The Secret Invasion *** (1964, Stewart Granger, Raf Vallone, Henry Silva, Mickey Rooney, Edd Byrnes, William Campbell) – Classic Movie Review 7744

The original film poster for The Secret Invasion (1964) by Howard Terpning.

Director Roger Corman and writer R Wright Campbell rework their story for Corman’s first film as director, the 1955 Western Five Guns West as a 1964 World War Two wartime mission action thriller involving convicts, in which a five-man team of no-hopers (Raf Vallone, Henry Silva, Mickey Rooney, Edd Byrnes, William Campbell) are let out of jail and sent by British officer Major Richard Mace (Stewart Granger) on a mission behind enemy lines in Dubrovnik to rescue an Italian general from the Nazis in return for their freedom.

The Secret Invasion is a predictable but colourful and efficiently crafted addition to the prisoners-win-parole genre, effectively directed in Yugoslavia by Corman, affectionately known as the King of the Drive-Ins.

With such little pretense of originality, it could have been called ‘The Dirty Nearly Half-Dozen’, though it was made three years before the success of the very similar The Dirty Dozen, and deserves praise, fame and credibility as its way less famous antecedent. Cinematographer Arthur E Arling shoots in Panavision and Eastmancolor, making it look good on the Yugoslavia locations.

The main cast are Stewart Granger, Raf Vallone, Henry Silva, Mickey Rooney, Edd Byrnes, William Campbell, Mia Massini [Spela Rozin], Peter Coe, Nan Morris, Helmuth Schneider, Craig March, Helmo Kindermann, Enzo Fiermonte, Giulio Marchetti, Nicholas Rend, Todd Williams, Charles Brent, Richard Johns, Kurt Bricker and Katrina Rozan.

The Secret Invasion is directed by Roger Corman, runs 96 minutes, is made by San Carlos Productions and The Corman Company, is released by United Artists, is written by R Wright Campbell, shot in Panavision and Eastmancolor by Arthur E Arling, produced by Gene Corman, scored by Hugo Friedhofer and designed by John Murray.

Campbell’s script Dubious Patriots was taken up by producer David V Picker at United Artists, who turned it into a well-financed studio production with a budget of $600,000, more than twice that of Corman’s independently funded films.

Corman had trouble dealing with the difficult Granger, who considered himself ‘stooping to make a B film’ and found himself having to rewrite Granger’s part on the set so that he had more lines than co-star Edd Byrnes.

In a very busy period of a busy life, Corman started production between his Edgar Allan Poe films The Masque of the Red Death (1964) and The Tomb of Ligeia (1964).

Dubrovnik is featured in The Secret Invasion (1964).

The principal shoot on location in Dubrovnik and other parts of Yugoslavia lasted only 36 days in summer 1963. Dubrovnik and its medieval fortresses Lovrijenac and Bokar, as well as the Minčeta Tower, are featured in the film. A large number of military personnel and equipment was offered by the Yugoslavian government but the troops were taken away to help an earthquake relief effort, giving Corman problems wrangling military extras.

It is released on a double feature DVD [Region 1] [US Import] with Von Richthofen and Brown [The Red Baron] (1971).

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7744

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