazi regime in Czechoslovakia during WWII. The score is also beautiful and touching in equal measure.What really hits home however, is when you realise that this is a true story. Everything dramatised in the film actually happened. The director (Lewis Gilbert) is intelligent enough to realise that only the lightest of touches are required, there are no grandiose set pieces - he lets the narrative and the characters' emotions speak for themselves. The ending is utterly heart-rending, but the film as a whole stands as the most inspiring tale of valour against hopeless odds. Watch it when you get the chance, you will never forget it.

Kieran Green 'Operation Daybreak' Which is based on a true story Is a criminally and largely Un-Seen ClassicOperation Daybreak, tells about the assassination of SS general Reinhard Heydrich,who was the inhumane,Reich protector assigned to Prague and Bohemia , Circa 1942,British intellegance informs The two men assigned to this perilous mission, that should Hitler die Heydrich, will Assume Hitler's place,The two men who carry out this deadly mission are The Last Picture Show's(Timothy Bottoms, And Martin Shaw (Tv's Judge john deed) The two who are Czech commandos's, are swiftly parachuted into Prague, Where they set about their plan which gets underway in no time,The mission unfortunately has it's unseen setbacks, Which sees Their target fatally wounded,and then come the massive reprisals, and the thrilling climax that has a bloody shootout in the church where the Partisans, are stationed, the film culminate's in the Churches's catacomb's to an excepitonally and emotionally driven end, Directed by Lewis Gilbert, (The Spy Who Loved Me, Educating Rita, Is a largely excellent production filmed on location in Prague itself, The film which is increasingly HARD to find Really does require a DVD,Urgently!!!