The Guns of Navarone (1961) - Thompson's wonderful war-adventure classic

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The starry cast encased in striking Greek columns make up this exciting poster for J. Lee Thompson's The Guns of Navarone

WWII: 2,000 British prisoners of war are set to be executed, after they have been captured by Axis powers on a Greek island, if the Navy fail to break them free; but the Nazis have two enormous cannons, which hinder the rescue operation.

 

The Guns of Navarone is written by writer/producer Carl Foreman (Young Man with a Horn (1950)), adapting the same-titled 1957 bestseller by Alistair McLean (South by Java Head (1958)), and directed by great British filmmaker J. Lee Thompson (Murder Without Crime (1950)).

The film is a rare, wonderful war adventure. Gregory Peck (Yellow Sky (1948)) as Captain Mallory get the 'impossible mission', and he and David Niven (Goodyear Theatre (1957-58)) as a pedantically philosophizing chaplain have some really good scenes together, especially when Peck, - who has one of his career's best heroic parts here, - puts Niven in his place. Anthony Quayle (Jarrett (1973, TV movie)) with gangrene, and a bitter Anthony Quinn (The Message (1976)) are also terrific in the fine cast.

The Guns of Navarone is grand, a beautiful production with a great Dimitri Tiomkin (Blowing Wild (1953)) score. Technically there are shots in the film that are lacking a bit in quality. But this is a very minor note to a really wonderful film.

Related posts:

J. Lee Thompson: Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973) or, The Final Ape!
Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972) or, The Ape Uprising

Cape Fear (1962) - Great suspense in effective home invasion thriller 

 Writer-producer Foreman discusses the film in a 2-minute clip here

 

Cost: 6 mil. $

Box office: 25 mil. $ (worldwide rentals); likely gross of 55.5 mil. $

= Mega-hit (likely returned around 9.25 times its cost)

[The Guns of Navarone premiered 27 April (London) and runs 158 minutes. MacLean's novel was inspired by the Battle of Leros during WWII. Head of Columbia Pictures Mike Frankovich had read the novel and passed it excitedly on to Foreman to adapt. Alexander Mackendrick was set to direct but was fired a week prior to shooting over 'creative differences'. Shooting took place in Senegal, Greece, England, Mexico and in Los Angeles from February - July 1960. Niven got seriously ill and nearly died after filming in the pool of water beneath the cave elevator and was hospitalized for weeks, as production continued but under great uncertainty. He finally recovered and was able to complete his scenes. Peck's German was dubbed. Several members of the Greek royal family visited the set and were used as extras in the Mandrakos café scene. The film stays close to the novel; the island of Navarone is fictional. Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip attended the London premiere. The film was a great success, grossing 28.9 mil. $ in North America, with rentals of 13 mil. $. With worldwide rentals of 25 mil. $, if multiplied accordingly, the world gross would be 55.5 mil. $. The film was the year's 2nd highest-grossing of all, after West Side Story. It was nominated for 7 Oscars; it won the Best Special Effects Oscar, and lost Best Director to Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins for West Side Story, Editing to West Side Story, Drama/Comedy Score to Henry Mancini for Breakfast at Tiffany's, Picture to West Side Story, Sound to West Side Story and Adapted Screenplay to Abby Mann for Judgment at Nuremberg. It also won 2/3 Golden Globe nominations, and was nominated for a BAFTA and a Grammy among other honors. MacLean's 1968 sequel novel (the only sequel he ever wrote) was adapted as the same-titled Force 10 from Navarone (1978), without any of the talent of the original film involved; it was unsuccessful. Thompson returned with Cape Fear (1962). Peck returned in that film; Niven in The Best of Enemies (1961); Quinn in Barabbas (1961). The Guns of Navarone is certified fresh at 92 % with a 7.93/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Guns of Navarone?

Casino Royale (1967) - The packed spy spoof frontrunner, a film very much of its time

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A naked, colorful lady and an impressive list of stars compete in grabbing your attention on the poster for producer Charles K. Feldman's Casino Royale

QUICK REVIEW:

Everyone (almost) is James Bond in this ultimate, (and probably the first) Bond spoof, which is based on Ian Fleming's first Bond novel, (which is also the basis of the 2006 'real' Bond movie.)

Woody Allen (Broadway Danny Rose (1984)) is a neurotic, minority complex-plagued gnome, who hiccups atomic bombs, and Orson Welles (The Trial (1962)) plays embezzler villain Le Chiffre ...

Casino Royale sports an incredible star cast, - including also Peter Sellers, Jean Paul Belmondo, Deborah Kerr, Charles Boyer, William Holden, Ursula Andress and many others, - with several big boys behind the camera as well; directors Ken Hughes (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)), John Huston (The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)), Joseph McGrath (The Magic Christian (1969)), Robert Parrish (Doppelgänger (1969)) and Richard Talmadge (What's New Pussycat (1965)) and Billy Wilder (Sunset Boulevard (1950)) and Ben Hecht (Notorious (1946)) are just two of the men that supplied writing for the film.
Burt Bacharach's (What's New Pussycat (1965)) music is, well, silly and over-the-top, - just as the rest of this spy comedy.
Despite the American studio (Columbia Pictures) and many American stars and crew members, Casino has a lot of British soul and fun dead-pan-lines, especially from David Niven (55 Days at Peking (1963)), also as James Bond:

David Niven, surrounded by strangely clad, beautiful ladies, gets a chance to show off his sizable comedic chops in Charles K. Feldman's Casino Royale

The film was a notorious mess production-wise, with Sellers disappearing with scenes unmade: He was reportedly afraid of Welles, who insisted on doing magic tricks in his scenes. Sellers had also hoped to have played his Bond seriously. The huge Casino Royale's budget grew bigger than contemporary Bond hits Thunderball (1965, 11 mil. $) and You Only Live Twice (1967, 9.5 mil. $), which came out 2 months after the spoof, but the zeitgeist was fortunately on its side, and it became a big hit.
Casino Royale is silly as hell, but good fun.

Woody Allen goofs around in producer Charles K. Feldman's Casino Royale

Woody Allen and Ursula Andress are both James Bond on this poster for Charles K. Feldman's Casino Royale

Watch the silly trailer here and 'join the Casino Royale fun movement!'

Cost: 12 mil. $
Box office: 41.7 mil. $
= Big hit

What do you think of Casino Royale?
Other good spy spoofs?

55 Days at Peking (1963) or, Peking anno 1900

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The gorgeously painted poster in booming colors for Nicholas Ray, Andrew Marton and Guy Green's 55 Days at Peking

American Marine Major Lewis has to get his Western counterparts to stand shoulder by shoulder in Peking around 1900 in the bloody 'Boxer Rebellion'.
 
Charlton Heston (Planet of the Apes (1968)) is the angular strong-man, who falls for a stoic beauty from Russia (Ava Gardner (The Barefoot Contessa (1954))). David Niven (The Guns of Navarone (1961)) beautifully portrays the over-courteous and feeble-minded Brit, a character who grows in the course of the film.
Dmitri Tiomkin's (Rio Bravo (1959)) music is grand. He was both Oscar-nominated for his score and for the song So Little Time, with Paul Francis Webster (Paytonn Place (1957), lyrics). 55 Days is also the kind of epic where its sets are so big and detailed that one feels compelled to watch without blinking.
Wisconsinite Nicholas Ray (Rebel without a Cause (1955)) was a great director, and he was hired to direct: However, somewhere in the course of doing this, he became so overworked that he collapsed on the set, and Guy Green (A Patch of Blue (1965)) and Andrew Marton (The Longest Day (1962)) finished the job uncredited. Save for a lost horror film and an experimental film, We Can't Go Home Again (1973) and some shorts, this became Ray's last film. 55 Days is written by Philip Yordan (The Bravados (1958)), Bernard Gordon (Crime Wave (1954)) and an uncredited Ben Barzman (The Heroes of Telemark (1965)), with Robert Hamer (They All Died Laughing (1964)) supplying some dialogue.
The film contains both suspense, glamour, destitution and tragedy, SPOILER although the latter is ultimately lightened some by a humane decision committed by Heston's wonderful character. - Epic historical dramas rarely get finer than 55 Days at Peking.

The marvelous water color title still, created by Chinese-American artist Dong Kingman for Nicholas Ray, Guy Green and Andrew Marton's 55 Days at Peking

Here is a short trailer for the film

Cost: 17 mil. $
Box office: 10 mil. $ (North America only)
= Uncertainty (likely at least a big flop)
[55 Days at Peking premiered 4 May (UK) and runs 153 minutes. The period in Chinese history that the film portrays, influenced, naturally, by its own time, is still controversial today. Ray was reportedly paid a very high salary for directing the film, which made him uneasy that it should become his last, which it sort of did. Filming took place near Madrid in Spain, and 4,000 extras were employed, including many Chinese, who were recruited from restaurants and laundries across Europe, as Spain didn't have enough Chinese people for the mass scenes. The film became the 20th highest grossing in North America for the year, but with its massive budget, it was still a financial disaster, although it was reportedly more successful internationally. - Without those figures, however, it is impossible to make out its precise status, although it was likely at least a big flop. The film was nominated for 2 Oscars: It lost Best Score to John Addison for Tom Jones and Best Song to Call Me Irresponsible from Papa's Delicate Condition. Ray returned with now lost horror, The Doctor and the Devil (1965). Green returned with A Patch of Blue (1965). Marton returned with The Thin Red Line (1964). Heston returned in Kraft Mystery Theater (1963, TV-series), The Patriots (1963, TV movie) and theatrically in The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965); Gardner in Seven Days in May (1964); and Niven in Burke's Law (1963, TV-series) and theatrically in The Pink Panther (1963).  5,288 IMDb-users have given 55 Days at Peking an average rating of 6.8/10.]

What do you think of 55 Days at Peking?