The Cockleshell Heroes
THEY don't make war movies like The Cockleshell Heroes anymore. I'm not, by that statement, suggesting that director Jose Ferrer's 1955 epic is in any way better than modern big screen true life stories of human conflict – it's just different.
These days, war movies usually come drenched in a highly stylised aura of dread. Bleak and tough to stomach, the modern war film is a very different beast from the typical 1950s offering. Back then, with the embers of the Second World War still smouldering, there was a more flippant, almost jokey attitude to relating the bloody history just gone. Fighting fascism with such force meant that celebrating the heroes rather than analysing the horror of the event was, perhaps understandably, the order of the day when it came to telling the tale on the big screen.
The Cockleshell Heroes is a perfect example. A light, 'Boy's Own' style adventure about one of the most outrageously audacious military raids in the history of WWII, while its odd mix bravery and barrack room humour may not sit well with some viewers today, it remains an exciting and revealing slice of 1950s war movie magic.
Set at the height of the conflict, the film is the true story of how Hitler's navy were using the port of Bordeaux in occupied France for its 'unassailable' status. Over in England, a newly appointed Major Geoffrey Stringer (Jose Ferrer, who also directed) reckons he's worked out how to break through the apparently unbreakable security blanket around the area. He plans to send out a few foolhardy foot soldiers in collapsible canoes to paddle their way up to the German ships and bring them down with just a few carefully placed limpet mines.
When you consider the scale of the operation and the fact that the men were being sent a full 70 miles in hugely inhospitable conditions to see out their task, it's clear this was little more than a suicide mission – and that's where the drama really kicks in.
The acting here is of the highest calibre. Ferrer is excellent as the central officer and Trevor Howard is superb as the sceptical Captain Hugh Thompson. There are also supporting roles for the likes of Christopher Lee and Dora Bryan to enjoy and even an early appearance for future star Anthony Newley to look out for.
Ferrer doesn't push the boat, or canoe, out too far in terms of his visual style but there's a brash, testosterone fuelled gung-ho quality about the story that keeps you hanging on until the end.
The effects are limited to say the least and that reliance on old school British humour sits a little uneasily with the grim mission that the men must take on – but there's something thrilling about he lack of post modern analysis of war and human conflict which makes it oddly appealing.
It may not match up to a Saving Private Ryan today in terms of realism or bone crunching violence, but the story is still gripping and gruelling in its own strangely understated way.
