Alarm on the Valiant
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Alarm on the Valiant |
| Original title | The Valiant |
| Country of production |
Great Britain Italy |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1962 |
| length | 90 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Roy Ward Baker |
| script |
Giorgio Capitani Franca Caprino Willis Hall Robert Mallet Keith Waterhouse |
| production | Jon Penington |
| music | Christopher Whelen |
| camera | Wilkie Cooper |
| cut |
Lea Pardo John Pomeroy |
| occupation | |
| |
Alarm on the Valiant is a 1962 British-Italian war film directed by Roy Ward Baker based on a true story. The stage play L'équipage au complet by Robert Mallet, which premiered in Paris in 1957, served as the basis for the script .
action
The British Mediterranean Fleet had only two battleships available in December 1941, the HMS Valiant and the HMS Queen Elizabeth . Both ships are anchored in the port of Alexandria . In one night, two Italian frogmen, Luigi Durand de la Penne and Emilio Bianchi, are fished out of the water near the Valiant and captured. The two are questioned by Captain Morgan, who does not get anything out of them. Morgan is concerned that the two enemy soldiers may have installed a mine on the ship. He refuses medical help to the seriously injured Bianchi, violating the Geneva Convention . There is also concern among his people about this inhumane treatment.
The ship's officer, Lieutenant Field, has particular problems interrogating the two Italians because he has married an Italian. After a while, Bianchi confesses that a mine was installed on the ship, but he refuses to provide any information about the time of the detonation. Morgan orders the ship to be evacuated immediately. Only he himself remains on board the Valiant with some of his officers and the two prisoners . Bianchi and his comrade, who were trapped before the evacuation, think the ship is completely abandoned. They discuss their mission and talk about the near time of the explosion. Morgan overhears them through a mouthpiece.
However, it is too late to take countermeasures. The mine explodes and tears a meter-sized hole in the hull of the ship. Morgan manages to deceive enemy reconnaissance planes by disguising the repair work as normal routine.
criticism
The Lexicon of International Films described the film as "a genre-standard war film that only treats its problem superficially."
background
The film premiered in London on January 4, 1962 . In Germany, it opened in cinemas on March 2 of the same year. The Italian title is L'affondamento della Valiant .
Web links
- Alarm on the Valiant in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Alarm on the Valiant. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .