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Operation Daybreak [import] [DVD] Timothy Bottoms; Martin Shaw


Our Price: £13.48 (subject to change)

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Product Description

Product Description Superb WWII drama which tells the true story of the attempt by Czech parachutists sent from England back to occupied Czechoslavakia to assaassinate the tyrannical Nazi 'protector' Reinhard Heydrich. The brave soldiers from the Czech Liberation Front weren't the only ones to risk their lives in this mission, and this film shows the enormous bravery of the ordinary Czechs who risked everything to help them, and the price many would ultimately pay for doing so. Directed by famed Britsih director, Lewis Gilbert (Reach For The Sky, Educating Rita), and starring Timothy Bottoms (The Last Picture Show), Martin Shaw (Macbeth, Tv's - The Professionals) & Anthony Andrews (Tv's- Brideshead Revisited, Hanna's War,Haunted) as the assaasins, this is as powerful today as when it was made back in the 1970's.


fantastic story & film; beware non-proper versions
Review date: 2008-08-31 Rating: 10 out of 10

I have two comments, 1) on the story/film and 2) on the DVD I bought.

1)
The story is based on actual events from WWII. In a nutshell Hitler's appointed ruler of Czechoslavakia is a ruthless viscious intelligent monster who was galvanising the Czechs to work for the Nazi war effort. He did it in 2 ways the stick and the rod. Known as "the Butcher of Prague" His ruthlessness was proving effective. Something had to be done; a crack small team of Czechs are dropped back into their homeland to kill Heydrich.

It was one of the most improtant missions of WWII, in many ways. Part of the Czechs wanted to support the Nazi's and there was a risk that their Army would be brought in on the Nazi side (that coulde easily have tipped the war in favour of a Nazi victory); Czechs had a puppet government (real govt. in UK exile) supporting Nazi's; Czech factories were productive for Nazi war machine. A wedge had to be driven between all these things.

In reality there was more to the tale than could be told in a single film and its a shame because the full true story is more unbelievable. Imagine being dropped into the heart of Nazi Europe, you dont know anyone, are given a safe contact to find and when you turn up they are gone? What do you do now? Limited money, no where to stay, no job, dont know anyone, etc. and everywhere nazi soldiers and suspicious/scared people squinting at you. Several agents went thru this and similar; some sadly swapped sides.

There is more to this film than I have said and even more to the story than Ive told here (read "Seven Men at Daybreak") but I dont want to spoil it.

I love this film because of its straight forward style(I dont know anyone, male or female, who didnt find it gripping). It sticks to the story (no hamming it up hollywood style) is perfectly balanced between all elements without dwelling on one, has excellent performances from a host of superb English actors (Anthony Andrews, Martin Shaw, Joss Ackland, Nicola Paget, etc.) and Timothy Bottoms. Every actor is convincing without outplaying anyone else. This film tells an incredible story of bravery, romance, tragedy and barbarism off the scale (but its not a gory film) and it does without ever detracting from the story; the viewer feels as if they are a fly on the wall.

It is avery powerful film and will make you appreciate just how much was given to defeat Hitler. I was fascinated from my first viewing 20 years ago and recently visited Prague to see the places in the story. The Church at the end has been turned into a museum and kept just as it was from that time.

Music is a major piece of any film and this score is haunting. A perfect arrangement sinister and romantic in a subtle but powerful way. It adds perfectly to the mood without itself distracting from the story. Perfect and unusual in that it was all done on a synthesiser (given this was made in the 70's it could easily have gone horribly wrong).

This film is a lesson to every film maker today, including the big boys. No one could tell any story any better than this and it was done on a meagre budget by todays standards. You dont need a big name to make a big film, just everyone to know what they are doing and a good story, then tell it dont sell it. Marvellous film.

2)
I bought my copy on eBay from Korea (for about £10) as it wasnt available anywhere else at the time. This film is in English, but there are German speaking parts which should have English subtitles within the original film. In my DVD these subtitles have been removed; you can select English subtitles and have them on for the whole film, but thats not the same. From the Amazon description I think this maybe the same DVD.

I cant wait for a release of the original film in the original form, it is an immensely watchable movie. This film although not widely known is extremely well appreciated, as I said I dont know anyone who has a bad word about it (I first saw it on TV 20 years ago!).

Why the heck the film company doesnt release a proper version and do us all a favour and make tidy number of sales for itself is beyond me.

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Binding: DVD
Region code: 2

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