Allan Ladd is an ex American bomber pilot. Having seen his friend die during a pre-war accident, Ladd resigns, poses as a Canadian, and enlists as a private in the British paratroopers. They're the ones who wear a red beret. Kids, in World War II you didn't see berets all over the place as you do now. They were distinctive and the mark of membership in an elite unit.
There were no berets anywhere in the American armed forces, boys and girls. As far as Americans were concerned, berets were only worn by effete Paris Bohemian artists who used cigarette holders, drank espresso at sidewalk cafés, and talked snooty talk about Schopenhauer and Diderot and other high-falutin' Greeks. After America enters the war some GI's show up in England and ridicule Ladd and his funny hat. He decks the big guy.
Anyway, Ladd does okay in jump school, except that he snarls a lot, what with his previous tragic military experience. He knows a lot about how things work but he absolutely rejects any promotion, especially to officer rank, because it involves making decisions about life and death, and he's had enough of that.
He keeps his past a secret from everyone except an attractive young woman he meets and spends the night with. Ladd blames her when his superiors find out about it and conflict ensues.
It's all cleared up after a drop in North Africa. The regiment gets the job done but the leader is wounded. The men find themselves stuck in a mine field, sitting ducks for the Germans, until Ladd figures out a way to explode some of the mines and create a path to safety.
How he manages this is a real jaw dropper. He takes an anti-tank rocket and shoots it into -- or barely above -- the ground leading to safety. A half dozen mines explode each time he fires the weapon, and he fires it three times. The physics elude me. Either the rocket is fired INTO the ground where, if its lucky, it will find one mine to explode. Or the rocket skims the earth and explodes the several mines it's passing over -- somehow. There is of course a third possibility, and the film implies it. The rocket is fired INTO the ground but then continues on its path, burrowing through the earth, a foot or so beneath the surface, for about twenty yards. In that case, in addition to bringing back German radar equipment, the regiment should have brought back the specifications for the anti-tank rocket.
There are some genuinely tense scenes. On their first flight, their jump leader tells the frightened men that it's as easy as falling off a log. He jumps and goes all the way in. Everyone gulps and shudders until Ladd gets them cracking again. The African scenes are obviously shot somewhere in Britain. That bunch grass and black peat are unmistakable. And it's interesting to see Anton Differing fighting on OUR side for once, as a Polish volunteer. But, excuse me, was Stanley Baker's rich Welsh voice dubbed over by somebody else???
It's undemanding, inexpensive, and full of clichés. I kind of enjoyed it.
There were no berets anywhere in the American armed forces, boys and girls. As far as Americans were concerned, berets were only worn by effete Paris Bohemian artists who used cigarette holders, drank espresso at sidewalk cafés, and talked snooty talk about Schopenhauer and Diderot and other high-falutin' Greeks. After America enters the war some GI's show up in England and ridicule Ladd and his funny hat. He decks the big guy.
Anyway, Ladd does okay in jump school, except that he snarls a lot, what with his previous tragic military experience. He knows a lot about how things work but he absolutely rejects any promotion, especially to officer rank, because it involves making decisions about life and death, and he's had enough of that.
He keeps his past a secret from everyone except an attractive young woman he meets and spends the night with. Ladd blames her when his superiors find out about it and conflict ensues.
It's all cleared up after a drop in North Africa. The regiment gets the job done but the leader is wounded. The men find themselves stuck in a mine field, sitting ducks for the Germans, until Ladd figures out a way to explode some of the mines and create a path to safety.
How he manages this is a real jaw dropper. He takes an anti-tank rocket and shoots it into -- or barely above -- the ground leading to safety. A half dozen mines explode each time he fires the weapon, and he fires it three times. The physics elude me. Either the rocket is fired INTO the ground where, if its lucky, it will find one mine to explode. Or the rocket skims the earth and explodes the several mines it's passing over -- somehow. There is of course a third possibility, and the film implies it. The rocket is fired INTO the ground but then continues on its path, burrowing through the earth, a foot or so beneath the surface, for about twenty yards. In that case, in addition to bringing back German radar equipment, the regiment should have brought back the specifications for the anti-tank rocket.
There are some genuinely tense scenes. On their first flight, their jump leader tells the frightened men that it's as easy as falling off a log. He jumps and goes all the way in. Everyone gulps and shudders until Ladd gets them cracking again. The African scenes are obviously shot somewhere in Britain. That bunch grass and black peat are unmistakable. And it's interesting to see Anton Differing fighting on OUR side for once, as a Polish volunteer. But, excuse me, was Stanley Baker's rich Welsh voice dubbed over by somebody else???
It's undemanding, inexpensive, and full of clichés. I kind of enjoyed it.