TWO MEN WENT TO WAR 2002
This World War Two film with a light comic touch is based on a true story.
It is 1942 and two soldiers, Kenneth Cranham and Leo Bill are afraid the war will pass them by without getting into the action. Cranham is a WW One veteran now charged with training recruits to march etc. He has just been told he is too old for active service. Leo Bill is a trainee dentist in the Army Dental Corp. He knows he will never get near the actual combat.
Cranham decides to prove the Army wrong. He comes up with a scheme to go to France and destroy the German battle cruiser, Scharhornst, in Breast harbour. Private Bill meets Cranham when the two accidentally blow-up an ammunition bunker. The explosion is blamed on a passing German bomber. Cranham's plans change went the Scharnhorst escapes up the channel back to Germany.
Cranham grabs up Bill one night as well as several pistols and a rucksack full of grenades. They are going to invade France and do what damage they can. Before they set off, Cranham mails Bill's and his own pay-book to Winston Churchill. He includes a letter explaining what they intend to do.
Now they leave camp and head to the coast. Stealing a small fishing boat, they set sail for France. After nearly being ran down by a passing ship in a fog bank, they hit land on France. At first, the pair believe they might have got lost in the fog, and circled back to England. They quickly find out they have reached France and just barely escape a German patrol.
The pair now begin their campaign against the Third Reich, by cutting various telephone lines etc. They then accidentally cause the destruction of a German train by fiddling with the levers at a rail switching booth. Next the pair stumble onto a German radar station. They use the rest of their grenades to cause as much damage as possible before escaping on a German motorcycle.
Needless to say, our intrepid pair return to their small boat, and set sail for England. They however have the bad luck to run out of fuel and then hit a floating mine. Rescued by a UK Air-Sea rescue launch, they are returned to England.
Of course nobody believes their tale and they are soon up on desertion charges. The only thing that saves them, is that the letter finally made it through to Churchill's office. Plus that there had been a Commando raid on the same German Radar station that same night. The whole film is played out with a slight comic tone which works rather well.
The film is not a world beater by any means. It could have done with a shorter runtime and a tighter story. It did however kill an evening in front of the television, as well as supply a few laughs.
This World War Two film with a light comic touch is based on a true story.
It is 1942 and two soldiers, Kenneth Cranham and Leo Bill are afraid the war will pass them by without getting into the action. Cranham is a WW One veteran now charged with training recruits to march etc. He has just been told he is too old for active service. Leo Bill is a trainee dentist in the Army Dental Corp. He knows he will never get near the actual combat.
Cranham decides to prove the Army wrong. He comes up with a scheme to go to France and destroy the German battle cruiser, Scharhornst, in Breast harbour. Private Bill meets Cranham when the two accidentally blow-up an ammunition bunker. The explosion is blamed on a passing German bomber. Cranham's plans change went the Scharnhorst escapes up the channel back to Germany.
Cranham grabs up Bill one night as well as several pistols and a rucksack full of grenades. They are going to invade France and do what damage they can. Before they set off, Cranham mails Bill's and his own pay-book to Winston Churchill. He includes a letter explaining what they intend to do.
Now they leave camp and head to the coast. Stealing a small fishing boat, they set sail for France. After nearly being ran down by a passing ship in a fog bank, they hit land on France. At first, the pair believe they might have got lost in the fog, and circled back to England. They quickly find out they have reached France and just barely escape a German patrol.
The pair now begin their campaign against the Third Reich, by cutting various telephone lines etc. They then accidentally cause the destruction of a German train by fiddling with the levers at a rail switching booth. Next the pair stumble onto a German radar station. They use the rest of their grenades to cause as much damage as possible before escaping on a German motorcycle.
Needless to say, our intrepid pair return to their small boat, and set sail for England. They however have the bad luck to run out of fuel and then hit a floating mine. Rescued by a UK Air-Sea rescue launch, they are returned to England.
Of course nobody believes their tale and they are soon up on desertion charges. The only thing that saves them, is that the letter finally made it through to Churchill's office. Plus that there had been a Commando raid on the same German Radar station that same night. The whole film is played out with a slight comic tone which works rather well.
The film is not a world beater by any means. It could have done with a shorter runtime and a tighter story. It did however kill an evening in front of the television, as well as supply a few laughs.