''The Heroes of Telemark'' is a 1965 British

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 Anthony Mann based on the true story of the Norwegian heavy water sabotage during the Second World War from ''Skis Against the Atom'', the memoirs of Norwegian resistance soldier Knut Haukelid. The film stars Kirk Douglas as Dr. Rolf Pedersen and

Richard Harris Richard St John Francis Harris (1 October 1930 – 25 October 2002) was an Irish actor and singer. He appeared on stage and in many films, notably as Corrado Zeller in Michelangelo Antonioni's '' Red Desert'', Frank Machin in '' This Sporting ...

as Knut Straud, along with Ulla Jacobsson as Anna Pederson. It was filmed on location in Norway.

Plot

The Norwegian resistance sabotage the Vemork

Norsk Hydro Norsk Hydro ASA (often referred to as just ''Hydro'') is a Norwegian aluminium and renewable energy company, headquartered in Oslo. It is one of the largest aluminium companies worldwide. It has operations in some 50 countries around the world a ...

plant in the town of

Rjukan Rjukan () is a town and the administrative centre of Tinn municipality in Telemark, Norway. It is situated in Vestfjorddalen, between Møsvatn and Lake Tinn, and got its name after Rjukan Falls west of the town. The Tinn municipality council gra ...

in the county of Telemark, Norway, which 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 ...

are using to produce heavy water, which could be used in the manufacture of an atomic bomb. Kirk Douglas plays Rolf Pedersen, a Norwegian physics professor, who, though originally content to wait out the war, is soon pulled into the struggle by local resistance leader Knut Straud (based on Knut Haukelid), portrayed by

. They both sneak out of Norway on a passenger steamship to Britain that they hijack so they can deliver microfilmed plans of the hydroelectric plant to the British. Then they return to Norway by parachute to plan a

commando Royal Marines from 40 Commando on patrol in the Sangin">40_Commando.html" ;"title="Royal Marines from 40 Commando">Royal Marines from 40 Commando on patrol in the Sangin area of Afghanistan are pictured A commando is a combatant, or operativ ...

raid against the plant. When a British plane carrying a force of Royal Engineers to undertake the raid is shot down over Norway by the Germans, Pedersen and Straud lead a small force of Norwegian saboteurs into the plant. The raid is successful, but the Germans quickly repair the equipment. The Germans then plan to ship steel drums of heavy water to Germany. Pedersen and Straud sabotage a ferry carrying the drums, and it sinks in the deepest part of a

fjord In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Förden and East Jutland Fjorde, Germany, ...

. Besides this sequence, the raids ( Operations Grouse, Freshman and Gunnerside) and the final attack are filmed on-site, with mountainous and snowy Norwegian locations serving as a backdrop for the plot.

Cast

* Kirk Douglas as Dr Rolf Pedersen *

as Knut Straud * Ulla Jacobsson as Anna Pedersen *

Michael Redgrave Sir Michael Scudamore Redgrave CBE (20 March 1908 – 21 March 1985) was an English stage and film actor, director, manager and author. He received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in ''Mourning Becomes Elec ...

as Uncle * David Weston as Arne * Sebastian Breaks as Gunnar *

John Golightly John Golightly (born 18 May 1936 in Reslven, Glamorgan) is a Welsh actor who has appeared in numerous British television productions over a 45-year period. His father was a transport foreman. After grammar school he trained as an actor at RA ...

as Freddy * Alan Howard as Oli *

Patrick Jordan Albert Patrick Jordan (10 October 1923 – 10 January 2020) was a British stage, film and television actor. Biography He was born and raised in Harrow, Middlesex, the son of Margaret, a cook, and Albert Jordan, a regimental sergeant major. An ...

as Henrik * William Marlowe as Claus * Brook Williams as Einar *

Roy Dotrice Roy Dotrice (26 May 1923 – 16 October 2017) was a British actor famed for his portrayal of the antiquarian John Aubrey in the record-breaking solo play '' Brief Lives''. Abroad, he won a Tony Award for his performance in the 2000 Broadway r ...

as Jensen * Anton Diffring as Major Frick * Ralph Michael as Nilssen *

Eric Porter Eric Richard Porter (8 April 192815 May 1995) was an English actor of stage, film and television. Early life Porter was born in Shepherd's Bush, London, to bus conductor Richard John Porter and Phoebe Elizabeth (née Spall). His parents ho ...

as Josef Terboven * Wolf Frees as Sturmbannführer Knippelberg *

Karel Stepanek Karel may refer to: People * Karel (given name) * Karel (surname) * Charles Karel Bouley, talk radio personality known on air as Karel * Christiaan Karel Appel, Dutch painter Business * Karel Electronics, a Turkish electronics manufacturer * Gr ...

as Professor Hartmüller *

Gerard Heinz Gerard Heinz (born Gerhard Hinze; 2 January 1904 – 20 November 1972) was a German actor. Heinz was born in Hamburg, Germany and later moved to Britain, where he changed his name. He appeared in almost 60 films (including ''Caravan''), and a n ...

as Professor Erhardt *

Victor Beaumont Victor Beaumont (born Peter Wolff; 7 November 1912 – 21 March 1977) was a German-born British film and television actor. Biography Beaumont billed under his birth name of Peter Wolff, appeared in a number of German films (''Revolt in the ...

as German Sergeant * George Murcell as SS Oberscharführer *

Mervyn Johns Mervyn Johns (born David Mervyn John; 18 February 18996 September 1992) was a Welsh stage, film and television character actor who became a star of British films during the Second World War. Johns was known for his "mostly mild-mannered, lugubri ...

as Col. Wilkinson * Barry Jones as Professor Roderick Logan *

Geoffrey Keen Geoffrey Keen (21 August 1916 – 3 November 2005) was an English actor who appeared in supporting roles in many films. He is well known for playing British Defence Minister Sir Frederick Gray in the ''James Bond'' films. Biography Early lif ...

as Gen. Bolt * Robert Ayres as General Courts * Jennifer Hilary as Sigrid *

Maurice Denham William Maurice Denham OBE (23 December 1909 – 24 July 2002) was an English character actor who appeared in over 100 films and television programmes in his long career. Family Denham was born on 23 December 1909 in Beckenham, Kent, the son ...

as Doctor * David Davies as Captain of ''Galtesund'' * Philo Hauser as Businessman * Faith Brook as Woman on Bus * Elvi Hale as Mrs. Sandersen *

Russell Waters Russell Waters (born 10 June 1908, Glasgow, Lanarkshire – died 19 August 1982, Richmond, Surrey) was a Scottish film actor. Waters was educated at Hutchesons' Grammar School, Glasgow and the University of Glasgow. He began acting with the ...

as Mr. Sandersen * Paul Hansard as German Officer (uncredited) * George Roubicek as German Radio Operator (uncredited) * Joe Dunne as Norwegian

Quisling ''Quisling'' (, ) is a term used in Scandinavian languages and in English meaning a citizen or politician of an occupied country who collaborates with an enemy occupying force – or more generally as a synonym for ''traitor''. The word ori ...

's Nazi (uncredited)

Production

Knut Haukelid wrote a memoir of the attack called ''Skis Against the Atom'' published in 1954. John Drummond wrote a novel based on the same story called ''But for These Men''. Both books formed the basis of the screenplay. The film was originally announced in 1963. It was made by Benton Film Productions, a company of director Anthony Mann and producer S. Benjamin Fisz. Financing came from America's Allied Artists and Britain's J Arthur Rank Productions. Scenes early in the film when the main characters escape from occupied Norway were filmed around Poole and Hamworthy in

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...

with the former Channel Islands ship TSS ''Roebuck'' playing the role of the hijacked steamer. SF ''Ammonia'' was used to represent the train ferry SF ''Hydro'' in the final fjord scenes. The movie was originally titled ''The Unknown Battle'' and was to have starred

Stephen Boyd Stephen Boyd (born William Millar; 4 July 1931 – 2 June 1977) was a Northern Irish actor. He appeared in some 60 films, most notably as the villainous Messala in '' Ben-Hur'' (1959), a role that earned him the Golden Globe Award for Bes ...

and Elke Sommer and be written by Ben Barzman. Later,

Anthony Perkins Anthony Perkins (April 4, 1932 – September 12, 1992) was an American actor, director, and singer. Perkins is best remembered for his role as Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock's suspense thriller '' Psycho'', which made him an influentia ...

was announced as a star, though he withdrew. Eventually Kirk Douglas signed as the lead.

Cliff Robertson Clifford Parker Robertson III (September 9, 1923 – September 10, 2011) was an American actor whose career in film and television spanned over six decades. Robertson portrayed a young John F. Kennedy in the 1963 film '' PT 109'', and won the 19 ...

was mentioned as a possible co-star before Richard Harris came on board. "I hear they are spending five million dollars, so it's got to be spectacular and that means more fiction and less fact", said Haukelid during filming. Stephen Boyd later sued Mann for half a million dollars when funding for the initial project fell apart in early 1964. "I missed out on four good roles and plenty of money when he signed me without financial backing and then dropped the project", said Boyd later. "He asked me again later but I'd made other commitments, so Kirk Douglas and Richard Harris made it under another title." Unlike the scenes in the film, the saboteurs had already left the area when the bomb exploded. Also omitted is the death of 18 Norwegian civilians in the sinking and the rescue efforts of local fishermen.

Reception

It was amongst the 15 most popular films at the British box office in 1966. The film has a 67% rating in Rotten Tomatoes, based on six reviews, with an average rating of 6.10/10.The Heroes of Telemark, Rotten Tomatoes
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Other versions

Ray Mears made a documentary called ''The Real Heroes of Telemark''. Despite mainly sticking to the factual evidence, some scenes in the documentary, like the film, were partly dramatised, focusing more on the survival skills involved in the operation. The same story was also covered in the 1948 Franco-Norwegian film '' Kampen om tungtvannet'' (''La bataille de l'eau lourde'' — "The battle for heavy water"). Quite faithful to the real events, it even had many of the original Norwegian commandos starring as themselves. In 2015, the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation showed a TV series called '' Kampen om tungtvannet'' (also known as ''The Heavy Water War'' or ''The Saboteurs'') based on the events.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Heroes of Telemark, The 1965 films 1965 war films British war films World War II films based on actual events Western Front of World War II films Films about Norwegian resistance movement Norwegian resistance movement Films directed by Anthony Mann Films about nuclear war and weapons Films scored by Malcolm Arnold 1960s English-language films 1960s British films