When people mock the British war films of the 1950s it's ones like these they have in mind - middle of the road star power (John Mills, John Gregson, Donald Sinden), stiff upper lips, polite middle class heroes and loveable cockneys, understated Bravery, admiring German opposition...
And certainly you could make fun of it. But it is based on a true story, there are attempts at documentary like realism (including documentary footage), the final attack is quite exciting (cramped mini subs leaking etc). It also has a remarkably down beat ending - although the ship is damaged, two of the crews are captured and the third die in what is basically a suicide mission (because they don't want to give the mission away).
The characters aren't memorable - one sailor is a bit of a womaniser, another is scared of being scared, and that's about it. I guess that happens when you do films based on real people many of whom were still around. It's not helped though by the fact it's so hard to tell the actors apart. Mills, Gregson and Sinden aren't terribly distinguishable stars - they could have easily swapped them for Anthony Steel, Richard Todd, Kenneth More, Dirk Bogarde, etc. Aussies will get a kick out of seeing Gregson play an Aussie (presumably Peter Finch wasn't available) but they don't really do much with his Australian-ness.
Drama wise the film's chief flaw is the second act consists of an abortive mission which doesn't really affect anything - they do the mission, get captured by Swedes, then released. It doesn't complicate or accelerate things and could be cut out of the movie.
Still, there are some effective moments, especially knowing it all happened.
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