''Commandos Strike at Dawn'' is a 1942

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about navy, naval, air force, air, or army, land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle s ...

directed by

John Farrow John Villiers Farrow, KGCHS (10 February 190427 January 1963) was an Australian film director, producer, and screenwriter. Spending a considerable amount of his career in the United States, in 1942 he was nominated for the Academy Award for B ...

and written by

Irwin Shaw Irwin Shaw (February 27, 1913 – May 16, 1984) was an American playwright, screenwriter, novelist, and short-story author whose written works have sold more than 14 million copies. He is best known for two of his novels: '' The Young Lions'' ...

from a short story entitled "The Commandos" by C. S. Forester that appeared in ''

Cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Food and drink * Cosmopolitan (cocktail), also known as a "Cosmo" History * Rootless cosmopolitan, a Soviet derogatory epithet during Joseph Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign of 1949–1953 Hotels and resorts * Cosmopoli ...

'' magazine in June 1942. Filmed in Canada, it starred Paul Muni,

Anna Lee Anna Lee, MBE (born Joan Boniface Winnifrith; 2 January 1913 – 14 May 2004) was a British actress, labelled by studios "The British Bombshell". Early life Anna Lee was born Joan Boniface Winnifrith in Ightham, (pronounced 'Item'), Kent, th ...

, Lillian Gish in her return to the screen,

Cedric Hardwicke Sir Cedric Webster Hardwicke (19 February 1893 – 6 August 1964) was an English stage and film actor whose career spanned nearly 50 years. His theatre work included notable performances in productions of the plays of Shakespeare and Shaw, and ...

and

Robert Coote Robert Coote (4 February 1909 – 26 November 1982) was an English actor. He played aristocrats or British military types in many films, and created the role of Colonel Hugh Pickering in the long-running original Broadway production of ''My Fai ...

Plot

Erik Toresen, a widower and peaceful man, is stirred to violence after the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in N ...

occupy his quiet

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

fishing village. German abuses lead Erik to form a Resistance group. He kills the head of the Nazis occupying his village, and then escapes to

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

, and guides some

British Commandos The Commando, Commandos, also known as the British Commandos, were formed during the World War II, Second World War in June 1940, following a request from Winston Churchill, for special forces that could carry out Raid (military), raids against ...

to a raid on a secret airstrip the Germans are building on the Norwegian coast.

Cast

Production

Inspired by 1941 commando raids in Norway, Columbia Pictures registered the name "Commandos Story" in 1941 feeling the title could spawn a film. The film was shot in the Greater Victoria, Canada, area.

Saanich Inlet , image = Saanich Inlet from Gowlland Tod Provincial Park, Vancouver Island, Canada 13.jpg , image_size = 260px , caption = Saanich Inlet from Gowlland Tod Provincial Park , image_bathymetry = , caption_bathymetry = , location = Northwest o ...

stands in for Norwegian fjords. The airstrip is what would become the

Victoria International Airport Victoria International Airport serves Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It is north northwest of Victoria on the Saanich Peninsula, with the bulk of the airport (including the passenger terminal) in North Saanich, and a small portion of the ...

. Hall's Boat House (now Goldstream Marina) is where the wharf scenes are shot. The Canadian Army provided a large number of troops as well as military equipment while the

RCAF The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...

provided aircraft shown include two Bristol Bolingbrokes and two

Westland Lysander The Westland Lysander is a British army co-operation and liaison aircraft produced by Westland Aircraft that was used immediately before and during the Second World War. After becoming obsolete in the army co-operation role, the aircraft's ...

s. The ship used in the film was

HMCS Prince David (F89) HMCS ''Prince David'' was one of three Canadian National Steamships passenger liners that were converted for the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN), first to armed merchant cruisers at the beginning of Second World War, then infantry landing ships (med ...

a former CN Steamship which had been converted to an Armed Merchant Cruiser in 1940. During the 1930s,

Oak Bay, British Columbia Oak Bay is a municipality incorporated in 1906 that is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is one of thirteen member municipalities of the Capital Regional District, and is bordere ...

was the original "Hollywood North" when fourteen films were produced in Greater Victoria between 1933 and 1938. An off-season exhibition building on the Willows Fairgrounds was converted to a film soundstage and films were produced with stars such as Lillian Gish, Paul Muni, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Edith Fellows, Charles Starrett and Rin Tin Tin Jr. The Willows Park Studio films include: 1933 ''The Crimson Paradise'', 1935 ''Secrets of Chinatown'', 1936 ''Fury and the Woman'' (aka ''Lucky Corrigan''), ''Lucky Fugitives'', ''Secret Patrol'', ''Stampede'', ''Tugboat Princess'', ''What Price Vengeance'', ''Manhattan Shakedown'', ''Murder is News'', ''Woman Against the World'', ''Death Goes North'', ''Convicted'', ''Special Inspector'', ''Commandos Strike at Dawn''.

Soundtrack

The film was nominated for an Academy Award for its score by the world-renowned opera composer,

Louis Gruenberg Louis Gruenberg ( ; June 10, 1964) was a Russian-born American pianist and prolific composer, especially of operas. An early champion of Schoenberg and other contemporary composers, he was also a highly respected Oscar-nominated film composer in Ho ...

and an uncredited

John Leipold John Leipold (February 26, 1888 – March 8, 1970) was an American film score composer. Selected filmography * ''Behind the Make-Up'' (1930) * ''Playboy of Paris'' (1930) * '' Monkey Business'' (1931) * ''Horse Feathers'' (1932) * '' It’s a Gift ...

. This was Gruenberg's second Hollywood film score and second nomination for one; he'd moved to Beverly Hills in the late 1930s to supplement his income and hang out with fellow LA resident, Arnold Schoenberg, whose works Gruenberg had championed when these composers could still live in Europe and not Los Angeles County.

Ann Ronell Ann Ronell (née Rosenblatt; December 25, 1905 — December 25, 1993) was an American composer and lyricist. She was best known for the standards " Willow Weep for Me" (1932) and " Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf" (1933). Early life Ronell was b ...

fashioned a song ''Out to Pick the Berries'' from Gruenberg's score and wrote lyrics for a theme which became known as ''The Commandos March''. Igor Stravinsky, who had been approached to score the film, completed his score before the film had been finished and negotiations to make revisions fell through. Stravinsky recycled the music he had prepared for the film into his Four Norwegian Moods.pp. 337-338 Passler, Jann Confronting Stravinsky: Man, Musician, and Modernist. University of California Press, 1988.

Release

The film was meant to be released in 1943, but it was released early due to the failure of the Dieppe Raid.

References

Works cited

External links

* * * * * * {{John Farrow 1942 films Films directed by John Farrow World War II films made in wartime Norwegian resistance movement Films scored by Morris Stoloff Films set in Norway Films shot in British Columbia Columbia Pictures films American black-and-white films Films with screenplays by Irwin Shaw American war films 1942 war films Films based on works by C. S. Forester Films about Norwegian resistance movement