Ill Met By Moonlight [DVD]

Made in 1957 and also known as "Night Ambush", this is a good, solid, honest black-and-white British war film relating an almost unbelievable but true story. Below, more of my impressions, with some SPOILERS.1. The true storyIn the night of 26 April 1944, on occupied Crete, a mixed British and Greek commando from Special Operations Executive (SOE) captured General Heinrich Kreipe, one of the highest ranking German officers on the island. Eluding all German attempts to find them thanks to the support of Cretan anti-Axis guerillas and local population, SOE soldiers managed to escape from the island and bring the captured general to Cairo.Even if general Kreipe was immediately replaced and the whole island of Crete remained in German hands until the end of war, this operation was nevertheless a good propaganda coup and a welcome morale booster for allied cause - it also certainly embarassed, humiliated and infuriated German leadership... Very exceptionally, as the whole operation was bloodless, Germans for this one time didn't take any reprisals against Cretan civilians - making it one of the extremely rare light-hearted episodes of WWII.All protagonists survived the war and they actually met one more time - in 1972 in Greece, for a special TV show about the whole incident.2. The filmThe whole episode being free of human tragedy and indeed containing some quasi-humouristic elements, it was the right decision for the director to make this film in a lighter tonation than most of true war-time stories. The main protagonist, British SOE Major Patrick Leigh Fermor (played by Dirk Bogarde), who was nicknamed "Philedem" (I am not certain what that means) by his Cretan comrades, is a typical English eccentric, elaborately negligent in his outside appearance, but also perfectly well educated and every inch a gentleman - dashing and fearless he is also so popular that local population makes songs about him... His men, both British and Greek, are highly efficient and well trained soldiers, but in some aspects they look also a little like a bunch of pirates - and they seem to consider this war, at least on the surface of things, like good sport...)))This film wouldn't be so good without the excellent performance by Marius Goring (he was British and it was his REAL name) who plays General Kreipe, a highly dignified man and professional officer aged 50, who for obvious reasons is REALLY not happy about the whole situation and will do his best to stay civil, preserve his dignity but also give some hard time to his captors... From what I could gather about the real general Kreipe, he was actually not such a bad fellow and even if he fought very hard on the Eastern Front and then went to garrison duty on an occupied island swarming with guerillas, he was never even accused (even least convicted) of any war crimes. Marius Goring portrayed him very well indeed and it really contributed to the success of this film.If you make an effort, you can notice both Christopher Lee and David McCallum in small cameos - the former playing quite obviously a particularly nasty German officer...)))There is virtually no fighting in this film, so if you need such thing in your war movies, you will not like this one. A large part of the film is actually about hiking in the mountain wilderness - with some verbal sniping and some quite good jokes, especially about one of SOE soldiers who stubbornly refuses to wash - AT ALL!This is not some kind of great masterpiece, but a good and I believe mostly accurate account of a true war-time story, one which exceptionally was bloodless and tragedy-free. I liked it and I will keep the DVD. Enjoy!

This is a true account of the fighting on Crete during the Second World War, when a small group of Englishmen were fighting alongside the Andarte - the Cretan Partisans.Patrick Leigh Fermor (known as Paddy) was the hero of the hour, when he pulled off the kidnap of the German General, Kreipe, who was running the operations on Crete for the Nazis.This film deals with the plans for the kidnap, the weeks of hiding from the pursuing Germans (determined to recover their General) and the eventual arrival of a boat to take him to Cairo, along with his captors.Although this action did not alter the goings-on during those terrible years on Crete, it was a great morale boost to the Allies, as the Germans were absolutely humiliated by the daring kidnap of their man in charge. The kidnap was originally planned because the German in charge was a cruel butcher, but when he was transferred, and replaced by Kreipe, Paddy Fermor and his band of men, decided to go ahead with the plan, even though General Kreipe was a much kinder man, well educated, spoke perfect English, and had a lot in common with Patrick Leigh Fermor.Paddy Fermor was a lifelong friend of Deborah, Duchess of Devonshire, and I have just read the book about their lively and very funny correspondence. They wrote to each other often, over a span of over sixty years. It was in this book that I discoverd the facts about the kidnapping on Crete, and ordered the film to fill in the gaps.Ill Met By Moonlight is a very good film, and I enjoyed it very much.

I have the escape route they used across Crete on a GPS file (They have a marathon run along the route) and fully intend to follow it on a trail bike when we can travel again. Crete is a brilliant place as long as you stay on the left of the island (WEST CRETE) . The film is good and worth the view. A bit mild as the invaders were far worse than portrayed. But watch the film, read the book and visit the island. It's like Corfu was in the 70's before it was spoilt. Food is fantastic and the people (in the West) are very friendly, helpful and pleasant. Tip Waves on the Rock new apartments and The Old Phoenix Hotel... Top floor rooms if you can, and yes with GPS it is possible and exciting to get there in a 4x4. Watch the film, read the book and go as soon as you can. Rent a 4x4 and travel. It's utterly captivating.

Very good 'Period Piece' based upon a true story showcasing the emergent talent of Dirk Bogarde as an alternative to the famous 'Doctor' films he made during the 1950s and early 60's before he became more 'arty' than entertainment biased within European cinema. Some of his films during this period were very good, others in my humble opinion were not!.As mentioned in other reviews, colour case but film is B&W and better for it as the transfer to DVD is sympathetic, evocative and of very good technical quality. This is not a 'Blockbuster' it's just a modest, simple, pleasing and most enjoyable 'British Wet Sunday Afternoon' indulgence.(Slight 'location' spoiler coming up).The film was predominantly shot in the South of France in the Maritime Alps behind the directors house! Its so well done though that you really would not know if you had not already read Bogarde's wonderful autobiographical books; better it must be said than much of his cinematic output.He was indeed a truly gifted and much missed actor and author.