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Synopsis
The Heroes Of Telemark [1965] tells the story of the destruction of a German heavy water factory by a handful of brave Norwegians during World War II. The film is based on a true story and stars Kirk Douglas and Richard Harris.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
this is a fantastic film based on a true story. i first saw it at my local cinema when i was only 9 years of age back in 1973 at a sat matinee. i thought it was great. the one thing i love about this dvd is the interviews with all the leading actors on location in norway where the film was made. it also shows you some of the actual scenes being filmed. i found all this very interesting. highly recommended.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Anthony Mann's last completed film, The Heroes of Telemark doesn't have the kind of reputation most of his later films enjoy, yet it's still a cut above most men-on-a-mission war movies of its day. Although it creates two star parts for Kirk Douglas and Richard Harris, his spectacular account of the Norwegian resistance's attempts to destroy the Nazis supply of heavy water doesn't deviate quite as much from the facts as most `true' WW2 stories and is often more interested in the moral implications of how many innocent civilians you can `allow' to be killed to prevent the Nazis from getting their hands on the atom bomb than it is in the big explosions. Uncredited script doctor Harold Pinter's rewrite also adds some sexual politics as reluctantly recruited playboy scientist Douglas and boy scout resistance leader Harris (in one of his few 60s films where he's not wearing more eyeliner than the leading lady) lock antlers over Ulla Jacobsson, but for the most part it's a well-crafted, well-cast above-average genre film, with Mann's striking composition and use of landscape (particularly his beloved high country) very much to the fore in the lengthy 18-minute raid on the heavy water factor, played almost entirely in silence.
The lead casting is rather curious if you're familiar with Mann's career - Kirk Douglas had him replaced on Spartacus and felt he owed the director a picture while Richard Harris had originally been cast as Commodus in The Fall of the Roman Empire only to pull out of the picture - but they work well together, and there's a strong supporting cast: Michael Redgrave, Eric Porter hamming away shamelessly as the ruthless Nazi overseeing the project while Anton Diffring carries out his orders as usual, Roy Dotrice as a collaborator (ironically his skiing double in the film is one of the real Norwegian saboteurs!) and a host of familiar faces like Maurice Denham, Geoffrey Keen, Mervyn Johns and George Murcell. Robert Krasker's cinematography comes into its own in its original 2.35:1 widescreen ratio, but unfortunately it's not well represented on the film's UK DVD releases, which overdo the edge enhancement to such a degree that some characters often have halos whenever they're in long shot (the Norwegian DVD release has better definition but also has slightly faded color and some print damage while Columbia's Region 1 NTSC disc has the best picture quality, if a little too dark in places, but no extras).
On the plus side, Carlton's special edition PAL UK DVD comes with a wealth of extra features (some 64 minutes worth), including vintage black and white location reports and a slew of lengthy on-location interviews with Anthony Mann, Kirk Douglas, Richard Harris, Michael Redgrave & Ulla Jacobsson as well as the original theatrical trailer.
The lead casting is rather curious if you're familiar with Mann's career - Kirk Douglas had him replaced on Spartacus and felt he owed the director a picture while Richard Harris had originally been cast as Commodus in The Fall of the Roman Empire only to pull out of the picture - but they work well together, and there's a strong supporting cast: Michael Redgrave, Eric Porter hamming away shamelessly as the ruthless Nazi overseeing the project while Anton Diffring carries out his orders as usual, Roy Dotrice as a collaborator (ironically his skiing double in the film is one of the real Norwegian saboteurs!) and a host of familiar faces like Maurice Denham, Geoffrey Keen, Mervyn Johns and George Murcell. Robert Krasker's cinematography comes into its own in its original 2.35:1 widescreen ratio, but unfortunately it's not well represented on the film's UK DVD releases, which overdo the edge enhancement to such a degree that some characters often have halos whenever they're in long shot (the Norwegian DVD release has better definition but also has slightly faded color and some print damage while Columbia's Region 1 NTSC disc has the best picture quality, if a little too dark in places, but no extras).
On the plus side, Carlton's special edition PAL UK DVD comes with a wealth of extra features (some 64 minutes worth), including vintage black and white location reports and a slew of lengthy on-location interviews with Anthony Mann, Kirk Douglas, Richard Harris, Michael Redgrave & Ulla Jacobsson as well as the original theatrical trailer.
30 of 33 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
The title says it all! beeing a native Norwegian this title of course has a special feel to it for me. But for anyone who enjoys watching a good, realistic war movie, this is well worth your time. The factory at which it was filmed is still in operation in Rjukan, Telemark. It is also the place of the orginal action, no fake set here...
:)
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Good film, great jumpers
This is another of those films that crops up regularly on TV and I settle down to like a comfortable slipper. Read more
Published 2 months ago by John Fareham
The Heroes of Norway .... but not the history ....
This is a great WWII resistance fighters in Norway movie, but not great history of the actual events. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Josh
Watch it but not for the history
This is a film about one of the most remarkable raid of the war, a raid to prevent the Nazis from developing enough heavy water (deuterium oxide) to produce nuclear weapons. Read more
Published 5 months ago by RR Waller
heroes of telemark dvd
bought this for my boyfriend as he is into any old classic war films and he said this one was really good. Read more
Published 11 months ago by mazbaz
very much 'based on'
A decent war film that plainly ignores the much more interesting real life story, just so it can include snogging. Not for me.
Published 12 months ago by Ed F
True life story that deserves better
In 1944 Norway which is under Nazi occupation, a group of resistance fighters attempt to sabotage a factory which is producing heavy water which will be used in the development for... Read more
Published 16 months ago by The CinemaScope Cat
Oh what time changes for you
I had to get this movie to relive the thrill I got as a kid when I saw it on the huge big screen as a 10 year old when it first came out. It was larger then life. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Volvi
heroes of telemark
A good film about how the Norwegian resistance scuppered the Nazi attempt to produce heavy water at a plant in Norway and stopped them making the atom bomb. Read more
Published 23 months ago by road nomad
Steel In The Snow
This is the story, true in essence at least, of the successful attempt by Norwegians working for the British special forces or secret services to destroy the "heavy water" the... Read more
Published on 11 Mar 2008 by Ian Millard
One segment filmed in Poole, Dorset.
My father was working on 'Newquay,' on the opposite side of the water to Poole Quay, in Dorset, England, in 1964. Read more
Published on 30 Nov 2006 by Alan Burridge
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