Exciting WWII military thriller including a moving final and overwhelming pyrotechnics . This interesting picture packs big stars , intrigue , action packed , suspense and historic deeds . It deals with a trio (George Peppard , Tom Courtneay, Jeremy Kemp) of Allied agents are assigned by high command (John Mills , Richard Johnson , Trevor Howard , Richard Todd , Maurice Denham) to destroy a Nazi munitions installation . They attempt to infiltrate the Nazis' rocket research site. Their mission is complicated by appearing a wife (Sophia Loren) , one traitor and several dangers .

Thrilling war film in which there are nail-biting action scenes , drama , intrigue , explosion , suspenseful set pieces and almost overloaded with stars . The movie gets a simple emotional appeal , professionalism and being rightly shot . This film's title is the same code-name for the real World War II spy mission, which was code-named "Crossbow". After the Second World War, because of this movie's title, reference to these events popularized them as being "Operation Crossbow" . This blazing WWII yarn pulled the public into cinemas in droves when it was first released . Director Michael Anderson steered skillfully through its numerous twists . Despite receiving top billing , Sophia Loren only appears in a extended cameo role ; producer Carlo Ponti, Loren's husband, believed his wife's popularity in the United States would boost the film's chances at the box office and had her billed accordingly . Filmed on splashy color and brilliant cinematography by cameraman Erwin Hillier . Breathtaking as well as evocative musical score by Ron Goodwin . Excellent production design and nice special effects , for the section of the film where RAF Bomber Command raid the Peenemunde rocket research site the producers used the Avro Lancaster PA474 used by the Cranfield institute of technology . For the scene in which a street is wiped out by a V-2, the filmmakers actually destroyed a row of flats which were slated for demolition , the shot was, necessarily, done in one take.

This movie is based on historical events , as there appears the character of Hannah Reitsch, played by Barbara Rütting , was a real-life person . Reitsch was a German aviatrix and at one time Adolf Hitler's own personal pilot. During the Battle of Berlin, Reitsch attempted to persuade Hitler to escape from the city in a small lightweight Fieseler Storch airplane . Furthermore , appears Duncan Sandys, a character in this movie played by Richard Johnson, was a real-life person ; Sandys was Chairman of the British War Cabinet Committee for the Defence against German rockets and flying bombs , he was the son-in-law of British wartime prime minister, Winston Churchill and was wounded during the Second World War in Norway in 1941 which resulted in him having a permanent limp . The motion picture was professionally directed by Michael Anderson . He was a craftsman with reputation for making a variety of commercial and amusing films , it's well demonstrated in ¨Operation Crossbow¨. His films from 1953-58 were all quite well received , his cycle ended with the best of them , the suspense , thriller ,¨Chase a crooked shadow¨ . Latterly resident in Canada , he has continued to direct , mainly in lower-profile projects and TV adventure movies . Anderson has filmed all kind of genres as cinema as TV ; such as Adventure : ¨Around the world in 80 days¨ , ¨Doc Savage¨ , ¨The sea Wolf¨ , ¨20.000 leagues under the sea¨ ; Sci-Fi : ¨Logan's run¨, ¨The martian chronicles¨ , ¨Milennium¨ ; Thriller: ¨The Quiller Memorandum , ¨Dominique is dead¨ , ¨The naked edge¨ , The wreck of the Mary Deare¨ , ¨Murder by phone¨ and Wartime : ¨Battle hell¨, ¨Shake hands with the devil¨, Damm Busters¨ and of course , ¨Operation Crossbow¨ .

Okay, let me explain my above comment. On the cover art for the video and on many of the posters, you have images of George Peppard AND Sophia Loren. Now I am a fan of Ms. Loren's films and have nothing against her performance in this film, but she is only a minor character. She enters a scene and is dead a short time later--and that's about the size of her contribution to the movie. The advertising folks for this film should be shot, as if you are watching the movie for her, you'll be very disappointed.

Now on to the movie itself, despite the advertising, this is a war espionage film--not a romance. It's about as romantic as THE LONGEST DAY, in fact. Nope--definitely not a romance. Instead it's a film about Allied agents infiltrating the V-1/V-2 bases at Penemunde. And in this light, it is a very successful and engaging film--very similar to THE HEROES OF TELMARK and other 60s epic war flicks. In fact, it's better than Peppard's more famous war film, THE BLUE MAX, because it is NOT bogged down with a sappy romance and is pure wartime entertainment.

OPERATION CROSSBOW is a fine British WW2 thriller that's much more a resistance thriller than the gung-ho story that I was expecting. The supporting cast is exemplary and acts as a kind of "who's who" of British cinema with the likes of Trevor Howard, Richard Johnson, Richard Wattis, Sylvia Sims, and many, many others playing various peripheral or important characters. Even Patrick Wymark is on hand with a pretty accurate depiction of Churchill.

The story is about the development of Nazi rocket technology and the attempts by Allied forces to halt or delay its advance. The main three characters are played by the nervous Tom Courtenay, the heroic George Peppard, and the excellent Jeremy Kemp, all of whom are parachuted into occupied Holland and forced to undertake false identities in a bid to infiltrate the institution in which the rockets are being built. The suspense is never-ending and although there isn't much in the way of on screen action this is just as gripping as if there had been. Sophia Loren is stunning in a fine role as a woman mixed up in the sabotage plot while Anthony Quayle is well cast against type.