Operation Amsterdam is a 1959 black and white Britishaction film, directed byMichael McCarthy, and featuringPeter Finch,Eva Bartok andTony Britton. It is based on a true story as described in the bookAdventure in Diamonds, by David E. Walker.[1] The action of the story covers 12–13 May 1940 (Whit Sunday andWhit Monday) during theGerman invasion of the Netherlands. The composerPhilip Green composed two original pieces of music for the film, thePierement Waltz and theAmsterdamPolka.[2]
| Operation Amsterdam | |
|---|---|
 Original cinema poster | |
| Directed by | Michael McCarthy |
| Written by |
|
| Based on | novelAdventure in Diamonds by David E. Walker. |
| Produced by | Maurice Cowan |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Reginald Wyer |
| Edited by | Arthur Stevens |
| Music by | Philip Green |
Production company | Maurice Cowan Productions & Rank Organisation |
| Distributed by | Rank Organisation |
Release date |
|
Running time | 104 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
Plot
editIn May 1940, as theGerman invasion of the Netherlands is under way, the British government decides to send a team to the Netherlands on boardHMS Walpole[3] to secure stocks of industrialdiamonds before the invaders can get to them.
According to this plan, twoDutch diamond experts, Jan Smit (Peter Finch) and Walter Keyser (Alexander Knox), with a British Army Intelligence officer, Major Dillon (Tony Britton), are dropped by ship off the Dutch coast. They survive a German air raid and escape the attention of a suspicious Dutch policeman. Needing a car, they commandeer one driven by Anna (Eva Bartok), who is trying to commitsuicide because she blames herself for the death of her Jewish fiance's parents. Anna turns out to be a member of the Dutch security forces and agrees to help the mission.
The four of them drive toAmsterdam where they meet Jan's father, Johan (Malcolm Keen), at his diamond business house. Johan agrees to try to persuade other dealers to bring their diamonds later that day for transport to Britain. However, many of the stones are stored in a time-locked bank vault which won't open for 24 hours because of theWhit Monday holiday so they recruit Dillon's contacts, aDutch resistance group, to break in.
Fifth columnist elements in the Dutch army launch an attack outside the bank but the group manage to break into the vault and recover the diamonds. Jan kills the leader of the fifth columnists, a Dutch army lieutenant (Tim Turner). While the resistance fighters withstand the attack, the three agents and Anna make their escape. They drive back to the coast, dodging a German air attack on the way, but find that their boatmaster has been killed. They commandeer atugboat to take them back to the waiting destroyer, but Anna elects to remain in the Netherlands and work with the nascent resistance movement.
Cast
edit- Peter Finch as Jan Smit
- Eva Bartok as Anna
- Tony Britton as Major Dillon
- Alexander Knox as Walter Keyser
- Malcolm Keen as Johan Smit
- Petra Davies as Menschi (Johan's assistant)
- Alfred Burke as dealer working with Johan
- Christopher Rhodes as Alex (resistance leader)
- Peter Swanwick as Peter (safecracker)
- John Le Mesurier as Colonel Janssen (Anna's security force contact)
- Tim Turner as Dutch lieutenant (leader of fifth columnists)
- John Horsley as Commander Bowerman
- Melvyn Hayes as Willem
- Carl Jaffe as diamond merchant
- Keith Pyott as diamond merchant
- Oscar Quitak as diamond merchant
- Karel Štěpánek as diamond merchant
- Frederick Schiller as tugmaster
- George Pravda as portmaster
- John Bailey as suspicious Dutch police officer in port
Production
editThe film was based on a true story. British intelligence smuggled out ten million pounds worth of industrial diamonds from Smit's Diamonds in Amsterdam. This was turned into a bookAdventure in Diamonds by British journalist David Walker, which forms the basis of the film.[4] Jan Schmidt, who Finch plays, was killed in 1946 and the character of Anna disappeared.[5]
Filming started 7 July 1958.[6] It was shot atPinewood Studios and on location in Amsterdam. Peter Finch told the press during filming: "I like my part in the film, it is one of my strongest".[7] He made the movie under his contract with the Rank organisation.[8]
According to Tony Britton, who co-starred, Finch was unhappy with the movie and offered Britton the choice of either lead as he felt "it's all the same to me. Get the bloody film over and let me off the hook."[9]
The film was one of several made by Rank around this time set in foreign countries with European co stars.[10]
Reception
editVariety said it had "plenty of excitement... a well-conceived and smoothly holding piece of film making".[11] TheGuardian called it "an unusually effective war film, partly because it is so largely true, partly because its scene... is so eerie and unfamiliar".[12]
The film was one of seven Rank films bought for distribution in the US by20th Century Fox. The others wereUpstairs and Downstairs,Sink the Bismarck!,Northwest Frontier,Ferry to Hong Kong,The Wind Cannot Read andThe Captain's Table.[13]
TheNew York Times said "a surprisingly lukewarm drama has been culled from this tingling, true-life incident... Although it offers some fine tense panoramas of its doomed background, the picture remains curiously conventional in size and scope.... Not until the finale does the picture really get off its haunches. There are two consistent assets, one being a crisp, direct performance by Mr. Britton, as the realistic leader of the daring trio. First, last and always, there is Amsterdam itself."[14]
Director Michael McCarthy died on 7 May 1959.[15]
References
edit- ^Adventure in Diamonds
- ^Stubblebine, Donald J. (1997).British Cinema Sheet Music: A Comprehensive Listing of Film Music Published in the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, 1916 Through 1994.McFarland Publishers. p. 98.ISBN 0786403136. Retrieved11 December 2021.
- ^HMS Walpole, event 13 May 1940 – uboat.net
- ^Filmer, Fay (20 September 1958). "GOSSIP".Picture Show.71 (1851). London:3–4.
- ^"Peter and Eva in War film".Sydney Morning Herald. 6 July 1958. p. 88.
- ^Scheuer, Philip K. (16 October 1958). "Old Yeller' Author Sells 'Creek' Tale: Gipson, Nash on, New Scripts; Rank Studios Found Thriving".Los Angeles Times: B11.
- ^Nepean, Edith (1 November 1958). "Round the British Studios".Picture Show.71 (1857). London: 11.
- ^Dundy, Elaine (1980).Finch, bloody Finch : a life of Peter Finch. Holt, Rinehart, and Winston. p. 233.
- ^Faulkner, Trader (1979).Peter Finch, a biography. Taplinger Pub. Co. p. 206.ISBN 978-0-8008-6281-7.
- ^Vagg, Stephen (26 April 2025)."Forgotten British film moguls: John Davis".Filmink. Retrieved26 April 2025.
- ^"Operation Amsterdam".Variety. 21 January 1959. p. 6.
- ^"New Films in London".The Guardian. 17 January 1959. p. 3.
- ^"Of Local Origin".New York Times: 25. 7 January 1960.
- ^Thompson, Howard (7 July 1960)."Operation Amsterdam' Takes Place Here".New York Times.
- ^"Obituaries - "Michael McCarthy"".Variety. 20 May 1959. p. 78.
External links
edit- Operation Amsterdam atIMDb
- Operation Amsterdam at BFI
- Operation Amsterdam at Letterbox DVD
- Operation Amsterdam at Reel Streets
- Adventure in Diamonds — source novel