The Heroes of Telemark ** (1965, Kirk Douglas, Richard Harris, Ulla Jacobsson, Roy Dotrice, Anton Diffring, Michael Redgrave, Eric Porter) – Classic Movie Review 7464

Director Anthony Mann’s 1965 well-meaning but struggling World War Two Norwegian Resistance movie The Heroes of Telemark stars Kirk Douglas, Richard Harris, Ulla Jacobsson, Roy Dotrice, Anton Diffring, Michael Redgrave and Eric Porter.

Dr Rolf Pedersen (Douglas) spars with Knut Straud (Harris) and leads a group of brave Norwegian Resistance workers who plan to blow up a Nazi heavy water plant, making an atomic bomb component, in German-occupied Norway. Their vital mission, as the poster tells us, is to stop the Nazis developing the atom bomb.

The Heroes of Telemark tells a reasonably enjoyable wartime adventure story, with good action sequences and striking location filming, but director Mann’s skilled expertise in Westerns and epics might lead you to expect something more distinguished, cleverer and more exciting. The main problem is the sticky, undynamic screenplay by Ivan Moffat and Ben Barzman, often laid low with some horribly flat and dull dialogue.

The energetic acting from the two manly main stars helps, though a surprisingly forlorn-seeming Redgrave as Uncle and Swedish actress Jacobsson as Anna Pedersen are none too convincing. Still it is those spectacular landscapes you remember, and Robert Krasker’s grand Technicolor cinematography makes the most of them.

Film star Sigrid Gurie’s twin brother Knut Haukelid gained fame as a war hero as a leader of the Norwegian Resistance during World War Two and his story is told here in which he is played by Richard Harris as Knut Straud.

The Heroes of Telemark also features Mervyn Johns, David Weston, Sebastina Breaks, John Golightly, Alan Howard, Patrick Jordan, William Marlowe, Brook Williams, Ralph Michael, Wolfe Frees, Karel Stepanek, Geoffrey Keen, Maurice Denham, Gerald Heinz, Victor Beaumont, George Murcell, Barry Jones, Robert Ayres, Jennifer Hilary, Philo Hauser, Faith Brook, Elvi Hale, Russell Waters and David Davies.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7464

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