They Who Dare
| They Who Dare | |
|---|---|
 DVD cover | |
| Directed by | Lewis Milestone |
| Produced by | Aubrey Baring and Maxwell Setton |
| Written by | Robert Westerby (screenplay) |
| Starring |
Dirk Bogarde Denholm Elliott Akim Tamiroff |
| Music by | Robert Gill |
| Cinematography | Wilkie Cooper |
| Edited by | Vladimir Sagovsky |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | British Lion Film Corporation |
Release date |
|
Running time | 107 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Box office | £132,074 (UK)[1] |
They Who Dare is a 1954 Second World War war film directed by Lewis Milestone and starring Dirk Bogarde, Denholm Elliott and Akim Tamiroff. The story is based on Operation Anglo that took place during World War II in the Dodecanese islands where special forces attempted to disrupt the Luftwaffe from threatening Allied forces in Egypt.[2] The title of the film is a reference to the motto of the Special Air Service: "Who Dares Wins".
Plot synopsis
During the Second World War, a group of six Special Boat Service commandos, two Greek officers and two local guides, is sent on a mission to destroy two German airfields on Rhodes. Led by Lieutenant Graham (Dirk Bogarde), the party is taken to Rhodes by submarine. The group comes ashore at night and has to traverse the mountains to reach its targets. At a pre-designated location, the party splits and the two groups press on and succeed in their attack on the airfields. However, eight of the group are captured and only two, Lieutenant Graham and Sergeant Corcoran, make it back to the pick-up point where they are rescued by the submarine.
Cast in credits order
- Dirk Bogarde as Lieut. Graham
- Denholm Elliott as Sgt. Corcoran
- Akim Tamiroff as Captain George One
- Harold Siddons as Lieut. Stevens R.N.
- Eric Pohlmann as Captain Papadapoulos
- William Russell as Lieut. Poole
- Gérard Oury as Captain George Two
- Sam Kydd as Marine Boyd
- Peter Burton as Marine Barrett
- David Peel as Sgt. Evans
- Michael Mellinger as Toplis
- Alec Mango as Patroklis
- Anthea Leigh as Marika
- Eileen Way as Greek woman
- Lisa Gastoni as George Two's girlfriend
- Kay Callard as nightclub singer
- George Sandford as Extra (Uncredited)
Production
The film was partly shot on location in Cyprus and Malta with Walter Milner Barry, a former SBS officer as technical adviser. A survivor of the raid David Sutherland provided a copy of his after action report to screenwriter Robert Westerby[3].
The film was re-written by Lewis Milestone. When he handed in the film, producer Setton re-edited it. The film was poorly received critically.[4] Dirk Bogarde recalled one film reviewer referred to it as How Dare They in his review[5].
The Lebanese Air Force provided a pair of Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 aircraft for the film. Bogarde recalled Lewis Milestone insisting on the cast wearing actual 90 pound/40 kilogram backpacks as he felt actors could not convincingly act as if they were carrying a large amount of weight. The cast had a week of exercises with the packs as the script was polished but the weight was reduced to 60 lbs/27 kg.[6]
References
- ↑ Vincent Porter, 'The Robert Clark Account', Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol 20 No 4, 2000 p501
- ↑ "Obituaries: Commander Michael St John". The Telegraph. 22 Mar 2009. Retrieved 2 July 2011.
- ↑ p.92 Sutherland, David He Who Dares: Recollections of Service in the SAS, SBS and MI5 Pen and Sword, 12 Aug. 1998
- ↑ Harper, Sue; Porter, Vincent (2003). British Cinema of the 1950s: The Decline of Deference. Oxford University Press. pp. 178–180.
- ↑ Coldstream, John Dirk Bogarde: The Authorised Biography Hachette UK, 8 Sep. 2011
- ↑ Bogarde, Dirk Snakes and Ladders Bloomsbury Publishing, 26 Aug. 2014