Led by British officers, partisans on Crete plan to kidnap the island's German commander and smuggle him to Cairo, Egypt to embarrass the occupiers.Led by British officers, partisans on Crete plan to kidnap the island's German commander and smuggle him to Cairo, Egypt to embarrass the occupiers.Led by British officers, partisans on Crete plan to kidnap the island's German commander and smuggle him to Cairo, Egypt to embarrass the occupiers.
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Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAccording to Michael Powell's book, "Million Dollar Movie," composer Mikis Theodorakis considered it shameful that a story about Cretan resistance fighters would be told by anyone other than Cretans. He told Powell and Emeric Pressburger that they were both political interlopers, a label he also used in describing Sir Patrick Leigh-Fermor.
- GoofsWhile waiting to ambush the General's car, another vehicle is heard approaching. Elias listens, the pronounces that it is a Volkswagen. While Volkswagen GmbH was technically in existence at the time, the vehicle in question wouldn't have been called a Volkswagen---it was known as a Kubelwagen (bucket-car), while the better-known Beetle was a KDF-wagen.
- Quotes
Maj. Patrick Leigh Fermor aka Philedem: Field Marshal Rommel won't be in Cairo but you will be!
- Alternate versionsThe UK version of the film, titled "Ill Met by Moonlight", is 11 minutes longer than the version originally released in American markets.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger (2024)
Featured review
Straight WWII adventure - in some respects
Think of `The Guns of Navarone', but with these differences:
(1) The band of adventurers genuinely like each other.
(2) Their mission is not to blow anything up. Rather, they plan to kidnap a German general and take him to Cairo. It's a publicity stunt. But it soon ceases to be a MERE publicity stunt: demonstrating German vulnerability may be as important as creating it.
(3) We get a good look at Crete - and NOT just because of spectacular scenic photography. We really feel at home on Cretan soil. Michael Powell, who had a talent for finding out-of-the-way composers (he also introduced Ralph Vaughan Williams and Brian Easdale to the cinema) has this time found Mikis Theodorakis, whose score is strongly flavoured but friendly to the ear.
With all this, `Ill Met by Moonlight' is an unusual venture by Powell and Pressburger, in that it isn't unusual: it's another World War II mission story, and there have been dozens. It IS more civilised than most. It tells its simple story neatly and cleanly; it's sweet, unpretentious, and disappointing only in that, since it was Powell and Pressburger's last official collaboration, it would have been nice to go out with a bigger bang.
The title is a line from `A Midsummer Night's Dream'. Its relevance is not obvious, at any rate not to me. Am I missing something?
(1) The band of adventurers genuinely like each other.
(2) Their mission is not to blow anything up. Rather, they plan to kidnap a German general and take him to Cairo. It's a publicity stunt. But it soon ceases to be a MERE publicity stunt: demonstrating German vulnerability may be as important as creating it.
(3) We get a good look at Crete - and NOT just because of spectacular scenic photography. We really feel at home on Cretan soil. Michael Powell, who had a talent for finding out-of-the-way composers (he also introduced Ralph Vaughan Williams and Brian Easdale to the cinema) has this time found Mikis Theodorakis, whose score is strongly flavoured but friendly to the ear.
With all this, `Ill Met by Moonlight' is an unusual venture by Powell and Pressburger, in that it isn't unusual: it's another World War II mission story, and there have been dozens. It IS more civilised than most. It tells its simple story neatly and cleanly; it's sweet, unpretentious, and disappointing only in that, since it was Powell and Pressburger's last official collaboration, it would have been nice to go out with a bigger bang.
The title is a line from `A Midsummer Night's Dream'. Its relevance is not obvious, at any rate not to me. Am I missing something?
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- Spleen
- Jan 23, 2000
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Details
Box office
- Budget
- £212,019 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 33 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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