Following a plan to kidnap a German Commander of the island of Crete (Crete was occupied by the Germans during the Second World War) and deliver him to Cairo, two British Intelligence officers, Major Patrick Leigh Fermor and Captain W Stanley Moss, join up with Cretan supporters to carry out the kidnap. As the Commander, Major General Kreipe, is closely guarded by his men at all times, this is no easy task. However, all goes according to plan and the men kidnap Kreipe with very little difficulty. Then comes the difficult bit. They have to somehow smuggle him across the island under cover of the dark without being discovered. Will they be successful in their plan to embarrass the Germans? Or will they be caught and face death at the hands of the occupiers?

Dirk Bogarde plays Major Fermor, known to the Cretans as Philedem. Dirk Bogarde is an actor whose name I know well, but I know very little about him. Perhaps because of his name, I had presumed he was American, but he was in fact British (although his father was Flemish). He made his name in Britain at least with the film Doctor in the House (1954) and despite several attempts to make it big in Hollywood, he never reached the same heights that he made in this country. By the time that this film was made in 1957, Bogarde was a household name in Britain. This film is not one of his best known, although he does give a perfectly competent performance in the title role. To be honest though, he doesn't get that much of a performance to shine. The focus of the film is very much on the chase across the mountains and although Bogarde's face adds a touch of class to the film, pretty much anyone could have taken on the role and it wouldn't have made much difference. I would really have liked to get to know Major Fermor better, but there is very little about his personal life given away.

I really enjoyed the first part of the film which showed fabulous Cretan scenery and the local people. I went to Crete about 20 years ago and it seemed very much as I remembered it. Unfortunately, once the film gets into the story of the kidnap, most of the acting is filmed in the dark and the characters could have been almost anywhere (although the movie really was filmed on Crete apparently). Filming in the dark was made even more difficult by the fact that the film is in black and white.

On the whole, I thought this film was okay. The story, simply because it is based on a true one, is interesting, but it just wasn't carried over to the screen as well as it could have been, which is a great shame. I watched it on television and would recommend that anyone interested in seeing the film waits until it is shown on the TV again - I really don't think that it is worth buying the DVD unless you are a big fan of Dirk Bogarde, who really doesn't get the chance to shine.