Tag: WW2

The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (2024)

Posted on by fenrisfil

Guy Ritchie has been on fire in recent years. Releasing “The Gentlemen” in 2019 just as the pandemic was hitting, the movie could have sunk without a trace but instead became a cult classic. It was successful enough to warrant a TV show spin off (Which came out earlier this year). Last year Guy Ritchie released two movies that between them showcased both the serious and the fun sides of his repertoire. Those were the outrageously fun “Operation Fortune” and the intensely serious “The Covenant”. I highly recommend both films. This year Guy Ritchie is aiming firmly at the middle ground with his take on the WW2 covert mission “Operation Postmaster”.

Before we start, one quick moan. Guy Ritchie is an English director and the movie stars Henry Cavill, another Englishman. It is a thoroughly British story about British heroes told by a director that couldn’t be more British in his style if he tried. Yet, everyone in America got the opportunity to see this in the cinema before me. Over here it didn’t even get a cinematic release! This happened with last years releases too and is down to a deal with Amazon. For me that is a real let down. We have a great legacy of movie making in the UK and we should be showcasing our finest talents in our cinemas. Anyway, let’s look at the film shall we?

Churchill’s Secret Warriors

The movie is based on the novel “Churchill’s Secret Warriors: The Explosive True Story of the Special Forces Desperadoes of WWII”. Fortunately Ritchie found an easier to digest title for his film which takes one key section of that book and expands it to feature length, ramping up the action and adding in his own brand of humour. There is also somewhat of a switch on the lead character. The book’s protagonist was Danish war hero Anders Lassen, played here by Alan Ritchson (Star of the TV show “Reacher”). However the movie is very much an ensemble piece and positions Gus March-Phillipps, a founder of the Small Scale Raiding Force, a precursor to the SBS (Special Boat Squadron) as the primary lead. Gus is played by Henry Cavill. The switch makes sense for this story and Lassen actually gets the best action scenes, so no harm done.

There are some historical inaccuracies with some of these characters and of course liberties in how events transpire but nothing out of the ordinary or that gets in the way of the entertainment. I recommend looking up the historical events and characters for yourself after as they are all fascinating. The movie tells the story of the events of “Operation Postmaster”, a covert mission during WW2 to turn the tables on the Nazi U-Boat fleet by robbing them of their supplies. The problem was this involved taking military action in neutral Spanish territory and so had to be done covertly and off the books. This requires an elite team of unconventional thinkers, assembled for the task by career rogue Gus March-Phillipps. Along the way they will need to rescue one of their own from the Gestapo.

The High Stakes of War

This is a fun movie, but not without a flaws. My main issue here is something of a trend in modern action films of never really feeling like the heroes are in genuine danger. Sometimes this is easy to shrug off, such as with The Equalizer III or The Beekeeper. However, I feel a war movie really does need to feel like death is not just a possibility but a likely outcome. It’s worth noting that the novel follows Lassen right up to his heroic death in “Operation Roast”. That would have made for a very different movie and one with more of an emotional impact. Perhaps though, it would have been less fun. Still, I can’t help but feel this should have felt more than a stroll in the park for the heroes.

The movie repeats a few of it’s beats, notably the opening is scene is somewhat replicated towards the end (But no spoilers on how). The primary antagonist of the film, indeed all the antagonists are pretty ineffective. The film tells us they are evil scary people, but we don’t really see much of this on screen. This is not so much of an issue if you go in expecting a heist movie, because that is what it really is. That is firmly in Guy Ritchies wheelhouse. So this is the director doing what he does best, it just has the background of being during WW2. The important thing is that the movie is entertaining.

Heroes

The action is fast paced and exciting. The heroic characters are colourful and each one gets their own moment. Alan Ritchson in particular has some of the most intense action scenes, which confused me a little until I found out his character is the lead of the novel. Indeed he was a true real life bad-ass. Lasson died heroically at the age of 24 after serving his country for six years and is the only Non-Commonwealth recipient of the Victoria Cross during WW2. Cavill still gets to be a cool action hero however. Cool being the key as his calmness under pressure is his defining characteristic. Gus March-Phillipps, is known to be one of Ian Fleming’s inspirations for James Bond (Though not as the film suggests, the main one).

The rest of the cast perform their parts nicely and no one feels superfluous. They all bring charisma to their roles and the heroic historic characters are compelling. It is perhaps a little lacking in Guy Ritchie banter we tend to expect from his movies and the villains are a bit too one dimensional, but overall it is solid fun. This is a fast paced action film and you’ll barely notice the 2 hour run time. Well worth your time. 6.5/10

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

The Crooked Way (1949)

Posted on by fenrisfil

 

Tonight’s November Noir is 1949’s “The Crooked Way”, directed by Robert Florey and staring John Payne (Kansas City Confidential) as Eddie Rice a WW2 Veteran with a piece of shrapnel in his brain that has caused him permanent amnesia. Support comes from Sonny Tufts as crime boss Vince Alexander, Ellie Drew as Nina Martin, Eddies ex-wife and Rhys Williams as Police Lt. Joe “You’ll hear from me later” Williams. The movie is based on the radio play “No Blade Too Sharp”.

Our story begins as Eddie heads back to Los Angeles with the hope of bumping into someone that knows him. That seems quite hopeful but he is recognised the moment he exits the train station by local law enforcement. He soon discovers he was previously known as Eddie Riccardi, a key figure in organised crime in the area. Through a series of additional encounter he comes to realise he turned states evidence on the local crime boss Vince Alexander to avoid jail time himself. Suffice to say Vince is not happy to hear about Eddies return, neither is his ex wife.

The Amnesiac’s Way

Interestingly this is not the only Film Noir to feature an amnesia plot for a war veteran with 1946’s Somewhere in the Night having a similar start but going in a very different direction. Sadly I’ve not seen that movie yet so a direct comparison will have to wait. What I can say is this movie had a lower budget and was considered brutal by comparison. Indeed critics of the day took issue with the violence, though of course by todays standards that violence is pretty tame. 

The idea of memory loss as a plot device is always pretty compelling. To not know ones own past instantly creates a mystery and makes the protagonist sympathetic as he learns everything the same time as the viewer and when that protagonist’s past is dark it creates interesting moral questions such as are there some things it is better not to know and how much guilt should one have for misdeeds you don’t even remember doing? Despite the set up this film is a bit more direct in how Eddie copes with these things but to be fair as a Soldier (and a war hero) he is not the kind of person to run from his responsibilities. Instead he tackles them head on. This leads to being framed for murder and on the run with both the police and the local crime boss gunning for him.

The Noir Way

This is a fast paced noir with a lot of action for the genre, making it seem more like a 30’s gangster movie in places, but the themes (specifically being unable to escape a dark past or a terrible future), the camera work and lighting are very much of the Noir genre.  The cinematography is creative, with lots of unusual angles, close ups and wide shots (All very common in the genre, but used heavily here).  Perhaps because of the low budget the lighting is played very much on the dark side with a lot of emphasis on shadows, in some cases getting more of the screen than the actors that are casting them. I have to say, I loved the visuals in this movie it was a really highlight and as far as the use of darkness goes it reminds me just how much better they were in the 40’s and 50’s at using it in artist ways while still allowing the viewer to actually see what was going on. These days, it’s basically the opposite.

The restrained use of music in The Crooked Way is interesting too. It is used sparingly to ramp up tension when anticipating a major event, but completely absent in a lot of the movie including for most of the final shoot out. Again this was probably for budgetary reasons but what is there works well and this is actually an excellent example of how creative directors in the 40’s and 50’s could be with limited resources. The story is pretty simple really effectively just leading Eddie from one violent encounter to the next as he tries to make sense of things. The actors for their part do a fine job but not really stood out as anything special to me. The ending was a little disappointing in it’s convenience and largely coming out of nowhere. Really this is a film made on the back of it’s strong visuals and rapid pacing rather than the story itself or the actors performances. Overall it’s a solid Noir. 

Rating: 6.5 out of 10.

There’s no trailer for this movie (that I can find) so here is a random scene. You can also watch the whole movie via archive.org.