THE HEROES OF TELEMARK

UK, 1965, 131 minutes, Colour.
Kirk Douglas, Richard Harris, Ulla Jacobsson, Michael Redgrave, Alan Howard, Roy Dotrice, Anton Diffring, Eric Porter.
Directed by Anthony Mann.

The Heroes of Telemark is a popular war story, the kind that was being made in the mid-1960s, twenty years after the end of World War Two. Other films in this vein include Von Ryan’s Express, The Battle of the Bulge, Operation Crossbow.

The film was directed by Anthony Mann who had worked in small-budget films during the 1940s but moved up to bigger and brighter films with The Devil’s Doorway in 1949. In 1950 he made Winchester 73 with James Stewart and continued a series of strong westerns through the 1950s including The Naked Spur, Bend of the River, Man from Laramie. He also made such films as The Glenn Miller Story and Strategic Air Command with Stewart. He went even bigger-budget in the 1960s with Cimarron, El Cid, The Fall of the Roman Empire. The Heroes of Telemark was his penultimate film, Laurence Harvey completing A Dandy in Aspic when Mann became ill.

This is a Norwegian Resistance story. It focuses on the Nazis trying to develop heavy water in laboratories in Norway so that they could have atomic weapons for World War Two. The film is a starring vehicle for Kirk Douglas as well as for Richard Harris. The film has a strong British cast which gives it a bit more gravity than the average American adventure.

The film was quite spectacular and has a great deal of heroic action adventure.

1. A satisfying war spectacle? Popular, serious?

2. This style of film from the 60's - colour, panavision, authentic locations, spectacular photography, very British musical score, length, stars? The popularity for war films in the 60s?A? Later? History, morale, heroics?

3. The focus of the title, Norway and heroism, its experience of the war? The heroic tone? The film based on fact and the heroism of the Norwegians, the resistance, the ordinary people?

4. The importance of' the film being based on facts, the war situation in 1942, the importance of the preparation of atomic bombs - the irony of the attitudes of the British and the Allies against the German and yet their developing, the bombs themselves? References to Einstein and Oppenheimer? The historical interest in these incidents, the portrayal of history, the tensions of war and the moral questions especially violence and killing?

5. The themes and issues of the preparation of the atomic bomb? Who was to have the bomb? The effects of the Germans having it, of the Allies? The issues of heroism of the Resistance and the number of hostages killed? The importance of destroying the factory and the killing of six thousand people – for a great good or not? The criteria for such decisions? in the head, in the heart?

6. The introduction of the Germans and the Nazis, their Germanic orderliness and belief especially in the principal officer and his assistant? The picture of the Resistance and Dr Neilson's helping them? Knut and his role in the Resistance? The urgency of persuading Rolf to join the Resistance? The irony of the contrast between the two men - Knut and his seriousness and the raids? Rolf and his work in the university, the criticism that he was a playboy professor? Yet his capacity for heroics, his action on the ship when it was taken over to go to England, the sequence with the mines and his warding them off etc.?

7. The voyage to England and its dangers for passengers and for the Resistance, mines and the detonating of these etc.? The British and their attitudes towards the war, discussions, references etc.? Their commissioning the destruction of the factory? The build-up of the crack squad to destroy it and the irony of their being destroyed before the mission could be accomplished? The importance of the role of the British in the war?

8. The human element with the introduction of Anna and her uncle? The family relationship, their work in the Resistance, their help? Anna and uncle as voicing the moral issues especially in the killing? The irony of Knut's knowing them, Anna being Rolf’s ex-wife and the emotional tension between the two? How well was this illustrated especially in the church sequence with the passing of the microfilm and the hymn book, the sequences in the town, with the discussions, the love making in the hut after the incident and the German investigation?

9. The use of the radio, the arguments about destruction? Anna and the feminine presence in the film? Her work in the Resistance, her bond with her uncle, her resisting of Rolf in the bedroom, her later seeing a change in him and becoming his wife again? Her anxiety about the many deaths, her helping in the final sequence with the ferry?

10. Uncle's character, his role in the Resistance, the drama of the final confrontation with the Germans and his death in Resistance? The tribute to the Norwegians?

11. The tension and drama of the first raid and the small squad, the destruction of the British, their skill in getting into the factory, the setting up of the explosives, the destruction of the heavy water? An example of screen adventure and tension? Realistic? The sadness of the death of the man, his child to be born?

12. The irony of the German readiness to replace the containers for the heavy water and the continued production?

13. The subplot of Jensen - his presence, his overhearing what was to happen, his betrayal, pursuit of them in the snow, Rolf and Jensen’s death - and his motives for his wife?

14. The decisions about the bombing and the destruction and its ineffectiveness? The death of innocent civilians in war?

15. The pursuit after the first raid, Rolf’s escape, his hospitalisation, the communication from Dr Nielsen, Sigrid and her baby? her grief and her communication the methods? The irony of his being recognised by the woman in the bus? his escape?

16. The build-up to the sabotage on the ferry, the laying of the detonators, Sigrid and her presence, Rolf’s decision? the game and saving of the children? The film's dedication to the women of Norway? effective melodrama, tension, adventure?

17. Theme of the achievement of war, people's change of life and involvement, heroics? Conscience questions? Human nature in war? How pro-war was the film, how much anti-war?