The Secret Invasion (1964)

British officer Major Richard Mace recruits a bunch of convicted criminals in to a carrying out a secret mission that involves rescuing an Italian General being held hostage by the Nazis in Yugoslavia . If they succeed they'll be granted a pardon . If they fail they won't have to worry about living long enough to be sent back to jail because this is a literal suicide mission The above premise is very similar to THE DIRTY DOZEN a fact reflected that everyone on this page has brought up the 1967 film directed by Robert Aldrich . Of course there's only so many ways you can deal a pack of cards so sooner or later premises are going to meet one another and the 1960s were full of movies where desperate men were conscripted in to carrying out suicide missions behind enemy lines . THE SECRET INVASION probably didn't have much or any influence over THE DIRTY DOZEN and perhaps this 1964 movie owes more to the 1961 big budget release THE GUNS OF NAVERONE ? Where THE DIRTY DOZEN succeeds is that the group of soldiers turned criminals turned back in to soldiers again are far more convincing than the ones seen here . You want a demolition expert then who better than Mickey Rooney who shockingly was only 44 when this movie was released but looks like a man at least 20 years older . You do get the impression that his character would have a problem running up a flight of stairs never mind taking part in a physically draining mission against the Nazis THE SECRET INVASION is directed by Roger Corman and that alone tells you what the production values are going to be like . The action scenes aren't handled well with three or four actors squeezed in to frame as bullets whizz past explosions take place out of shot that fails to convince the audience that an epic battle scene is taking place . That said the resolution to the mission is somewhat surprising and unexpected which means if the film had a bigger budget then it might have been held in higher regard than it actually is

Although a low-budget film, "The Secret Invasion" earns a high score from me. It's especially good in portraying men on a mission, partisans, and events rather plainly and humanly -- without the glamour. And the filming location and scenes along the eastern Adriatic coast add to the film. This is a precursor of "The Dirty Dozen," and I agree with those reviewers who think this tops the later film considerably. "Dirty Dozen" had more "glamour" and fun with laughs in the beginning. But "Secret Invasion" was more realistic and it was the first film to use a theme with convicts selected for a special, high-risk mission. It gives but a short time to the training and preparation, but then it gets into the action. It has good doses of action interspersed with intrigue and suspense at every major turn.The plot in "Secret Invasion" is realistic – even for a fictitious war flick. The same can't be said for "The Dirty Dozen" in 1967. The small team of misfits in this film was pulled together from various prisons around the world. That list of noted prisons was interesting in itself; and, these were all men serving as civilian convicts from before the start of the war. In "Dirty Dozen," the misfits were all GIs who were in prison, mostly for brutal killings or other heinous crimes. Now, how realistic was that for the middle of WW II in Europe? Not that movies have to be realistic by any means – fiction is fiction. But a fiction story is all the more entertaining and fun to imagine if the script and plot are at least somewhat likely or possible. In this film, a small group is led by a British Army major, and they are to rescue an Italian general from a prison in Dubrovnik, Croatia (Yugoslavia during WW II and in 1964 when this film was made). It was hoped that he would then rouse the Italian troops to go against the Germans. That would weaken German defenses, stretching them out along the south of Europe, before the Allied landings in the western Mediterranean. This is much more of a realistic and high-minded plan, it seems, than the violence and carnage of "Dirty Dozen" which was just to kill as many top German officers as possible – along with anyone else who might get in the way. The script, direction and filming are very good. The cast has some wonderfully talented actors. All give very good performances. I don't think Stewart Granger gave his role the best he could, but that didn't hurt the film with all the other good roles and the action and intrigue. The shooting of the film in and around Dubrovnik also adds a touch of reality, as well as great scenery and interesting history. The port city of Dubrovnik has stood for centuries and was never once destroyed in all that time. I visited present-day Croatia and Dubrovnik in 2005. The scenes in the film of the town, surrounded by its high wall and jutting into the Adriatic, show the beauty of the place. I walked the wall around the city where one of the chase and gunfight scenes takes place. Dubrovnik became a World Heritage Site in 1979. I highly recommend "The Secret Invasion" as a very good World War II film.

Producer/director Roger Corman actually comes up with a very commendable war movie on his typical "B" budget. This is a pared down preview of THE DIRTY DOZEN. Five criminals, all with a special skill, are given the chance at a pardon on the condition they participate in a near suicide mission. British Intelligence smuggle the five into Yugoslavia to make a commando raid on a Nazi headquarters, where an Italian officer is being imprisoned. The British feel rescuing the general will influence him to have his army fight with the Allied forces.Interesting and diverse cast featuring: Stewart Granger, Henry Silva, Raf Vallone, Edd (Kookie) Brynes, Mickey Rooney, Spela Rozin and Peter Coe. Filmed in Yugoslavia and Croatia.

A compendium of cliches, culled from many years of war dramas, and action pictures of other types: there was little that was fresh or original when this film was made, and absolutely nothing of the sort left for a viewer now. The assortment of superficial characters have turned up, singly or jointly, in Westerns, crime stories, prison picture and the like for many decades. Conflict and tension are nowhere in evidence. Battle scenes are noisy and lengthy, if you go for that sort of thing. Where else will you find characters struggling through rugged terrain, wounded, surrounded by explosions and other violence, yet emerging (dead or alive) with every hair in place (see Stewart Granger and Edd Byrnes, in particular)? The scenery is beautiful, in keeping with the astonishingly clean look of a picture about unsavory characters on a grubby mission. Here is a movie that deservedly has been all-but-forgotten.