THE RED BERET 1953
This 1953 Technicolor war film about British paratroopers was produced by Warwick Films and released through Columbia Pictures. The film stars Alan Ladd, Leo Genn, Donald Houston, Harry Andrews, Susan Stephen and Anton Diffring.
The film starts in 1940 at a training base in the UK. The lead, Alan Ladd, is an American who had joined up in Canada to get into the war. The recruits are all going through some rigorous training designed to weed out the less qualified.
Ladd, has a run in with one of the instructors, Stanley Baker, and shows the man up. This draws the attention of the senior officer in charge, Leo Genn. He marks Ladd as a possible officer type.
Ladd soon strikes up a friendship with one of the female parachute packers, Susan Stephen. Ladd, is the loner type and the two have sort of a love hate relationship. The instructor Ladd had a run with, Stanley Baker, is killed in a training accident. This seems to have a change on Ladd.
The men who survive the training are chomping at the bit for a spot of real action. The Regiment is soon assigned to be part of a raid on occupied France. They are to drop on a German radar station and steal secret components from the radar equipment.
The raid comes off, but not without a hitch or two. Several of the paratroopers are killed and others are captured. The men head to the sea for rescue by the Royal Navy. The pick-up is a close run thing with the Germans in hot pursuit.
It is now November 1942 and the Regiment has a new mission. The Allies have just landed in North Africa and are now in the rear of the Rommel's Africa Korps. The Regiment is to be dropped in front of the advancing Allies. The Paras are to destroy an important airbase before the German can use it.
The drop happens but there is a slight problem. The German types have already occupied the base. A first rate donnybrook is needed to chase the German crowd off. Explosives are now laid and the base is put out of commission for when the German's take the base back. The surviving paratroopers now take off on foot towards the advancing Allied forces.
Needless to say the German are not amused with the idea, and set off after the Paras. They corner the Brits on a minefield and it looks like the end of the Regiment. The Paras are taking more than a few losses when Ladd comes up with a plan. He uses a captured German panzerschreck (bazooka) to blow a path through the minefield. Ladd's action and the timely arrival of the Allied forces save the paras from being wiped out.
An interesting film that plays out better than one is expecting. The film is based on a non-fiction book of the same title. It was the first of three films Ladd would make for producers, Irving Allen and Albert R Broccoli's company. The other two were THE BLACK KNIGHT and HELL BELOW ZERO. Broccoli would become famous as the producer of the James Bond films.
The direction was by another Bond regular, Terence Young. Young would be the helmsman on three of the first four Bond films. Another Bond type, screenwriter, Richard Maibaum adapts from the H.S.G. Sanders book. Maibaum wrote the screenplays for 13 of the Bond films.
The film was a massive money maker bringing in 7 million over production costs. (Ladd cleaned up as he had a deal for 10 percent of the profits over 2 million dollars) The film was released the same year as Ladd's masterful turn in the western, SHANE.
This 1953 Technicolor war film about British paratroopers was produced by Warwick Films and released through Columbia Pictures. The film stars Alan Ladd, Leo Genn, Donald Houston, Harry Andrews, Susan Stephen and Anton Diffring.
The film starts in 1940 at a training base in the UK. The lead, Alan Ladd, is an American who had joined up in Canada to get into the war. The recruits are all going through some rigorous training designed to weed out the less qualified.
Ladd, has a run in with one of the instructors, Stanley Baker, and shows the man up. This draws the attention of the senior officer in charge, Leo Genn. He marks Ladd as a possible officer type.
Ladd soon strikes up a friendship with one of the female parachute packers, Susan Stephen. Ladd, is the loner type and the two have sort of a love hate relationship. The instructor Ladd had a run with, Stanley Baker, is killed in a training accident. This seems to have a change on Ladd.
The men who survive the training are chomping at the bit for a spot of real action. The Regiment is soon assigned to be part of a raid on occupied France. They are to drop on a German radar station and steal secret components from the radar equipment.
The raid comes off, but not without a hitch or two. Several of the paratroopers are killed and others are captured. The men head to the sea for rescue by the Royal Navy. The pick-up is a close run thing with the Germans in hot pursuit.
It is now November 1942 and the Regiment has a new mission. The Allies have just landed in North Africa and are now in the rear of the Rommel's Africa Korps. The Regiment is to be dropped in front of the advancing Allies. The Paras are to destroy an important airbase before the German can use it.
The drop happens but there is a slight problem. The German types have already occupied the base. A first rate donnybrook is needed to chase the German crowd off. Explosives are now laid and the base is put out of commission for when the German's take the base back. The surviving paratroopers now take off on foot towards the advancing Allied forces.
Needless to say the German are not amused with the idea, and set off after the Paras. They corner the Brits on a minefield and it looks like the end of the Regiment. The Paras are taking more than a few losses when Ladd comes up with a plan. He uses a captured German panzerschreck (bazooka) to blow a path through the minefield. Ladd's action and the timely arrival of the Allied forces save the paras from being wiped out.
An interesting film that plays out better than one is expecting. The film is based on a non-fiction book of the same title. It was the first of three films Ladd would make for producers, Irving Allen and Albert R Broccoli's company. The other two were THE BLACK KNIGHT and HELL BELOW ZERO. Broccoli would become famous as the producer of the James Bond films.
The direction was by another Bond regular, Terence Young. Young would be the helmsman on three of the first four Bond films. Another Bond type, screenwriter, Richard Maibaum adapts from the H.S.G. Sanders book. Maibaum wrote the screenplays for 13 of the Bond films.
The film was a massive money maker bringing in 7 million over production costs. (Ladd cleaned up as he had a deal for 10 percent of the profits over 2 million dollars) The film was released the same year as Ladd's masterful turn in the western, SHANE.