4/5 "Old Fashioned War Film"
  by drkhimxz (Freehold, NJ, USA)
Having framed my opening, I saw that I had been anticipated by the Amazon editorial reviewer. Yes, this does qualify for consideration as an "OLDIE" (although, from my perspective, 1965 is 15 years too young to earn the designation). That means one is allowed to factor in the nostalgia factor (how nice again to see wonderful Lili Palmer) and the fact that it exemplifies the traditional war film.
With that in mind, one can say that it is far from the best of films about WW2, and far from the best of 1960's WW2 films. Nonetheless, it is a decent film that keeps one's attention by offering some of our cherished scenes of heroic espionage agents, sturdy patriotic underground workers, and chance-taking organizational leaders winning out over fat-headed doubters. The cast is filled with many British and American players of the day who handle the varied roles they play with aplomb. All in all, a film that will not stir the core of your being but will entertain for a couple of hours.
I will add a note of personal interest. There are scenes of a German woman in uniform flying an early prototype of the so-called "flying bomb" and seemingly being treated with respect by high ranking German officers (one played by Paul Henreid). It was my understanding that no such situation could have existed in the very traditional German army. My error, as indicated in this paragraph lifted from an internet article on women in uniform during WW 2.
"Fascist ideology dictated that a women's role in society was as a mother and frowned upon women working in any capacity. A few German women did find ways to work, some in jobs such as ferrying and test pilots. Melitta Schiller was awarded the Iron Cross for conducting 1,500 test dives of new dive bombers. And Hitler favorite Hanna Reitsch, a record-breaking glider and test pilot before the war, flew every Luftwaffe plane and helicopter. Denied permission to organize a women's flight squadron, she organized a suicide squadron that would use V-1 rockets modified with seats to hold pilots to attack British industrial centers. The program was eventually dropped. In the final days of the war, she flew a Luftwaffe general through Soviet artillery fire and fighters to land on a road in central Berlin and meet with Hitler just days before he killed himself."
It was this Hanna Reisch, who it would seem, was the prototype for the woman in the film.



4/5 Dont expect too much Sophia
  by Grapey Grimes (Cincy, OH)
Despite the cover and top billing, Sophia Loren is barely in this at all.

Still it's a fairly compelling movie and George Peppard is great in it. Suggested for fans or retro World War 2 intrigue movies. Not as good as Where Eagles Dare, but good.

The film is presented in widescreen format and the print and audio are great.

4/5 Some Gave All...
  by D. S. Thurlow (Alaska)
1965's "Operation Crossbow" was one of a series of 1960's British films celebrating World War II, most of which seem to have shared the same casting call. "Operation Crossbow" is a better than average dramatization of the British effort to find and shut down Nazi Germany's production of the deadly V1 and V2 revenge weapons that devastated London in 1944 and 1945.

The story begins in mid-war, as the British receive intelligence of a secret rocket production effort in the Third Reich, and proceeds on parallel tracks. In London, scientists, politicians, and military personnel breathlessly shift the meager intelligence and plot their countermoves; on a more compelling track, Allied agents are dispatched into Germany to infiltrate the German rocket program. Three agents, an American, a Brit, and a Dutchman, are hastily selected, trained, and infiltrated into Germany. Two of the agents will make it to Peenemunde, site of rocket research and development, to execute a desperate attempt to stop the project.

"Operation Crossbow" did indifferent business in the theaters but its story of wartime sacrifice holds up well with time. The movie accurately portrays the debate in London over the meaning of the limited intelligence available on the rocket program. The extended screen time given to the infiltration of the agents captures the tense atmosphere of deceit, betrayal, and ruthless security inside Germany and occupied Europe. The special effects may show their age, but the images of Peenemunde's tight security and slave labor may be eye-opening for modern audiences. George Peppard, Jeremy Kemp, and Tom Courtenay are especially effective as the agents sent on an incredibly dangerous mission into Germany. Sophia Loren has a small but compelling role as the wife of a Dutch scientist.

"Operation Crossbow" is highly recommended as a tough-minded portrayal of wartime choices and sacrifices that will be appreciated by fans of the World War II movie genre.

4/5 A particularly impressive epic WW2 spy thriller
  by Trevor Willsmer (London, England)
Boasting a fairly incredible all-star cast, Operation Crossbow is a particularly impressive WW2 epic that won't win too many awards for realism but is a highly effective combination of spy thriller and men on a mission movie. The mission is for undercover agents George Peppard, Jeremy Kemp and Tom Courtney to masquerade as skilled labor to infiltrate and help destroy the Nazi V-2 rocket factories, but the film is as much concerned with the development of Hitler's `wonder weapons' and the Allies' initial disagreements as to whether they could ever be practical as it is with their destruction. Indeed, it manages the rather neat trick of acknowledging the German test pilots' courage as it traces the development of the V-bombs without resorting to the `good German' clichés - they may be brave, but they're also Nazis committed to taking over the world - though that also means the film's heroes aren't introduced until half an hour into the film. Similarly, while there are some big bangs along the way, most of the action is relegated to the spectacular finale (which ended up as stock footage 12 years later in Peppard's dismal sci-fi road movie Damnation Alley!), yet the film is constantly engaging.

Superbly directed by Michael Anderson (a sentence you don't see very often) with an excellent use of the scope frame incorporated into Elliott Scott's production design, there's a fair amount of dramatic license in the strong script co-written by Emeric Pressburger (under his pseudonym Richard Imrie), particularly in one development with a German spy (the Nazis never had an effective intelligence presence in Britain during the war), but its rather well-judged balance of heroism and cynicism (the Allies can be just as ruthless here as the Nazis) makes it hold up remarkably well. True, at times it feels like its trying perhaps a little too hard to shoehorn in another familiar face to up the marquee value - the narrative almost comes to a halt when Sophia Loren's character appears, though her subplot has a memorably shocking payoff - but the cast more than earn their keep here, with good turns from Anthony Quayle, Richard Johnson, Lilli Palmer and John Mills, solid ones from John Fraser, Sylvia Sims, Trevor Howard, Paul Henreid (Casablanca's Victor Lazlo on the Nazi side!) and Richard Todd as well as bit parts for familiar faces like Ferdy Mayne, Maurice Denham, Richard Wattis, John Alderton and Philip Madoc, starting his career as he went on as a menacing German policeman not a million miles away from his snide U-boat commander in Dad's Army.

Warner Home Video's DVD is an improvement over MGM/UA's laser disc, offering a good 2.35:1 widescreen transfer with brief original making of featurette and trailer, though sadly the deleted scenes with Gordon Jackson, John Le Mesurier and Basil Dignam aren't included.


4/5 Just Off the Bullseye
  by EddieLove (NYC, USA)
This is a guys-on-a-mission picture that curiously doesn't introduce the guys or the mission until half an hour into the movie. When things get going it's really good, in fact, the middle third is great and delivers some really shocking reversals. The climax is then diluted with more scenes of missiles over Britain that simply aren't as exciting.

Everyone in the international cast is sensational. If there's a standout, it's Jeremy Kemp who perfectly pivots between British effeteness and German imperiousness. I wish his role had been larger.

The DVD looks good, but hasn't been really restored.