A “masterpiece” World War 2 film that you may not have heard of is streaming now in the UK. The Guns of Navarone (1961) focuses on the fictional tale of an Allied commando unit sent to infiltrate a heavily-defended island base in Greece that German forces have seized.
The crack team, led by Cpt. Keith Mallory (Gregory Peck), Cpl. John Anthony Miller (David Niven), and Col. Andrea Stavros (Anthony Quinn) are tasked with destroying weapons targeting ships in the Aegean Sea. It was directed by J. Lee Thompson from a screenplay by Carl Foreman, who also produced the film. It’s based on Alistair MacLean’s 1957 novel of the same name. Though the mission is fictional, it was inspired by the Battle of Leros, which took place during the Allies’ Dodecanese Campaign.
Brian Hannan, a film enthusiast who posts on his blog The Magnificent 60s about great films from that decade, called it a “masterpiece of suspense”.
“And it looked fabulous, the guns themselves, by which the picture might succeed or fail, were awesome,” he added.
Fans have flocked to IMDb to praise the war epic, with one saying as big fan of Peck fan they were “expecting great things” and “in one of those rare instances, I was not disappointed”.
“Mr. Peck, David Niven, Anthony Quinn et al. are in top form, each of them bringing their respective characters to life and the story likewise,” they added.
“The action scenes are impressive even by today’s standards but in my opinion they are only a secondary pleasure. The main pleasure is watching the divergent and forceful personalities cooperate, conflict, confound and finally triumph.”
Another, who gave the movie a 10/10 score, wrote: “This movie is great. The acting by Peck, Niven, and Quinn is A+. The special effects were great and they still amazed me. I recommend this movie to all.”
A third added: “Ranking just under the 10-star rated Bridge On The River Kwai, Guns Of Navarone is an instant-classic and will always be so (on a LARGE SCREEN in its original widescreen format); due to its solid foundation of high production values, endearing score, good writing, strong plot/character development, the fine actors to play those characters and loving direction.
“Kudos to all who worked on this film.”
Guns of Navarone was added to Netflix in the UK on Saturday, August 1. It’s also available to rent or buy on other platforms including YouTube and Amazon Prime.