The Heroes of Telemark

The Battle for Heavy Water.

The Heroes of Telemark is directed by Anthony Mann and written by Ben Barzman and Ivan Moffat. It stars Kirk Douglas, Richard Harris, Ulla Jacobsson, Michael Redgrave and David Weston. Music is by Malcolm Arnold and cinematography by Robert Krasker.

1942, Nazi occupied Norway, and the Germans are making great strides with their plans for atomic weaponry. It’s down to a band of resistance fighters and a scientist to blow up the German heavy water factory located up in the Telemark mountains.

Perhaps it’s stating the obvious considering Mann and Krasker's reputations as quality visualists, but The Heroes of Telemark is a splendid looking war movie. It’s solidly performed by the cast, the story, which is based on a real and crucial incident in the war, is gripping, while some of the tech flourishes shown by Mann for the more pacy scenes are impressive.

Problems only really arise when the film resorts to standard character interactions, shifting focus away from the film’s strength, that of the mission, the planning and execution of such. The script doesn’t really give the characters much to work with, so in truth it’s hard to really care about them in context to their own personal trials and tribulations.

However, such is the visual treats and excellent action choreography on show, it still rounds out as a wholesome meaty war epic well worth investing time with. 7/10

The more realistic precursor to Where Eagles Dare

During WW2, a resistant fighter in German-occupied Norway (Richard Harris) and an Oslo physics professor (Kirk Douglas) team-up to stop the Nazi operation of creating & transporting heavy water in order to produce the first atomic bomb and thus win the war.

“The Heroes of Telemark” (1965) debuted three years before “Where Eagles Dare” and is based on the true story of Norwegian heavy water sabotage. It’s more mundane and believable, but lacks the great score and all-around pizazz of that more well-know WW 2 film. The wintery Norwegian locations are certainly a highlight (listed below).

This was director Anthony Mann’s second to last movie. He would die a year and five months after its release from a heart attack in Berlin at the age of 60.

The film runs 2 hours, 10 minutes, and was shot in Norway (Telemark, Oslo & Tinnsjø) and England (Pinewood Studios, Winchfield station & Poole Harbour).

GRADE: B

It doesn't matter at what time of year I watch this wartime thriller, it always makes me reach for a jumper! The Nazis are working on a top secret project in a Norwegian hydro-electric plant. When the plans are smuggled out into the hands of the resistance - via Richard Harris and lothario physics professor Kirk Douglas, the allies realise that they are well on the way to developing a nuclear bomb and must be stopped at all costs. The icy environment adds much to the sense of peril evoked as these brave "Ling" have to thwart the export of the "heavy water" from the plant back to Germany. Harris ("Knut") and Douglas ("Rolf") aren't the most natural together, and when Ulla Jacobsson arrives on the scene, the pace of this otherwise quite decent adventure gets bogged down a bit (she is the ex-wife of "Rolf" and they have a tiresome sort of love/hate relationship). The story presents us with an authentic assessment of the risk faced by the peoples living in an occupied territory; and also of the determination of the ordinary Norwegians not to just give in - regardless of the frequently tragic consequences, but it's too long. The dialogue is quite tight and the suspense well executed, but it takes too long to get going and we could be doing without the romance to clutter up the narrative. It could have been grittier, but as it is, it passes a couple of hours well enough.