Battle of the V-1
1958 film
- 25 August 1958 (1958-08-25) (UK)
Running time
Battle of the V-1 (also known as Battle of the V.1, Battle of the V1, Missiles from Hell and Unseen Heroes[1]) is a British war film from 1958, starring Michael Rennie, Patricia Medina, Milly Vitale, David Knight and Christopher Lee. It is based on the novel They Saved London (1955), by Bernard Newman.[2]
Plot
The film tells the story of a Polish Resistance group, which discovers details of the manufacture of the German V-1 'Flying Bomb' at Peenemünde in 1943. Liaising with service chiefs in London, the group manage to pass on enough information to convince them to launch a bombing raid and, in the climax to the film, are able to steal a V-1 which lands in a field during testing and arrange for its transport back to the United Kingdom.
Messages are got out from the camp via the dentist (at the loss of one tooth). The Poles are warned that a British bombing raid on Peenemünde is imminent and that they should prepare to escape during the raid.
Following their escape, the second part of the film looks at the attempts to find an entire V-1 to send back to Britain. They are eventually rewarded by an unexploded V-1 landing in a field which they quickly conceal from the German search team. Through convoluted means, they send the dismantled weapon back to Britain just before the critical first use of this terrible weapon.
Cast
- Michael Rennie as Stefan
- Patricia Medina as Zofia
- Milly Vitale as Anna
- David Knight as Tadek
- Esmond Knight as Stricker
- Christopher Lee as Brunner
- John G. Heller as Fritz
- Carl Jaffe as General
- Peter Madden as Stanislaw
- George Pravda as Karewski
- Gordon Sterne as Margraaf
- Carl Duering as Scientist
- Harold Siddons as Wing Commander Searby - Master Bomber
- George Pastell as Eryk
- Henry Vidon as Konim
- Jan Conrad as Wlodek
- Tom Clegg as Anton
- Geoffrey Chater as Minister of Defence
- Julian Somers as Reichfuhrer
- Gertan Klauber as SS Guard - Dentist's surgery (uncredited)
- Richard Pearson as Senior RAF Officer (uncredited)
- Frank Thornton as British Scientist (uncredited)
- Patrick Waddington as Air Marshal (uncredited)
Reception
Sewell said the film "made a fortune".[3]
See also
References
External links
- Battle of the V-1 at IMDb
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Films directed by Vernon Sewell
- Morgenrot (1933)
- The Silver Fleet (1943)
- The World Owes Me a Living (1945)
- Latin Quarter (1945)
- The Ghosts of Berkeley Square (1947)
- Uneasy Terms (1948)
- The Jack of Diamonds (1949)
- The Dark Light (1951)
- The Black Widow (1951)
- The Floating Dutchman (1952)
- Ghost Ship (1952)
- Counterspy (1953)
- Dangerous Voyage (1954)
- Radio Cab Murder (1954)
- Where There's a Will (1955)
- Johnny, You're Wanted (1956)
- Soho Incident (1956)
- Home and Away (1956)
- Rogue's Yarn (1957)
- Battle of the V-1 (1958)
- Wrong Number (1959)
- Urge to Kill (1960)
- House of Mystery (1961)
- The Wind of Change (1961)
- The Man in the Back Seat (1961)
- Strongroom (1962)
- A Matter of Choice (1963)
- Strictly for the Birds (1964)
- Some May Live (1967)
- The Blood Beast Terror (1968)
- Curse of the Crimson Altar (1968)
- Burke & Hare (1972)
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