ILL MET BY MOONLIGHT (Intelligence service).

Grande-Bretagne. Réal., prod., scén. : Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger. Cie de prod. : The Archers, J. Arthur Rank. Prod. associé: Sydney Streeter. Asst. réal. : Charles Orme. Scén. d'après le livre du même titre de W. Stanley Moss. Dir. photo. Christopher Challis (Vista Vision). Cameraman : Austin Dempster. Mont.: Arthur Stevens. Dir. art. : Alex Vetchinsky. Mus. : Mikis Theodorakis. Dir. mus. : Frederick Lewis. Son. : Charles Knott, Gordon K. McCallum.

Int. : Dirk Bogarde (Major Paddy Leigh-Fermor), Marius Goring (General Karl Kreipe), David Oxley (Capitaine Billy Stanley-Moss), Cyril Cusack (Sandy), Laurence Payne (Marioli), Wolfe Morris (George), Michael Gough (Andoni Zoidakis), Roland Bartrop (Micky Akoumianalis), Brian Worth (Stratis Saviolkis), Paul Stassino (Yani Katsias), Adeed Assaly (Zahari), John Caimey (Elias), George Egeniou (Charis Zographakis), Demitri Andreas (Nikko), Theo Moreas (le prêtre du village), Takis Frangofinos (Michali).

Durée : 104 mn. Prés. : 29 janvier 1957. GB sort. : 4 mars 1957. GB dist. : Rank. US sort. : juillet 1958 (93 mn). US titre : Night Ambush. Sort. France : avril 57 (Marseille) ; nov. 57 (Paris).

Deux officiers de l'Intelligence Service et des partisans crétois enlèvent le général Von Krelpe, qui commande l'armée d'occupation en Crète. Malgré les embûches, ils traversent l'île pour rejoindre un torpilleur britannique : mission réussie, ils sont même félicités par leur prisonnier.

Retour filmo
The last regular Powell and Pressburger collaboration (the two did reunite briefly in 1972 to work on a children's film), the underrated Ill Met by Moonlight is set in German-occupied Crete in 1943, and based on the improbable but true story of two British officers who, with the help of Cretan partisans, disguised themselves as Nazis, kidnapped a German general, and attempted to spirit him across country by night to a waiting British ship. The fine cast is headed by Dirk Bogarde as flamboyant Major Patrick Leigh-Fermor; David Oxley aschivalrous Captain Billy Stanley Moss, his cohort; and frequent P & P player Marius Goring as their German victim. The film was based on a memoir of the same name by the real Captain Moss; the real Major Leigh-Fermor ended up as Hollywood screenwriter of John Huston's lame 1958 Africa epic The Roots of Heaven. Ill Met by Moonlight features suspenseful pacing, a wonderful sense of landscape, loads of gloomy atmosphere, and a striking score -- one of his first for the cinema – by well-known Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis (Zorba the Greek, Z, Serpico). "It would be foolish to suggest that the film. . . is anywhere near the level of the team's masterworks. Even so, it's more interesting than legend suggests. . . Taking its title from a play concerned with dreams and disguises, magic and power, Ill Met by Moonlight is all about questions of identity" (Peter Richards, Film Comment).