Konterr Brilliant and touching

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

WillSushyMedia This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

JohnHowardReid Operation Amsterdam (1959) sounds promising, but the film has a number of irritating defects. True, some of the atmosphere in the imperiled city is conveyed thanks to location lensing in Amsterdam which involved a considerable amount of organizing like removing traffic from the streets, replacing it with contemporary vehicles and making sure all the extras wore the correct wartime clothing. Unfortunately, all this admirable location lensing is somewhat undercut by the continuous and obvious use of studio cut-ins against a process screen. On the other hand, the editing of the action spots is nice and sharp, particularly the sequence in which the car goes over the wharf. This is most effective indeed! I was also thrilled by the sequence in which we wait for the time lock to come off which features shorter and shorter cross- cutting. Elsewhere, however, the editing tends to be rather slack, dragged out and as placidly routine as Michael McCarthy's direction.. There's also far too much padding in the script. At least 30 minutes should have been jettisoned, including all Malcolm Keen's scenes. True, he's a competent actor, but here his delivery is uncomfortably slow. And worse, what he has to say is of little importance and just time- consuming. Alexander Knox is also saddled with some of the script's most pious platitudes. The other players make an effort to overcome their banal dialogue, though Peter Finch also struggles to make an impression. And as for the miscasting of one of my favorite comedians, John LeMesurier, as a colonel in the Dutch War Ministry, the less said the better! Fortunately, the film does gain attention with a brilliant use of musical sound effects. In fact the music score throughout is a major asset.

JoeytheBrit Unseen Nazi jackboots are marching into Holland in the darkest days of WWII and Churchill's government is worried about all the industrial diamonds lying around in Amsterdam that could be used for the German war effort. Being British, we're obviously not going to rely on Frenchy to nip across and spirit the city's entire stock away before the invading hordes arrive so we send a rather colourless secret agent in the form of Tony Britton, the son of an Amsterdam diamond merchant (Peter Finch) and another chap who just seems to be along for the ride (Alexander Knox, who looks worrying dispensable throughout but somehow manages to emerge from the entire escapade unscathed).Our unlikely heroes hitch a lift to Amsterdam from a distraught Eva Bartok who has just witnessed her boyfriend's boat being bombed by the Luftwaffe and is about to drive into the harbour waters to look for him. At first they fear she might be a fifth columnist, but she turns out to be a plucky heroine, picking up the machine gun of a fallen resistance fighter to sullenly strafe the enemy at one point.Operation Amsterdam is one of those films that deserves to be better known because it's really quite good. The location photography of an eerily near-deserted Amsterdam is effective, and the tension is ramped up quite nicely until the whole thing seems to run out of steam in the final reel as our heroes make their getaway. The problem is that nobody is really aware that they are in fact getting away because their exploits haven't yet been uncovered. Anyway, when the film isn't testing our heroes it's commenting on the unenvious position in which the City's diamond merchants – many of whom are Jewish and only too aware of the treatment meted out to their creed by the Nazis. One old chap tries to bargain a place on the boat back to Britain for his sick, elderly wife but is gently rebuffed.Perhaps the film's main weakness is the suspicion that something wasn't quite right during post-production. Midway through, the film seems to take a disconcerting leap forward, and suddenly there's little Melvyn Hayes sitting in the back of a car with our fellows. Now where did he come from? A neighbour of hero number three's mum, apparently (so that's why he tagged along), although we're never see this mother-and-son reunion – even though you suspect the scenes were filmed.

ianlouisiana It shouldn't be forgotten that anti - Semitism was quite widespread in Dutch society prior to the arrival of the Nazis.It is by no means accurate to describe the reception given to the German troops as a heroes' welcome,but there were a significant number of people in Holland willing to adopt a pragmatism that perhaps seems a tad too accommodating in retrospect. You will see little of this in "Operation Amsterdam" set in the first days of the Nazi invasion where most of the population seem to possess a very sensible desire to put as much distance between themselves and the advancing Germans as possible.And who can blame them with the Luftwaffe's penchant for strafing refugee columns all over Europe. In the circumstances it took not a little courage for the Dutch diamond merchants to hand over their stock of industrial diamonds to the British rather than curry favour with the Nazi hordes already pouring across the dykes. Led by a not really up to the job Tony Britton (he makes a right pigs' breakfast of doing away with a Dutch soldier),they are landed by destroyer during an air raid and make their way to Amsterdam in a grand Mercedes convertible driven by Miss Eva Bartok whom they have saved from a watery grave after she has attempted suicide on seeing her fiancé's boat bombed by the Germans.Presumably as part of the grieving process she spends the rest of the day(it seems much longer) driving the boys round the city getting shot at. "Operation Amsterdam" gives every impression of having been fatally mauled in the editing suite.Little master Melvyn Hayes appears as from a hole in the stage,plays a pipe organ,gets shot,smiles bravely and disappears again.Mr Peter Finch's coat collar goes up and down seemingly at random,a wheel change to the Merc whilst under fire from a Messerschmidt goes along at a pace that is almost indecent......... Alexander Knox has a certain rueful charm,Miss Bartok plenty of pluck,Mr Finch looks a little bewildered for most of the movie,possibly wondering why Mr Knox is with them in the first place as he seems to have no point. John le Mesurier is sublimely out of place as a Dutch Colonel with a mysterious smile,but it's nice to see him anyway. Had the picture been made 10 years earlier it might have had a bit more relevance,but a Britain on the cusp on the 60s and with most of Europe moving towards some sort of detente it was not the time to be reminding people of a time when its citizens were at each others' throats. Miss Bartok I believe was a "celebrity" here in the UK for being a close friend of the Marquis of Milford Haven.When we look at her then,we are seeing a proto Victoria Beckham,but I'm not sure that she'd choose to be remembered that way,rather as a mysterious Euro - enigma driving her convertible through the sun - dappled streets of Amsterdam before kissing Peter Finch goodbye and disappearing - mysteriously.

watching_movies The 'flaws' noted above are not really that serious. Firstly, yes the sudden appearance of Willem suggested a cut scene, a frequent occurrence in many movies, owing to pacing and duration considerations - could have been better handled, but it was explained briefly. Secondly, the various groups of Dutch soldiers, some fighting each other, was fully explained several times in the dialogue - the city has been infiltrated with German fifth columnists, and nobody is sure who is friend or foe! In the battle scene by the canal the late arrivals have been sent by the man at the government department, to help the 'good guys'. Thirdly, you are correct that the OFFICIAL Dutch resistance was not yet organised, but the resistance fighters in the story are early volunteers who are trying to hamper the German occupation of Amsterdam, and will no doubt form the nucleus of the resistance movement that would soon follow. So, you see, not really serious flaws at all!