The Heroes of Telemark (1965)

THE HEROES OF TELEMARK is an espionage yarn involving a daring plan to prevent the Nazis from advancing plans to create atomic bomb components during the height of WWII, resulting in the sinking of a German ship.

Directed by Anthony Mann (his last film) with a mostly British cast, and starring KIRK DOUGLAS and RICHARD HARRIS, it's based on a little known true-life episode. Their mission: to return to Telemark from England and see whether ground invasion is possible--rather than bombing, because the village nearby is heavily populated. As someone else observed, Kirk and Richard spend more time fighting each other than the Nazis. Whatever animosity lies beneath the surface of these two stars, it shows on the screen.

Douglas reluctantly joins a group of nine men who go on the ground mission after a bombing raid wipes out some of the resistance fighters. Director Mann gets every bit of suspense out of the perilous mission...and the aftermath when the men are hunted by the Gestapo and wanted dead or alive.

Some of the derring-do has been fictionalized, I'm sure. Douglas manages a narrow escape on skis even though he's been wounded with a gunshot to his ankle. Several other aspects of the story have the ring of dramatic license.

It's tense and taut with remarkably good performances from KIRK DOUGLAS and RICHARD HARRIS especially. Well worth seeing and enjoying as a World War II adventure yarn based on a true incident.

Fmovies: In this World War II drama, Kirk Douglas and Richard Harris are part of the Norwegian resistance, and they fight to delay Germany's development of an atomic bomb. This isn't your typical front-lines war movie, and it isn't your typical strategy-only war movie. The leads aren't in shiny uniforms who order troops around all day long. They're regular people doing more than their fair share to help in the war effort, since what they're trying to prevent could change everything.

Loosely based on a true story, the movie was filmed on location in Norway, so if you like lots of snowy backdrops in between tense struggles, you'll probably like this one. I've seen so many war movies that they all start to blend together, and really the only part of The Heroes of Telemark that stands out in my mind is the cast. Kirk Douglas and Ulla Jacobsson have wonderful chemistry together, their scenes filled with extra tension because of the wartime setting. Kirk and Richard have opposite screen personas, and it's great fun to see them work off each other and use their combined strengths. If you're the type of person who watches movies for the cast, like I do, you might want to rent this one. If you get bored easily during lengthy war dramas, like I do, you might want to watch Catch Me a Spy or Paths of Glory instead.

THOF offers cheesy German accents and I'm sure a few liberties with historical facts, but for those who nitpick at a Kirk Douglas film made in the mid-60s, keep in mind that it's just that: a simple little mid-60s war film with Kirk Douglas. It is fun, quick, not too talky, and with some very nice snowy scenery. Not dull in spite of its length of 2 hours plus, so what more can one expect from a simplistic little action film? Norwegian viewers might understandably get a little annoyed by the bending of facts, but at least movies about Norway's role in the war were made - which can't be said about Sweden. There will never be a movie about Sweden's fight against the Nazis, and this alone should give the Norwegians some satisfaction...

IMDb states that both shorter (i.e. butchered) versions of THOF were released in Germany. Hmm, I wonder why...

The Heroes of Telemark fmovies. In German occupied Norway during 1942, a group of Norwegian Resistance fighters joined by an initially reluctant Professor of Physics from Oslo University, attempt to destroy a German Heavy Water plant in Telemark, which is vital to the Third Reich's development of Atomic weapons.

What should be a tense and thrilling tale based on a true story is merely watchable. While it maintains your interest, it never grips. This must be down to the Director, Anthony Mann. Perhaps he had become too used to working on three hour epics (El Cid, Fall Of The Roman Empire), and he simply couldn't inject the necessary pace or urgency into a two hour adventure story. The cast are all fine, headed by Kirk Douglas and Richard Harris, more troubling is the overall look of the film. Despite extensive and commendable use of the actual locations, its rather unattractively photographed. This is quite surprising considering that Robert Krasker had done such sterling work on Mann's earlier epics. Also, the use of some black and white stock footage of planes is jarring and cheap looking.

This is a good story, worth telling. But as a wartime adventure film it pales in comparison to 'The Guns Of Navarone' or 'Where Eagles Dare', even though both of those stories were entirely fictional.

During WWII, the Nazis were close to making nuclear weapons. For making this, they needed heavy water, which they produced in Norway. This film is about the operation where members of the Norwegian resistance attempted to stop the Nazis from getting their heavy water.

The story is previously told in the Norwegian film "Kampen om tungtvannet" from 1948. As such, you may call this a remake. The reason for remaking the film is of course the language. As always a good film does not get better by making it one more time. The Norwegian film is in my opinion far better because it is more realistic. The problem of Heroes of Telemark is that even if it is telling a true story, it seems artificial. The Norwegian film is more exciting and believable. Even the acting in the Norwegian film is better than in the remake, even though the actual `heroes' themselves play some of the parts!

When Norway was occupied by the Nazis it had a unique burden to face. With the exception of Winston Churchill all the rest of the Allied political and military leaders favored no military operations to liberate Norway. The war was not to be fought in Scandinavia. Therefore the Norwegians could only sit back and hope for an allied victory in other parts of Europe in order to be free.

Knowing that those who resisted in Norway did it from real anti-fascist conviction and the fact that they wanted to do something against their unwelcome occupiers.

The Heroes of Telemark and the Norwegian film, Kampen om Tungtvannet on the same subject that was previously done showed the Norwegians in their resistance just such a chance even though it did not help one bit in the liberation of their country.

The Nazis have a plant used for making heavy water, deuterium, water made with a hydrogen atom with a neutron as well as a proton. This stuff was critical in the development of the atomic bomb. When a Norwegian scientist got wind of it he gets a message to a colleague played by Kirk Douglas who escapes to Great Britain to inform the Allied High Command.

Douglas goes back to Norway and with Richard Harris makes several attempts to destroy the water. A whole lot of people, British Commandoes and Norwegian citizens die in the attempts made. But the job gets done.

Hey if the job hadn't gotten done, I'd be writing a review of a different kind of film, maybe in German.

Kirk Douglas and Richard Harris prove uneasy allies. In a recent biography of Harris it was reported that he and Harris did not get along at all on this film. Douglas is a talented egotist and Harris was quite the carouser back in those days and also didn't get along with both Marlon Brando and Charlton Heston on films he co-starred with them. Not a good combination for a happy set, but the film got done.

Anthony Mann did some great location photography in Norway for this film, shot on the actual sites. Kirk and Dick on skis, even if it was stunt doubles were something to watch.

The Heroes of Telemark is a good World War II action/adventure film and a nice tribute to the Norwegian resistance.