The Secret Invasion (1964)

Very disappointing...

hyped garbage

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

British officer Major Richard Mace recruits a bunch of convicted criminals in to a carrying out a secret mission that involves rescuing an Italian General being held hostage by the Nazis in Yugoslavia . If they succeed they'll be granted a pardon . If they fail they won't have to worry about living long enough to be sent back to jail because this is a literal suicide mission The above premise is very similar to THE DIRTY DOZEN a fact reflected that everyone on this page has brought up the 1967 film directed by Robert Aldrich . Of course there's only so many ways you can deal a pack of cards so sooner or later premises are going to meet one another and the 1960s were full of movies where desperate men were conscripted in to carrying out suicide missions behind enemy lines . THE SECRET INVASION probably didn't have much or any influence over THE DIRTY DOZEN and perhaps this 1964 movie owes more to the 1961 big budget release THE GUNS OF NAVERONE ? Where THE DIRTY DOZEN succeeds is that the group of soldiers turned criminals turned back in to soldiers again are far more convincing than the ones seen here . You want a demolition expert then who better than Mickey Rooney who shockingly was only 44 when this movie was released but looks like a man at least 20 years older . You do get the impression that his character would have a problem running up a flight of stairs never mind taking part in a physically draining mission against the Nazis THE SECRET INVASION is directed by Roger Corman and that alone tells you what the production values are going to be like . The action scenes aren't handled well with three or four actors squeezed in to frame as bullets whizz past explosions take place out of shot that fails to convince the audience that an epic battle scene is taking place . That said the resolution to the mission is somewhat surprising and unexpected which means if the film had a bigger budget then it might have been held in higher regard than it actually is

The Secret Invasion (1964) ** (out of 4)Raf Vallone, Mickey Rooney, Edd Byrnes, Henry Silva and William Campbell play convicts who are given an opportunity for parole but to do so they must cross into enemy territory and rescue an Italian general who is being held hostage during WWII. By that description you'd think this Roger Corman film was nothing more than a rip-off of THE DIRTY DOZEN but it would be important to check the dates because this one here was actually released three years before the more popular film. With that said, if THE DIRTY DOZEN was a reworking or remake of this then it was certainly needed because while this film might look good it offers very little else. I was a little surprised to see how flat this movie was but I think it lacks any real emotion and a lot of this is due to the screenplay. The screenplay gives us five characters that we're supposed to care for yet not one of them grows on the viewer to where you care about their situation or really if they live or die in the end. Going on this mission with five characters that you really don't like pretty much stops this film in its tracks. Even worse is that most of them are pretty annoying and this is especially true of the Rooney character. I'm guessing he was meant to give some comedy relief but it's never funny. Silva comes off the best out of the five convicts but it's too bad he wasn't given more screen time. Stewart Granger plays the man leading them into battle but he can't really bring any added excitement to the material. For such a low budget movie the battle scenes at least look very good with the various gunfights and explosions. I also thought the cinematography was impressive but in the end this here just isn't enough to save the film.

Now Secret Invasion isn't in the same league as The Dirty Dozen in terms of Production, but for its low budget, it's worth a watch. 3 years before the Dirty Dozen, Secret Invasion was first in the "Prisoners who get a 2nd chance so they hand pick 5 to carry out a secret mission" fighting the Nazi's storyline. Of course in here there are only 5 but for what you get, it's an entertaining yarn.Whats great about this little war movie is the actual settings in Yugoslavia and Croatia and not some Hollywood sound stage. Real landscapes and authentic people from the area make a decent watch. If you happen upon this little title, grab it and watch, you'll probably like it.

Although producer/director Roger Corman is known for his "economical" pictures, this World War II actioner belies its $600,000 budget (small by conventional Hollywood standards, but an epic for Corman) and is a well-acted, tightly directed, enjoyable not-quite-so-little picture. The story of a group of misfit Allied soldiers sent to rescue an important Italian general who has been imprisoned by the Nazis, Corman makes good use of the Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia, locations and a cast consisting of much better actors then he usually got, especially Mickey Rooney, Stewart Granger and Henry Silva (in an outstanding performance as a taciturn, deadly killer who isn't quite as cold-blooded as he seems). Even Edd Byrnes is far less annoying than usual, and turns in a good job. The action scenes are very well handled, the picture looks much more expensive than its budget would indicate, and it actually garnered some of the best reviews of Corman's career up to that time, and deservedly so. It's a good one (and compares favorably to "The Dirty Dozen," which it preceded). Check it out.