☆ ☆ ☆ ½
Ill
Met By Moonlight (1957) – M. Powell & E. Pressburger
The final joint venture by The Archers,
Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, is a straightforward military adventure
story that takes place in Occupied Crete in 1944. Dirk Bogarde is the leader of a small band
who plot to kidnap the local German general and smuggle him off-shore to Cairo
in order to embarrass the Nazis. To this
suspenseful plot, The Archers add a dose of respect for the local culture,
never subtitling the Greek (or German) that is spoken and using the music of
Crete liberally on the soundtrack.
Unlike some of their earlier art-directed-to-high-heaven films (The Red
Shoes, Black Narcissus), things are scenic but not too style-conscious here –
rocky mountain vistas predominate.
Bogarde is charmingly heroic and much less chilly than he would later
turn for Losey and Pinter. Not a
bullseye but enjoyable nonetheless.
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