Ill Met by Moonlight (film)

For the book, see Ill Met by Moonlight.

Ill Met by Moonlight (Night Ambush)
theatrical poster
Directed by	Michael Powell Emeric Pressburger
Produced by	Michael Powell Emeric Pressburger
Written by	W. Stanley Moss (book) Michael Powell Emeric Pressburger
Starring	Dirk Bogarde Marius Goring David Oxley Cyril Cusack
Music by	Mikis Theodorakis
Cinematography	Christopher Challis
Editing by	Arthur Stevens
Studio	Pinewood Studios
Distributed by	Rank Film Distributors Ltd.
Release date(s)	4 March 1957 (UK) 24 April 1958 (NYC) July 1958 (US)
Running time	104 minutes 93 minutes (US)
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Ill Met by Moonlight (1957), also known as Night Ambush, is a film by the British writer-director-producer team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, the last film they made together through their Archers production company. The film, which stars Dirk Bogarde and features Marius Goring, David Oxley, and Cyril Cusack, is based on the 1950 book Ill Met by Moonlight: The Abduction of General Kreipe by W. Stanley Moss. It was an account of events during the author's service on Crete as an agent of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) during World War II. It features the young agents' capture and evacuation of the German commander, General Heinrich Kreipe. The title is a quotation from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Plot

During World War II, the Greek Mediterranean island of Crete was occupied by the Nazis. British officers Major Patrick Leigh Fermor DSO (Dirk Bogarde) and Captain Bill Stanley Moss MC (David Oxley) of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) land on the island. With the help of the local Cretan resistance in April 1944, they kidnap German General Heinrich Kreipe (Marius Goring), the commander of the island. They take Kreipe across rough country to a secluded cove on the far side of the island, where they are picked up and taken to Cairo, where British forces are stationed.^[1]

Cast

• Dirk Bogarde as Major Patrick "Paddy" Leigh Fermor aka "Philedem"
• Marius Goring as Major General Heinrich Kreipe
• David Oxley as Captain W. Stanley "Billy" Moss, M.C.
• Dimitri Andreas as Niko Soldan Emeris
• Cyril Cusack as Captain Sandy Rendel
• Laurence Payne as Manoli
• Wolfe Morris as George
• Michael Gough as Andoni Zoidakis
• John Cairney as Elias
• Rowland Bartrop as Micky Akoumianakis
• Brian Worth as Stratis Saviolkis
• Paul Stassino as Yanni Katsias
• Adeeb Assaly as Zahari

Cast notes:

• Marius Goring had appeared in three other Powell and Pressburger films: The Spy in Black (1939), A Matter of Life and Death (1946) and The Red Shoes (1948).^[2] Goring replaced Curt Jürgens, who was the original choice to play the part of General Kreipe.

• Christopher Lee and David McCallum have small parts: Lee as a German officer in the dentist scene, and McCallum, in his film debut, as a sailor on the ship that picks up the group. Lee's part was edited out of the 1959 American re-release of the film.^[3] A "John Houseman" in the cast does not appear to be the well-known actor and director John Houseman.^[4]

Production

Ill Met By Moonlight was filmed at Pinewood Studios in England, with location shooting in the Alpes-Maritimes in France and Italy, and on the Côte d'Azur in France.^[5][6]

Other media

The story was affectionately parodied by Spike Milligan in the 1957 Goon Show episode, "Ill Met by Goonlight".

References

1. ^ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/military-obituaries/special-forces-obituaries/8568395/Sir-Patrick-Leigh-Fermor.html
2. ^ IMDB Marius Goring
3. ^ TCM Misc. notes
4. ^ John Houseman at the Internet Movie Database
5. ^ IMDB Filming locations
6. ^ P&P Filming Locations

Bibliography

• Christie, Ian. Arrows of Desire: the films of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. London: Faber & Faber, 1994. ISBN 0-571-16271-1. 163pp (illus. filmog. bibliog. index).
• Fermor, Patrick Leigh. Words of Mercury. John Murray, 2004. ISBN 0-719-56105-1.
• Moss, W. Stanley. Ill Met by Moonlight. London: Harrap, 1950. ISBN 0-304-35259-4.
• Moss, W. Stanley. A War of Shadows. London: T.V. Boardman , 1952. OCLC: 2057976. 240pp (illus. 21 cm). [1]
• Powell, Michael. A Life in Movies: An Autobiography. London: Heinemann, 1986. ISBN 0-434-59945-X.
• Powell, Michael. Million Dollar Movie. London: Heinemann, 1992. ISBN 0-434-59947-6.

External links

• "Ill Met by Moonlight Expeditions". http://www.illmetbymoonlight.info/. 
• "Battle of Crete". http://www.my-crete-site.co.uk/kidnap.htm. 
• "Special Camp 11 - Prisoner Kreipe". http://www.specialcamp11.fsnet.co.uk/Generalmajor%20Heinrich%20Kreipe.htm#_edn2. 
• Ill Met by Moonlight (film) at the Internet Movie Database
• Night Ambush at the TCM Movie Database
• Ill Met by Moonlight (film) at AllRovi
• Reviews and articles at the Powell & Pressburger Review Pages
• Ill Met by Moonlight at the British Film Institute's Screenonline. Full synopsis and film stills (and clips viewable from UK libraries).

See also

• Sophie Moss
• Patrick Leigh Fermor