Just a few notes on this variation from reality.
a) Why was it necessary to hijack a ship to get the scientist (Kirk Douglas) from Norway to England? The Germans found it impossible to patrol the thousand mile Norwegian coastline. Ergo there was a regular 'underground' ferry service from Norway to the Shetland Islands called the 'The Shetland Bus Service'. Plus the fact that London already knew about the Hydro plant and what was being produced. The invented Kirk Douglas role just wasn't needed.
b) What happened to the story of the parachuted four man advance team which spent months preparing the way, and which all almost starved doing it? All Richard Harris said about this epic tale of survival of an horrific winter on a remote ice plateau was "I'm starving". He sure didn't look it. The real guys certainly did. For a while they had to resort to eating reindeer moss.
c) Why the silly and hackneyed love complication when there wasn't one? If the movie had kept to facts it wouldn't have been needed.
d) There wasn't a Nazi infiltrator. The Germans knew nothing about the operation until after completion.
e) After the aircraft & glider catastrophe, there was no sudden change of plan. A new plan was carefully worked out in London with SOE (Special Operations Executive). The saboteurs didn't need a horny professor to show them where to place explosives. As one of the real saboteurs said afterwards, "I knew the plant better than my own garden". They all knew, they'd been studying the layout for months from accurate models.
f) There weren't any German guards inside the plant at the time of the raid, just one Norwegian, who was held at gunpoint (as was actually shown). There wasn't even any reaction from the sound of muffled explosions.
g) There was no gunfire battle before during or immediately after the raid, not even one shot fired. The saboteurs just walked in, placed the explosives and walked out again. And no saboteurs were killed. Indeed not only did they all survive the operation, but they survived the war and on into old age. Of course Americans aren't satisfied unless a war movie is filled with carnage and guns blazing. That's what comes of having a gun culture. Intelligence and subterfuge aren't really their strong points.
h) It took the Germans 3 months to get back into heavy water production after the saboteurs' raid, not just 2 weeks as mentioned.
i) The ferry 'Hydro' didn't sink bow first. It keeled on to its side, and then stern upwards. As the captain said afterwards. "I walked on the side, and jumped into the water from it". Nor were any passengers warned. But then Kirk Douglas just had to play the hero to please the American audience didn't he? But no such heroics happened on the sinking ferry. There just wasn't time, not even for a lifeboat to be lowered. However there were fishing boats around which picked up any survivors there were.
j) Names of characters in the credits don't give surnames. I'm sure real participants in the operation were very relieved.
I could go on and on with the contortions of truth displayed in this movie, but to conclude, it's not such a bad movie in itself. However don't treat it as a guide to what really happened. Facts here are few and far between. You may not believe me, so find out what the actual saboteurs thought of the movie. They've all said, "Most of it just didn't happen that way". They weren't very impressed with it. Nor am I. The real story is far more inspiring, and the real heroes deserve a far better epitaph than this Americanised movie gives them.
a) Why was it necessary to hijack a ship to get the scientist (Kirk Douglas) from Norway to England? The Germans found it impossible to patrol the thousand mile Norwegian coastline. Ergo there was a regular 'underground' ferry service from Norway to the Shetland Islands called the 'The Shetland Bus Service'. Plus the fact that London already knew about the Hydro plant and what was being produced. The invented Kirk Douglas role just wasn't needed.
b) What happened to the story of the parachuted four man advance team which spent months preparing the way, and which all almost starved doing it? All Richard Harris said about this epic tale of survival of an horrific winter on a remote ice plateau was "I'm starving". He sure didn't look it. The real guys certainly did. For a while they had to resort to eating reindeer moss.
c) Why the silly and hackneyed love complication when there wasn't one? If the movie had kept to facts it wouldn't have been needed.
d) There wasn't a Nazi infiltrator. The Germans knew nothing about the operation until after completion.
e) After the aircraft & glider catastrophe, there was no sudden change of plan. A new plan was carefully worked out in London with SOE (Special Operations Executive). The saboteurs didn't need a horny professor to show them where to place explosives. As one of the real saboteurs said afterwards, "I knew the plant better than my own garden". They all knew, they'd been studying the layout for months from accurate models.
f) There weren't any German guards inside the plant at the time of the raid, just one Norwegian, who was held at gunpoint (as was actually shown). There wasn't even any reaction from the sound of muffled explosions.
g) There was no gunfire battle before during or immediately after the raid, not even one shot fired. The saboteurs just walked in, placed the explosives and walked out again. And no saboteurs were killed. Indeed not only did they all survive the operation, but they survived the war and on into old age. Of course Americans aren't satisfied unless a war movie is filled with carnage and guns blazing. That's what comes of having a gun culture. Intelligence and subterfuge aren't really their strong points.
h) It took the Germans 3 months to get back into heavy water production after the saboteurs' raid, not just 2 weeks as mentioned.
i) The ferry 'Hydro' didn't sink bow first. It keeled on to its side, and then stern upwards. As the captain said afterwards. "I walked on the side, and jumped into the water from it". Nor were any passengers warned. But then Kirk Douglas just had to play the hero to please the American audience didn't he? But no such heroics happened on the sinking ferry. There just wasn't time, not even for a lifeboat to be lowered. However there were fishing boats around which picked up any survivors there were.
j) Names of characters in the credits don't give surnames. I'm sure real participants in the operation were very relieved.
I could go on and on with the contortions of truth displayed in this movie, but to conclude, it's not such a bad movie in itself. However don't treat it as a guide to what really happened. Facts here are few and far between. You may not believe me, so find out what the actual saboteurs thought of the movie. They've all said, "Most of it just didn't happen that way". They weren't very impressed with it. Nor am I. The real story is far more inspiring, and the real heroes deserve a far better epitaph than this Americanised movie gives them.