The Red Beret

Infobox Film
name = The Red Beret
director = Terence Young
producer = Irving Allen
Albert R. Broccoli
writer = Richard Maibaum
Sy Bartlett
Frank Nugent
based on the book by Hillary St George Sanders
starring = Alan Ladd
Leo Genn
music = John Addison
cinematography = John Wilcox
distributor = Columbia Pictures
country = UK
editing =
released = 1953
runtime = 88 min
language = English
imdb_id =

The Red Beret is a 1953 British made war film concerning the Parachute Regiment. It is notable as the first film made by Warwick Films with many of the crew working on various Warwick Films and Albert R. Broccoli's Eon Productions.

Plot summary

Alan Ladd is the focus of this story based on the wartime raid Operation Biting on the German radar station at Bruneval. The raid was a combined services operation with the 2nd Battalion of the 1st Parachute Brigade led by Major John Dutton Frost (Major Snow). An RAF radar expert, Flight Sergeant C.W.H. Cox (Sergeant Box) accompanied the raiders to tell them what to take back to England.

Steve MacKendrick, now known as Canada, shows up in 1940 as a volunteer for paratroop school. He obviously has a good deal more background and leadership skills than he lets on. With Major Snow wounded, MacKendrick must assume command if his troop is to survive.

Cast

*Alan Ladd .... Canada
*Leo Genn .... Major Snow
*Susan Stephen .... Penny Gardner
*Harry Andrews .... R.S.M.
*Donald Houston .... Taffy
*Anthony Bushell .... General Whiting
*Patric Doonan .... Flash
*Stanley Baker .... Breton
*Lana Morris .... Pinky
*Tim Turner .... Rupert
*Michael Kelly .... Dawes
*Anton Diffring .... The Pole
*Thomas Heathcote .... Alf
*Carl Duering .... Rossi
*John Boxer .... Flight Sgt. Box

Aspects of production

*Known as "Paratrooper" in the United States. It was Shown on the Military Channels Combat Classics. [IMDb.com]
*The Parachute Regiment provided extras, facilities, and locations at the RAF Abingdon Parachute School, Abingdon, Oxfordshire [p.131 Mackenzie, S.P. "British War Films, 1939-1945: The Cinema and the Services" Hambledon & London 2007] and at Trawsfynydd, North Wales. [>http://www.moviemapnorthwales.co.uk/eng/map_detail_37.html]
*Terence Young's original choice for the lead, former World War II Para Richard Todd turned the role down as being too "far fetched". [Todd, Richard "Caught in the Act" Hutchinson 1986]
*Former agent Albert R. Broccoli knew that Ladd was unhappy with Paramount due to a new contract at much less money. Broccoli met Ladd and his wife and agent Sue Carol who agreed to a three picture contract with Warwick provided Ladd's scriptwriter Richard Maibaum was allowed to rewrite the screenplay for Ladd. [Broccoli, Albert R. & Zec, Donald "When the Snow Melts" Boxtree 1998]
*Ladd was paid US$200,000, first class travel and accommodation for himself, his wife, their four children and their nurse, and 10 per cent of the gross receipts over US$2,000,000 for his eleven weeks work filming "The Red Beret". [ [http://bulk.resource.org/courts.gov/c/F2/309/309.F2d.51.17759_1.html 309 F.2d 51 ] ]
*Ladd's most popular and critically acclaimed film "Shane" though filmed earlier was also released in 1953 making him a prime box office attraction.
*Though there was some public criticism of an American playing the lead in a British War film, British cinema owners responded that Hollywood stars filled their cinema seats unlike most local actors. Ladd himself explained that his character had enlisted in the Parachute Regiment to learn from them.
*In addition to director Young and screenwriter Maibaum, camera operator Ted Moore and stuntman Bob Simmons who worked on the film worked extensively on future Warwick and Eon Productions films.
*The film cost US$700,000 to make and grossed US$8 million worldwide. ["p.55 Chapman, James "Licence to Thrill: A Cultural History of the James Bond Films" Columbia University Press 2001]

References

External links

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