Ill Met By Moonlight

After their daring experimental films of the late '40s (Black Narcissus, The Red Shoes), Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger hit a rough patch. The Elusive Pimpernel and Gone to Earth (both 1950) flopped; Tales of Hoffman (1951) wowed critics but didn't achieve success. The Archers turned to more conventional fare with Pursuit of the Graf Spee (1956). That naval epic proved a commercial success, despite being one of their weaker collaborations. Their final pairing proves much better-realized.

Ill Met By Moonlight (1957) recounts a daring World War II mission, the 1944 kidnapping of German General Heinrich Kreipe on Crete. It's a typically English story, gentleman adventurers pulling off an impossible caper a la G.A. Henty or Rudyard Kipling. But Powell & Pressburger keeps things grounded in reality, however unlikely the tale.

SOE operative Patrick Leigh Fermor (Dirk Bogarde) lives undercover in Crete during Nazi occupation. Fermor receives orders to kidnap General Kreipe (Marius Goring), the island's military governor, and spirit him away to Cairo. With a small British team and some Greek partisans, Leigh Fermor kidnaps the General while bamboozling his subordinates. As the commandos make their way to the coast, however, the Germans are only a step behind.

Ill Met By Moonlight is too outlandish to be invented. The real Major Leigh Fermor just died in 2011; besides soldiering he was an acclaimed travel writer. He and his mates playact an adventure against beautiful Cretan settings, switching costumes and calling audibles when the Germans make an unexpected move. During their mission, Leigh Fermor and Moss pose for a photograph in captured German uniforms; this very "Hollywood" moment really happened. Even faced with capture they're unflappably good-humored. Gunga Din's heroes would improve of such cheeky insouciance.

Those expecting thrill-a-minute action might find Moonlight disappointing. It features only two onscreen deaths; the big action scene occurs entirely off screen. Instead it's a tense cat and mouse game. The biggest set piece shows Leigh Fermor bluffing his way through 22 German checkpoints. Kreipie proves a resourceful foe, leaving medals behind and giving a telltale coin to an inquisitive Greek boy (Demetri Andreas). There's also tension with the Greek partisans, overly eager to cut Kreipe's throat. Success is by no means a foregone conclusion.

Powell & Pressburger's restrained approach redounds to their credit, especially given later iterations of commando drama. The Guns of Navarone (1961) plays like Moonlight on steroids, packing its Cretan spy mission with explosive action scenes, ridiculous plot twists and nigh invincible heroes. Emeric Pressburger himself wrote Operation Crossbow (1965) which transforms Britain's V2 sabotage program into James Bond fantasy. By contrast, Moonlight features ordinary Englishmen and Greeks achieving amazing things through pluck.

Dirk Bogarde cuts a dashing figure, all boyish toughness and devil-may-care humor. David Oxley makes a pleasant foil. Marius Goring (A Matter of Life and Death) makes a crafty adversary, struggling to outwit his captors. Michael Gough (Batman), Cyril Cusack (The Day of the Jackal), Wolfe Morris and Paul Stassino handle key supporting roles. Christopher Lee and David McCallum have early career bits.

Ill Met by Moonlight makes a fine final bow for the Archers. Not their most artistically accomplished work, it's nonetheless an enjoyable adventure film.