Commandos Strike at Dawn ** (1942, Paul Muni, Anna Lee, Lillian Gish, Cedric Hardwicke, Robert Coote, Ray Collins) – Classic Movie Review 13,084

Lillian Gish.

The sincere and valuable 1942 war film Commandos Strike at Dawn stars Paul Muni, Anna Lee, Lillian Gish and Cedric Hardwicke. It was rush released at the end of 1942 as a morale booster after the disastrous Dieppe Raid.

Director John Farrow’s sincere, and at the time valuable 1942 war film Commandos Strike at Dawn stars Paul Muni, Anna Lee, Lillian Gish, Cedric Hardwicke, Robert Coote, and Ray Collins. The film was rush released at the end of 1942 as a morale booster after the disastrous Allied amphibious attack on the German-occupied port of Dieppe in northern France on 19 August 1942.

Norwegian and British commandos, led by Norway’s man Erik Toresen (Paul Muni), strike at the Nazis in this interesting, sometimes involving, but overall rather routine and somewhat sentimental war action picture based on a C S Forester tale, inspired by the 1941 commando raids in Norway.

Widower Erik Toresen forms a Resistance group after the Nazis occupy his Norwegian fishing village. He kills the head Nazi, escapes to Britain, and guides British Commandos to attack a secret airstrip the Nazis are building on the coast of Norway.

Irwin Shaw’s conscientious and well-meaning script importantly supports Norway’s wartime plight, and the wartime effort in Europe, and director Farrow has the advantage of spectacular Newfoundland and British Columbia locations. It is worth a look too for the fascinating, strangely assorted cast of actors, some of them oddly and awkwardly cast. And it is now of some considerable worth as a time capsule.

Irwin Shaw scripts from C S Forester’s short story The Commandos, which was first printed in Cosmopolitan magazine in June 1942.

It is filmed in Canada, in the Greater Victoria area. Saanich Inlet stands in for Norwegian fjords. The airstrip became the Victoria International Airport. he wharf scenes are shot at Hall’s Boat House (now Goldstream Marina). The Canadian Army provided troops and military equipment, and the Royal Canadian Air Force provided aircraft.

It is narrated by Lester Cowan.

The cast are Paul Muni as Eric Toresen, Anna Lee as Judith Bowen, Lillian Gish as Mrs Bergesen, Cedric Hardwicke as Admiral Bowen, Ray Collins as Johan Bergesen, Robert Coote as Robert Bowen, Rosemary DeCamp as Hilma Arnesen, Alexander Knox as German Captain, Elisabeth Fraser as Anna Korstad, Richard Derr as Gunnar Korstad, Erville Alderson as Johan Garme, Barbara Everest as Mrs Olav, Rod Cameron as Pastor, Louis Jean Heydt as Karl Arnesen, George Macready as Schoolteacher, Ann Carter as Solveig Toresen, Arthur Margetson as German Colonel, Lloyd Bridges as Young German Soldier, Walter Sande, Elizabeth Frazer, Ferdinand Munier and Philip Van Zandt.

Commandos Strike at Dawn is directed by John Farrow, runs 100 minutes, is made by Columbia Pictures, is distributed by Columbia Picture, is written by Irwin Shaw, based on C S Forester’s short story The Commandos, is shot in black and white by William C Mellor is produced by Sam Wood and Buddy G DeSylva, and is scored by Louis Gruenberg and John Leipold.

Release date: December 30, 1942.

The score by opera composer Louis Gruenberg and an uncredited John Leipold was nominated for an Academy Award.

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 13,084

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