Mosquito Squadron (1970)

Watchable for the famous DH Mosquito but nothing else to hold it of any merit, sadly. As others have mentioned, poor acting, sixties-style hairdressing rather than a brylcreem-and-bright-red-lipstick timeline, the film is particularly bad and lacking. Also, as mentioned, stealing far too many aerial scenes from the superior '633 Squadron' make this a dim, Sunday afternoon type of low-budget flick. Interesting plot, actually, however maybe badly executed, mention of 'Highball', not quite the normal 'bouncing bomb', but a device developed mainly for the navy, to bounce against enemy warships. The plan is thus, to 'bounce' them into the mouth of a tunnel to destroy a 'V3' rocket facility. Added to this Munroe's (McCallum) quandary of his adopted 'brother' and superior Officer 'Scotty' (David Buck), missing presumed dead, but actually among the POWS, with an amnesiac bump on his head/unaware of whom HE is.The Nazis are going to use Scotty AND the POWs as a 'Human shield', once they have got wind of the coming RAF attack. Complicating things further of course, is the fact Quint is in love now with Scotty's 'alleged' widow. It's all meant to be hush- hush, especially more so, (David Dundas - he of the 'Blue Jeans' song, years ago and featured on a Levi's advert) blabs to everyone about the POWs plight after being told NOT to - leading to a so-called bonus operation with 'Highball' and the assistance of the French Resistance to bomb the POWs compound to free them ONLY when the V3 facility is destroyed FIRST (any Highball bombs 'left over' are only THEN to be allocated to free the prisoners).This has deliberate echoes of the 'Operation Jericho mission' also executed by DH Mosquitoes. Character actor George Layton (he of the famous British 'Doctor'comedy TV series) mentions this was his first film role. Nice to see the pretty Suzanne Neve as Scotty's 'widow', Beth, but not a lot to remember this for, EXCEPT as I've said, its stealing of 633 Squadron's scenes!

I watched this movie because of my personal interest in de Havilland Mosquito airplane. When this movie was made I guess there were enough operational Mosquitos to form a squadron for this movie. I've never seen this plane in color and up so close.The movie holds together surprisingly well for a war time movie. The highlight of the movie is when the Mosquitoes appear on the screen. I'm glad that they made this movie that catches this plane in all its colorful glory. Until I saw this movie I didn't know that the Mosquito had a bomb bay.If you're a war time movie or a de Haviland Mosquito fan, this movie is worth keeping in your collection.

Mosquito pilots must destroy a big house where the Germans are meant to be developing the v3 rocket ( wonder what that would have looked like ) and considering how effective the v1 and v2 rockets are the v3 must not reach production so the squadron use bouncing bombs to destroy the house. Sounds quite imaginative if not a tad bit stupid but it comes off as a big pile of junk with unconvincing dog fights and action with the exception of the last part of the film. There are Ed Wood style goofs like a planes shadow on the backdrop and planes wobbling in the air as they fly but it does have a good feel to it just try not to take it to seriously watch Dam Busters or 633 Squadron instead.

Actually, this comment is unlikely to contain spoilers for the simple reason that there is nothing to spoil.I have seen some wretched movies in my time but this one is surely dancing on the edge of disaster canyon.There is another movie that most wartime adventure fans will have seen, called '633 Squadron'. It's a well-paced action drama with just enough of the characters' personal lives to give them an interesting depth. Nothing fancy, just predictable. There's a Dam-Busters/Guns of Navarone do-or-die mission to fulfil at all costs, and so on. A competent cast is led by Cliff Robertson, George Chakiris and other stalwarts. And of course, there's that unforgettable stirring theme music, arguably the real star of the show.Well, after this movie was cut and canned, and the studios closed for the day. Someone sneaked into the cutting-room and rummaged through the bins. They found all of the takes no director in his right mind would touch with a barge-pole and hurried back to their little bedsits. Then they came up with a story so preposterous that only a lobotomised hamster could take it seriously, and looked around for a schmuck - I mean star.The best they could come up with was David McCallum. He alone led a bunch of nobodies through a montage of hastily-pasted '633 Squadron' out-takes in an attack upon yet another secret Nazi base, using bouncing bombs - this time bouncing along the ground would you believe?No; I didn't either.It is not very often that I actually squirm with embarrassment. But this was one such occasion.If you haven't already seen it, save yourselves. My DVD is serving as a coaster.