Invasion Quartet

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Invasion Quartet
Iqpos.jpg
Original film poster by Ronald Searle
Directed by Jay Lewis
Written by Jack Trevor Story
John Briley
Norman Collins (story)
Produced by Ronald Kinnoch
Starring Bill Travers
Spike Milligan
Cinematography Geoffrey Faithfull
Gerald Moss
Edited byErnest Walter
Music by Ron Goodwin
Distributed by Metro Goldwyn Mayer
Release date
  • September 1961 (1961-09)
Running time
91 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Invasion Quartet is a 1961 British World War II comedy-drama film directed by Jay Lewis and starring Bill Travers and Spike Milligan. [1] It was publicised as a parody of The Guns of Navarone . [2] The screenplay was by Jack Trevor Story and John Briley based on a story by Norman Collins.

Contents

The plot has similarities to the exploits of Commando Sgt Peter King and Pte Leslie Cuthbertson.[ citation needed ]

Plot

Two wounded officers, one British and one French are deemed unfit and surplus to requirements. They abscond from their hospital and, together with an explosives expert suffering from mental illness, and a Colonel, thought too old to serve in the Army, make their way to France to destroy a long range German artillery piece.

Cast

Production

The film was part of the first slate of productions by MGM British under Lawrence P. Bachmann. [3]

Reception

Box office

According to MGM records, the film made a loss of $119,000. [4] However in May 1962 MGM's head of British production Lawrence Bachmann claimed the film was in profit. [5]

Critical

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Here is a story with almost unlimited possibilities for satire including, as it does, references to all the standard British war film themes, from Kwai to Navarone. Regrettably, its makers have taken the easy way out. Instead of pursuing all the debunking opportunities to their logical conclusion, they have fallen back on well-tried slapstick situations and hoary verbal gags. Even on this level, the production is often forced and heavy and, from a generally ill-directed cast, only Spike Milligan's brand of zany humour emerges reasonably intact." [6]

The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 1/5 stars, writing: "MGM's British department showed just how far its reputation had plummeted since the glory days of the late 1930s with this woeful wartime farrago. One might have had higher hopes for a script by Jack Trevor Story and John Briley, but what they serve up here is a preposterous tale about a ragtag outfit sent into Nazi-occupied France to knock out a gun aimed at Dover." [7]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Invasion Quartet". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
  2. ↑ Weiler, A. H. New York Times film review 11 December 1961
  3. ↑ Vagg, Stephen (5 July 2025). "Forgotten British Film Moguls: Lawrence P. Bachmann". Filmink. Retrieved 5 July 2025.
  4. ↑ The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
  5. ↑ "Metro's Prod Chief in London Sees Britain as Future Film Centre". Variety. 2 May 1962. p. 89. Retrieved 9 August 2024.
  6. ↑ "Invasion Quartet". The Monthly Film Bulletin . 28 (324): 156. 1 January 1961. ProQuest   1305822252.
  7. ↑ Radio Times Guide to Films (18th ed.). London: Immediate Media Company. 2017. p. 470. ISBN   9780992936440.


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