Themes: Switching Sides, Great Battles, Heroic Mission
Main Cast: Stewart Granger, Mickey Rooney, Edward Byrnes, Henry Silva
Release Year: 1964
Country: US
Run Time: 95 minutes
Plot
Producer/director Roger Corman briefly abandoned Edgar Allan Poe for The Secret Invasion, a commendable attempt to make a war epic on a "B" budget. The story is a scaled-down precursor to The Dirty Dozen: Five criminals are given a chance at a pardon by agreeing to participate in a suicide mission for British Intelligence. They are smuggled into Yugoslavia (where this film was made) to conduct several commando raids against the Nazi invaders. The quintet is comprised of veterans of internationally-produced war films: Stewart Granger, Raf Vallone, Mickey Rooney, Edd "Kookie" Byrnes and Henry Silva (observe the cast and guess who gets killed first). Corman's skill at generating excitement through quick cutting and careful camera composition is given an exhilarating workout in The Secret Invasion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Mia Massini - Mila; William Campbell - Jean Saval; Helmo Kinderman - Commander; Enzo Fiermonte - Wuadti; Peter Coe - Marko; Nan Morris - Stephana; Helmut Schneider - German Patrol-Boat Captain; Giulio Marchetti - Italian Garrison Officer; Nicholas Rend - Captain of Fishing Boat; Craig March - Petar; Todd Williams - Partisan Leader; Raf Vallone - Roberto Rocca
Credit
John Murray - Art Director, Roger Corman - Director, Ronald Sinclair - Editor, Hugo W. Friedhofer - Composer (Music Score), Sandra James - Makeup, Arthur E. Arling - Cinematographer, Gene Corman - Producer, Ian Love - Set Designer, George Blackwell - Special Effects, Robert Wright Campbell - Screenwriter
The Secret Invasion is a 1964 war film directed by Roger Corman. In World War II, convicts are recruited by the Allies for an extremely hazardous mission.
Plot
Criminal mastermind Rocca (Raf Vallone), demolitions expert and Irish Republican Army member Scanlon (Mickey Rooney), forger Fell (Edd Byrnes), cold-blooded murderer Durrell (Henry Silva), and thief and impersonator Saval (William Campbell) are offered pardons in exchange for attempting to rescue an Italian general sympathetic to the Allies from captivity in German-occupied Yugoslavia. They are led by Major Richard Mace (Stewart Granger), a man trying to expiate his feelings of guilt for sending his own brother on a dangerous mission and waiting too long to extricate him.
With the assistance of local partisans led by Marko (Peter Coe), they split up and enter Dubrovnik. Durrell is partnered with Mila (Spela Rozin), a recent widow with a baby. They are attracted to each other, but Durrell accidentally smothers her crying child to avoid detection by German soldiers. The team is captured and taken to the same fortress where the Italian general is being kept. They are tortured for information, but manage to escape and fulfill their mission, though at great cost.
At the last minute, Rocca and Durrell, the only two survivors, discover that the man they have freed is an impostor and that he is about to exhort "his" troops to stay loyal to the Axis. Durrell shoots the fake general while pretending to be a Nazi fanatic and is killed by the outraged Italians. Rocca directs the Italians' anger at the Germans.
