Beyond the stock World War II films where soldiers charge the enemy line, the era has served as the setting for some truly unique stories like The Guns of Navarone, a film that’s equal parts spy thriller, grand adventure, and war epic. It’s an impressively layered film for its genre and includes a number of elements rarely found compiled into one place, and it manages to use them all effectively. Framing its story with an evacuation countdown that creates an inherent sense of impending doom, it piles on additional tension by describing a mission to penetrate and destroy a fortress that everyone involved considers suicide. It then mounts well filmed scenes of death-defying acts and an atmosphere of distrust as suspicions of a traitor lurking within the band of heroes, tilting the odds even further against them. Few war films ever attempt to do as much as The Guns of Navarone, which only manages to do so thanks to pacing itself as a journey film with a final destination worthy of all that precedes it and an outstanding cast of Gregory Peck, David Niven, Anthony Quinn, Anthony Quayle, Stanley Baker, and Richard Harris.
Cornered in the Aegean Sea by a pair of massive Nazi guns that can and have sunk a number of battleships, some 2,000 British troops have a week to evacuate their station before a massive assault by enemy forces descends upon them. As a last-ditch effort to escape, a team including Major Roy Franklin (Quayle), Captain Keith Mallory (Peck), Corporal Miller (Niven), and Colonel Stavros (Quinn), and two brawlers, the savage “Butcher” (Baker) and Spyros Pappadimos (James Darren), set out to climb the treacherous cliffs of Navarone to take the Nazi fortress by surprise and destroy the two guns. At least that was the plan, but it quickly goes awry and the group must adapt it in the face of enemy pursuit and the addition of two local freedom fighters (Irene Pappas, Gia Scala) to their team.
The Guns of Navarone has more twists and turns than you’d expect, but they make the resolution all the more satisfying.
Blu-ray Bonus Features
Few films as old as The Guns of Navarone have as many extras as you’ll find here. There’s only one new feature, “The Resistance Dossier of Navarone”, a text-based extra with a view short video clips of historians that offers a collection of factoids related to the film. It’s kind of a poor use of the phrase “Blu-ray Exclusive” as it’s not particularly advanced or impressive. Once you’ve finished the documentaries covering memories of the film’s production, a retrospective look at the film, and a look at its themes of heroism (or lack thereof), there’s a vast collection of featurettes on the film’s restoration, the score, its two female leads, and more. Furthermore, the disc offers two audio commentaries, the first by the film’s director J. Lee Thompson and the second by film historian Stephen J. Rubin. The disc also offers an intro to the film by its writer Carl Foreman.
"The Guns of Navarone" is on sale October 18, 2011 and is not rated. Directed by J Lee Thompson. Written by Carl Foreman. Starring Anthony Quinn, Gregory Peck, Anthony Quayle, David Niven, Irene Pappas, Gia Scala, Stanley Baker, James Darren.
