Ill Met by Moonlight (1957)

Ill Met by Moonlight is a British war film first released in 1957, directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger.  The film stars Dirk Bogarde, Marius Goring, David Oxley and Dimitri Andreas.  It has also been released under the title: Intelligence Service.  Our overall rating for this film is: good.


During WWII, the island of Crete is occupied by the Nazis, although the local resistance groups intend that this will only be a temporary arrangement.  One of the groups is headed by Major Patrick Leigh-Fermor, nicknamed Philedem by his Cretan friends.  He has a plan to kidnap the German Commander-in-Chief, General Kriepe, and take him to Cairo, with the help of a newly arrived British officer, Captain Stanley Moss.  Although the night-time abduction goes as planned, the General proves to be more trouble than anticipated...

Ill Met by Moonlight is the film that marked the end of the long and fruitful collaboration of the legendary director-writing team Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger.  A humdrum, pretty inconsequential wartime drama, the film lacks the stylistic touches, dramatic focus and scale of previous Archers productions, but is passable entertainment – if you can live with the jarring mismatch between the real location and the unconvincing studio mock-ups.

Still shackled with the smooth nice guy image he fashioned for himself in the Doctor films, Dirk Bogarde is a bizarre casting choice for the part of a murderous maverick soldier and, far from being the butch action hero, he appears distinctly camp in certain scenes.  Fortunately, P&P regulars Marius Goring and Cyril Cusack are on hand to bring a touch of realism to the proceedings and prevent the whole thing from degenerating into a mincing pantomime.  Whilst not the best film to come out of the Powell and Pressburger stable, and a substantial letdown after the epic Battle of the River Plate (1956), Ill Met by Moonlight still has a certain whimsical appeal.

© Andrew Tranter 2009

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