1944 on Nazi-occupied Crete. The Nazis truly believe that the Cretans are indeed cretins. As such, many of the Cretans work alongside some of the few native English for the resistance against their Nazi oppressors. One of those English is Major Patrick Fermor. Along with Captain W. Stanley Moss, who he recruits from the British forces stationed in Cairo, Paddy's latest mission is to kidnap Major General Kreipe, the head of the Nazi forces on the island, and transport him alive to the Allied base in Cairo. The move is solely one to embarrass and thus demoralize the Nazis by having the "inferior" Cretans pull off something this big over the Nazis. Kidnapping Kreipe, keeping him safe during the transport to the coast, and getting him onto the ship in the open coastline without being detected by the Nazis all have their challenges. On Paddy and Moss' side is that they have the cooperation of most Cretans who, despite possible harm to themselves, largely help them in this mission, and that as such they have a better understanding of the nooks and crannies to hide Kreipe than the Nazis, especially in the mountains. Among the obstacles they face are: having sporadic contact with their primary communications officer, Sandy, who is holed up in a cave in the mountains; Kreipe perhaps finding a weak spot in their armor, especially in playing off even one poor Cretan who may fall prey to the possibility of a bigger individual payoff; and a deficiency unearthed in both Paddy and Moss' military training. Based on the true story of how, during World War II, a gang of desparadoes (British officers enlisted for "hostilities only" and local partisans) went to the occupied island of Crete and kidnapped a German General from under the nose of his army. That was the easy bit !!! They then had to get him back to Cairo, dodging an intense air and land search. Think of `The Guns of Navarone', but with these differences:<br/><br/>(1) The band of adventurers genuinely like each other.<br/><br/>(2) Their mission is not to blow anything up. Rather, they plan to kidnap a German general and take him to Cairo. It's a publicity stunt. But it soon ceases to be a MERE publicity stunt: demonstrating German vulnerability may be as important as creating it.<br/><br/>(3) We get a good look at Crete - and NOT just because of spectacular scenic photography. We really feel at home on Cretan soil. Michael Powell, who had a talent for finding out-of-the-way composers (he also introduced Ralph Vaughan Williams and Brian Easdale to the cinema) has this time found Mikis Theodorakis, whose score is strongly flavoured but friendly to the ear.<br/><br/>With all this, `Ill Met by Moonlight' is an unusual venture by Powell and Pressburger, in that it isn't unusual: it's another World War II mission story, and there have been dozens. It IS more civilised than most. It tells its simple story neatly and cleanly; it's sweet, unpretentious, and disappointing only in that, since it was Powell and Pressburger's last official collaboration, it would have been nice to go out with a bigger bang.<br/><br/>The title is a line from `A Midsummer Night's Dream'. Its relevance is not obvious, at any rate not to me. Am I missing something? "Ill Met by Moonlight," aka, "Night Ambush" is an unusual World War II film. It's one of many films about a special mission during the war, and it's one of many films about resistance and the underground. But, with both of these elements it also has some other less common aspects. First, it has the kidnapping of a German two-star general. Second, it's a rare look at the Greek underground in World War II. Third, it's about the widespread Greek resistance to German rule. This was the first such civilian resistance that Nazi Germany met in its conquests to that time. And, fourth, it's about a unique network that was established and operating during that time. <br/><br/>That network included a thousand or more Greek soldiers, 500 British soldiers, and hundreds of Cretan civilians. The military were men who couldn't be evacuated in time, and who weren't among those captured as the Allies were overrun by the Germans in 1941. The Cretan people hid these men in mountain hamlets and villages around the island. With the Cretan resistance fighters, this lot formed a loosely organized underground. The movie doesn't show it but alludes to the formidable hindrance the network was to the Germans. By clandestine radio, it kept in touch with British command in Egypt. <br/><br/>All of this makes for a most interesting wartime drama. It's not one of combat action, or even much resistance fighting. The killing that takes place is off screen and only alluded to. This is a movie about a calculated and well carried out ambush, kidnapping and flight from the enemy. The flight is aided by the natural mountainous terrain of Crete, and the collaboration with and support from people of the local villages and hamlets. <br/><br/>Some reviewers take exception to the almost cavalier attitude or persona of the lead characters, especially Dirk Bogarde, as Major Patrick Fermor. He is known to the local Cretans, and the Nazi secret police, as Philedem. Most of the British leaders have that sort of carefree air about them as well. They seem to mirror the easy-going, carefree demeanor and attitudes of the Cretans themselves. As this movie shows, they could move about quite easily without German detection. They knew their land and its rugged terrain that the enemy did not know. So, who is to say that it wasn't something like that? With advisers for the film and the source material, it's likely that life was like that for those people then and there. <br/><br/>The story is about a true event, based on a book, "Ill Met by Moonlight." That was a wartime diary of W. Stanley Moss's service in Crete. The original film title is the same as that of the book. It was renamed "Night Ambush" on release in America, and the film was cut by more than 10 minutes. I saw the original 104-minute British version. <br/><br/>David Oxley plays Moss. Major Fermor requested his assignment for the 1944 mission to kidnap Major General Kreipe (played by Marius Goring). Kreipe commands 30,000 Germans on the island. That includes a paratrooper division that was the main assault force for the Germans in taking the island. So, the Brits now want to kidnap the Kreipe to humiliate the Germans and boost Allied morale. The operation was planned by British intelligence and carried out by the mixed underground. <br/><br/>This may be one of those instances when it was more difficult to shoot a movie in a place than to carry out a war there. In 1957, the roadway system in Crete probably did not yet lend itself to the movement of huge film crews and equipment to mountainous areas for filming. So, this film was shot instead in similar terrain that was more easily accessible. The mountain scenes were shot in the Maritime Alps of Italy and France. The coastal scenes were shot along uninhabited and rugged spots that could still be found in 1957 along the French Riviera. <br/><br/>This is an excellent movie. It's a deserved testimonial to the Cretan people. And, it's a nice story of a little-known highly successful Allied coup during WW II. It should be in any serious World War II film collection. <br/><br/>For those interested in history, here's a little more that the film doesn't cover. The German invasion of Crete was called "Operation Mercury." It was the first large airborne assault in history. It was also the first time German troops met with mass resistance from a civilian population. The German parachute had only one riser, so it couldn't be controlled. And, the German jumped without their rifles which were dropped separately in bundles. Before many could get to their weapons, they were met by the Allied underground and the civilians. The latter were armed mostly with pitchforks, sledgehammers and other crude weapons. But they exacted a huge toll on the Germans. As a result, Hitler forbad future paratrooper assaults in the war. The Americans and British had far superior chutes, and they jumped with their weapons. So, the Allies had many successful airborne assaults during the war.<br/><br/>After capturing Crete, the Germans carried out widespread reprisals against the civilians. Between June 2, 1941, and August of 1944, more than 1,000 Cretans were killed in large shootings by firing squads. Homes were looted and villages were destroyed. German generals Bruno Brauer and Friedrich-Wilhelm Muller ("The Butcher of Crete") were the commanders who ordered most of these reprisals. After the war, both were tried for war crimes and executed.
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