The Heroes of Telemark (1965)

Sick Product of a Sick System

Load of rubbish!!

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

After missing the chance to see it a few years ago,I had hoped that Telemark would be screened to celebrate Kirk Douglas's 100th birthday,but only found a screening of his interesting Film Noir Out of the Past. Finding almost nothing on TV during the Easter holidays,I was pleased to spot this title getting shown again,which led to me at last meeting the heroes of Telemark.The plot:Nazi-Occupied Norway.Learning that the Nazis are starting to develop material to build an atomic bomb, Norwegian resistance fighters Dr Rolf Pedersen/ Knut Straud and Anna Pedersen decide that they must snow the Nazis in before they succeed in their plan. After gathering a team for the mission,the group discover that one of the team has secretly accepted a deal from the Nazis. View on the film:Very loosely based on the real Telemark operation,the screenplay by Ivan Moffat/ Ben Barzman/Knut Haukelid and John Drummond aims for WWII men on a mission with parts of the popular post-Dr.No Euro Spy genre. Rolling the tanks for over two hours,the writers struggle to keep any tension on track,with the group treating the risk of an atomic bomb being built in a relaxed,Boys Own Adventure manner. Walking on the bridge of espionage tension for the ending,the writers disappointingly fail to get the viewer fully involved with the groups spying,by leaving each of them as thinly drawn archetypes. Targeting the Nazis under mountains of Norwegian snow, Kirk Douglas gives a good, chiselled performance as Rolf, whilst Ulla Jacobsson gives the flick a touch of sweeping romance as Rolf's spy love Anna. Notably keeping a distance from getting up close and personal in the mission with an extensive of wide shots, director Anthony Mann & cinematographer Robert Krasker (who both worked on El Cid earlier) keep track of the mission with shots gliding along the snow covered mountains of Norway,as the heroes of Telemark make their mark.

Based on the true story of the Norwegian heavy water sabotage during World War II . Kirk Douglas plays Rolf Pedersen, a Norwegian physics professor, who, though originally content to wait out the war, is soon pulled into the struggle by local resistance leader Knut Straud (based on Knut Haukelid, portrayed by Richard Harris). Their assignment results to be to stop the Nazis from developing the atom bomb . They are both smuggled to England to have microfilmed plans of the Hydro examined, and then return to Norway to plan a commando raid on the Hydro. When a force of Royal Engineers, who were to carry it out, are all killed, Petersen and Straud lead a small force of saboteurs into the plant. The raid is successful, but the Germans quickly repair the equipment. They then plan to ship tankers of heavy water to Germany. Petersen and Straud sabotage a ferry carrying the tankers, and it sinks in the deepest part of a fjord.This rousing film packs noisy action , high adventure , frozen hell , dramatic events , and wonderful outdoors from Norway . Although this movie takes liberties with some historical facts, some technical details are surprisingly correct given that it was made 20 years after the war: The car used by the Norwegians is fitted with a "generator" converting wood to natural gas , as petrol was in short supply, civilian cars were not allowed to run on real petrol. All-star-cast and excellent secondary actors formed mostly by British actors as Michael Redgrave , Barry Jones , Anton Driffing , Roy Dotrice , Maurice Denham , Geoffrey Keen and many others . It was filmed on location in Norway splendidly photographed by Robert Krasker , furthermore in Pinewood Studios . The motion picture was well directed by Anthony Mann .Other versions about same story was also covered in Ray Mears' documentary entitled The Real Heroes of Telemark . Despite mainly sticking to the factual evidence, some scenes in the documentary, like the film, were partly dramatized ; focusing more on the survival skills involved in the operation the 1948 Franco-Norwegian film Kampen om Tungtvannet , quite faithful to the real events, it even had many of the original Norwegian commandos starring as themselves.Based on a true story , the deeds are the followings : The actual life World War II missions that this film is based on were conducted by Norwegian members of the British Special Operations Executive and resulted in the deaths of thirty British commando soldiers. Some were captured, interrogated, tortured and shot by the Nazi Gestapo whilst some of them died when two gliders crashed during landing in Norway. The Norwegian heavy water sabotage was a series of actions undertaken by Norwegian saboteurs to prevent the German nuclear energy project from acquiring heavy water (deuterium oxide), which could be used to produce nuclear weapons. In 1934, at Vemork, Norsk Hydro built the first commercial plant capable of producing heavy water as a byproduct of fertilizer production . During World War II, the Allies decided to remove the heavy water supply and destroy the heavy water plant in order to inhibit the Nazi development of nuclear weapons. Raids were aimed at the 60-MW Vemork power station at the Rjukan waterfall in Telemark, Norway. The Allies remained concerned that the occupation forces would use the facility to produce more heavy water for their weapons programme. Between 1940 and 1944, a sequence of sabotage actions, by the Norwegian resistance movement—as well as Allied bombing—ensured the destruction of the plant and the loss of the heavy water produced. These operations—codenamed "Grouse," "Freshman," and "Gunnerside"—finally managed to knock the plant out of production in early 1943.In Operation Grouse, the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) successfully placed four Norwegian nationals as an advance team in the region of the Hardanger Plateau above the plant. Later in 1942 the unsuccessful Operation Freshman was mounted by British paratroopers; they were to rendezvous with the Norwegians of Operation Grouse and proceed to Vemork. This attempt failed when the military gliders crashed short of their destination, as did one of the tugs, a Halifax bomber. The other Halifax returned to base, but all the other participants were killed in the crashes or captured, interrogated, and executed by the Gestapo.In 1943, a team of SOE-trained Norwegian commandos succeeded in destroying the production facility with a second attempt, Operation Gunnerside. Operation Gunnerside was later evaluated by SOE as the most successful act of sabotage in WWII .These actions were followed by Allied bombing raids. The Germans elected to cease operation and remove the remaining heavy water to Germany. Norwegian resistance forces sank the ferry, SF Hydro, on Lake Tinnsjø, preventing the heavy water from being removed

As a fan of the 1943 war drama, "Edge of Darkness", I was looking forward to this action movie about Norwegian resistance to Nazi occupation. With leads like Kirk Douglas and Richard Harris, I expected much more than I got. What I did find was a technically superior film that was extremely slow moving. This is a very typical story of people defending their homeland from ruthless conquerors through sabotage and standing together, and is very admirable in that sense. Kirk Douglas's role is not fully developed, a major surprise considering his power in Hollywood at that time. Richard Harris gives a much stronger performance with a well-rounded characterization. There is an excellent scene of sabotage and some beautiful location footage, but those moments are few and far between.

Although often caned for not being truer to the event it presumes to depict, taken as a war movie in its own right, 'Heroes Of Telemark' has plenty to offer.It's typical of Hollywood, both then and now. Kirk Douglas places America centre-stage, but with a great British, German & Scandinavian support. Script is good, scenery is magnificent, location and set-pieces are all up to snuff. The movie is long but well-paced. There's plenty of decent tension. Music and effects play their part well. Base cords relating to the railways are nice and meaty despite the movie's vintage. A sub-woofer is well-rewarded.Downside; the Germans are depicted as being dafter brushes than usual. From time to time I find this jarring. Always they are seen rushing around with a kind of furious impotence, or depicted as schemingly stupid. It's stereotypic that comes close to 'Allo, Allo'. And some times Kirk Douglas's character seems a little too heroic for a scientist.Otherwise, forget its inspiration; this is just a roistering wartime tale after the fashion of 'Where Eagles Dare' or 'The Guns Of Navarone'.