Movies in Brief

In Harm’s Way. There is nothing seriously wrong with producerdirector Otto Preminger’s latest filmed novel, except that it is two hours and forty-five minutes long and seems a little longer. It is also true that the models of Japanese and American ships are too obvious, but Preminger is more interested—too interested—in his huge cast, anyway. He has included one “new face—and body.” (She opens the film, misbehaving at Pearl Harbor, but the morning after is 7 December 1941, and that’s the end of that.) But almost every other face is familiar. The exemplary hero is John Wayne, an admiral named Rock. His intraservice conflict and his Operation Skyhook are successful, and Patricia Neal is waiting for him at the end. Meanwhile, Brandon De Wilde, playing his son, grows up unconvincingly (De Wilde’s specialty), but dies at sea. Other minor characters are more interesting, but there are too many of them. Nothing new, but a very smooth piece of film-making. For some reason, portentous titles that seem designed to suggest a cosmic significance close the film.

Operation Crossbow. First, one of those drastically simplified histories: the Germans develop the V-l and V-2; the English find out, and bomb Peenemünde. Then, a wild, melodramatic elaboration: secret agent George Peppard impersonates an Axis engineer and meets Sophia Loren, but manages to get on with it, into the Germans’ secret underground factory; he takes over the power house and opens the hangar and signals the RAF just as the New York rocket is launched . . . . (Actually, they did plan a rocket that might have made it.) Blam! Then Churchill makes another speech. The combination of fact and fiction creates the usual strain. Near the end, Peppard asks, “What are you using?” And the German scientist replies, “Alcohol and liquid oxygen.” “Alcohol and liquid oxygen,” says Peppard, obviously memorizing the secret formula. Director Michael Anderson has done this sort of thing before, and handles it well; his cast is as notable as Preminger’s, and he is particularly good with the gadgets and models when the script allows.

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Richard M. Hodgens

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In Harm’s Way. There is nothing seriously wrong with producerdirector Otto Preminger’s latest filmed novel, except that it is two hours and forty-five minutes long and seems a little longer. It is also true that the models of Japanese and American ships are too obvious, but Preminger is more interested—too interested—in his huge cast, anyway. He has included one “new face—and body.” (She opens the film, misbehaving at Pearl Harbor, but the morning after is 7 December 1941, and that’s the end of that.) But almost every other face is familiar. The exemplary hero is John Wayne, an admiral named Rock. His intraservice conflict and his Operation Skyhook are successful, and Patricia Neal is waiting for him at the end. Meanwhile, Brandon De Wilde, playing his son, grows up unconvincingly (De Wilde’s specialty), but dies at sea. Other minor characters are more interesting, but there are too many of them. Nothing new, but a very smooth piece of film-making. For some reason, portentous titles that seem designed to suggest a cosmic significance close the film.

Operation Crossbow. First, one of those drastically simplified histories: the Germans develop the V-l and V-2; the English find out, and bomb Peenemünde. Then, a wild, melodramatic elaboration: secret agent George Peppard impersonates an Axis engineer and meets Sophia Loren, but manages to get on with it, into the Germans’ secret underground factory; he takes over the power house and opens the hangar and signals the RAF just as the New York rocket is launched . . . . (Actually, they did plan a rocket that might have made it.) Blam! Then Churchill makes another speech. The combination of fact and fiction creates the usual strain. Near the end, Peppard asks, “What are you using?” And the German scientist replies, “Alcohol and liquid oxygen.” “Alcohol and liquid oxygen,” says Peppard, obviously memorizing the secret formula. Director Michael Anderson has done this sort of thing before, and handles it well; his cast is as notable as Preminger’s, and he is particularly good with the gadgets and models when the script allows.