The Heroes of Telemark (1965)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

The Worst Film Ever

Pretty Good

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

After missing the chance to see it a few years ago,I had hoped that Telemark would be screened to celebrate Kirk Douglas's 100th birthday,but only found a screening of his interesting Film Noir Out of the Past. Finding almost nothing on TV during the Easter holidays,I was pleased to spot this title getting shown again,which led to me at last meeting the heroes of Telemark.The plot:Nazi-Occupied Norway.Learning that the Nazis are starting to develop material to build an atomic bomb, Norwegian resistance fighters Dr Rolf Pedersen/ Knut Straud and Anna Pedersen decide that they must snow the Nazis in before they succeed in their plan. After gathering a team for the mission,the group discover that one of the team has secretly accepted a deal from the Nazis. View on the film:Very loosely based on the real Telemark operation,the screenplay by Ivan Moffat/ Ben Barzman/Knut Haukelid and John Drummond aims for WWII men on a mission with parts of the popular post-Dr.No Euro Spy genre. Rolling the tanks for over two hours,the writers struggle to keep any tension on track,with the group treating the risk of an atomic bomb being built in a relaxed,Boys Own Adventure manner. Walking on the bridge of espionage tension for the ending,the writers disappointingly fail to get the viewer fully involved with the groups spying,by leaving each of them as thinly drawn archetypes. Targeting the Nazis under mountains of Norwegian snow, Kirk Douglas gives a good, chiselled performance as Rolf, whilst Ulla Jacobsson gives the flick a touch of sweeping romance as Rolf's spy love Anna. Notably keeping a distance from getting up close and personal in the mission with an extensive of wide shots, director Anthony Mann & cinematographer Robert Krasker (who both worked on El Cid earlier) keep track of the mission with shots gliding along the snow covered mountains of Norway,as the heroes of Telemark make their mark.

Twenty years after the end of the war they were still churning out stuff like this, more or less scraping the bottom of the barrel for 'unknown' incidents to exploit. The events depicted here may well have been true but Anthony Mann does little or nothing to inject any life or excitement into things. For me the attraction was third-billed Michael Redgrave but he was totally wasted in a part even Richard Pascoe couldn't make more lifeless. For a film about heavy water there's a notable lack of chemistry between ANY one person and ANY one else; an 'action' film short on action, a thriller short on thrills in fact the whole thing is a snow job.

THOF offers cheesy German accents and I'm sure a few liberties with historical facts, but for those who nitpick at a Kirk Douglas film made in the mid-60s, keep in mind that it's just that: a simple little mid-60s war film with Kirk Douglas. It is fun, quick, not too talky, and with some very nice snowy scenery. Not dull in spite of its length of 2 hours plus, so what more can one expect from a simplistic little action film? Norwegian viewers might understandably get a little annoyed by the bending of facts, but at least movies about Norway's role in the war were made - which can't be said about Sweden. There will never be a movie about Sweden's fight against the Nazis, and this alone should give the Norwegians some satisfaction...IMDb states that both shorter (i.e. butchered) versions of THOF were released in Germany. Hmm, I wonder why...

This movie is supposed to tell the story about how Hitlers atomic bomb plans were stopped. It doesn't, and it doesn't even come close.I was born in Rjukan and spent my first 19 years in that town.The only good that has come out of that movie are a few more tourists.The possibly biggest loss it has caused is the historical falsies that now seem to live better than the historical facts. A close second is the fact that because of the filming, our beautiful stone church built in the 1920's, burnt down. The film company was allowed to store filming equipment in the church, and for some reason this equipment caught fire. All of the interior of the church were destroyed, and replaced with art and furniture contemporary to the 1960's. Also the entire 1st edition of the second volume of "Tinn Soga" or "The history of Tinn" was lost in the fire. It survived the Nazis, but it didn't survive a British film crew. By the way, "Tinn" is the name of local governmental region, called "Kommmune" or commune. In "Tinn", the biggest town is "Rjukan". The name "Vemork" used in the movie, is a correct historical name. All the names in and around Rjukan comes from historical farms and the families that lived there. "Vemork" was the name of the farm where the hydro water plant, the Hydrogen plant, and the heavy water plant ( amongst other things ) were built. Today only the building that contained the hydro water plant still exist, and now houses a museum. The building that housed the Hydrogen plant was removed in the 1970's, and who really cares, for it was such an ugly building. The hydro water plant has been moved deep inside the mountain.Now for the movie. I haven't seen the movie for some time, so I have to take this from memory.The biggest no-no for me was when ( I think it was ) Kirk Douglas took the time to visit his girlfriend down in the valley. That did not happen. I also remember that the geography in the movie was not at all correct. The small community of Vaaer, of which Vemork is part of, is situated about 10 km west of Rjukan. It would not have been possible for the crew to visit Rjukan during the raid. For one thing, it would mean risking the entire mission, as some local Nazis would certainly recognize them. And also, remember that these guys were part of what is now the British SAS ( SOE ). They were too professional to do such a stupid thing.I'm close to my 1000 word limit now, so I have to stop.... Anyway, please comment....