ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Dirtylogy It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Rio Hayward All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Stephanie There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Spikeopath World War II and German battleships are safely docked upriver in Bordeaux, Royal Marine Major Stringer and Captain Thompson select volunteers for a highly secretive mission. The mission is to canoe thru enemy waters and blow up the battleships, will they achieve their goal?, will any of them survive?, these are the questions asked about the men who became known as The Cockleshell Heroes.Directed and starring José Ferrer {Stringer}, The Cockleshell Heroes is an above average war picture telling a gutsy tale that almost beggars belief. The volunteers plucked for this mission come from a rag-tag band of men, it's almost like the Dirty 10 {as opposed to the Dozen}, but under intense training and controlled discipline courtesy of Trevor Howard's Captain Thompson, these men shape up just fine, and we believe that this mission, as hazardous as it is, may just succeed. The first half of the picture {during the training and selection process} is guilty of being a tad over jovial, but it doesn't harm the film per se, in fact it kind of lulls you into a false sense of expectation for the mission. The mission itself is capably handled and Ferrer manages to ring out the tension to close the film out successfully, perhaps a war film to not linger long in the memory, but none the less an entertaining piece about actual events. 6/10

rudge49 This is one of my all time favorite war movies, first saw it in the 1950s. During what I call the "afterglow" of WWII we kids always played "Army" (any kid who didn't was probably considered a "pinko"), anyone who had served in WWII was 10 feet tall in our eyes. I grew up in an Anglophile family, so I was aware of Britain's war effort, and the fact that for nearly a year they carried the Allied war effort by themselves. Naturally when I reached adulthood and read the actual history I found this "Hollywierd" version hoked things up, unnecessarily in my opinion. The actual unit involved was called the RMBPD-Royal Marine Boom Patrol Detachment, that being a cover name of course. The actual commander was Major H.G. Hasler, nicknamed "Blondie" for his golden tresses (though at age 28, when the action occurs, he was prematurely bald.). Why Hispanic looking ( as he actually was ) Jose Ferrer was cast as Major Hasler-? Though Major Hasler served as a technical adviser to the film and he and Jose Ferrer hit it off, I have seen pictures of them together. The actual raid was called "Operation Frankton", Major Hasler had organized and trained his unit for such deep penetration raids both to inflict material damage on the Germans and to show them there were no safe havens for them. Why the names of the actual men were not used, I don't know, since only Hasler and his canoe mate Marine Sparks made it back to England, the others deserve to be memorialized. The scenes where the prospective members are required to land in German uniforms and then make their way back to the base is pure fiction, as is the Trevor Howard character of the embittered regular officer forced to play second fiddle to what the British call a "Territorial" (Reserve) or HO-Hostilities Only officer. Major Hasler was a career Royal Marine officer, had been on active duty since 1934 or so. I suppose a convention in WWII movies you have the hardened but Wise Old Regular and the Eager But Inexperienced Newcomer. Likewise the scene were one of the officers stand guard while one of the men beats up his cheating wife's paramour-another cliché.That said, it is a great action movie, see it for that alone, then read the history, the movie will let you visualize the action better and appreciate the bravery of "Our Boys".

silverscreen888 This has been a favorite movie of mine for many years. Its narrative relates the story of a group of eccentrics--the British Army leaders were looking for imaginative minds--to undertake a hazardous mission is small rowing boats--cockleshells--against the Nazis' ships berthed up a river. The body of this very-entertaining film comprises four parts: 1. recruiting the volunteers. 2. early training of the successful applicants. 3. later training under better discipline and 4. the raid itself and its aftermath. The underlying theme here is that even minds free of dictatorial-system thinking require self-discipline, and regulation by authorities. The films is B/W and very ruggedly filmed. The director was Jose Ferrer also, with major contributions by writers Bryan Forbes, Richard Maibaum and George Kent. Music by John Addison adds greatly to the proceedings. The serviceable cast includes Jose Ferrer as the group's enigmatic and unorthodox leader, Trevor Howard as the man who wants more discipline and is proved correct, Anthony Newley, Victor Madden, Dora Bryan, David Lodge, Peter Arne, Percy Herbert and many others. The highlight of the early part of the film is an illegal challenge exercise--the volunteers hare told to try to get back to camp from a long way off with no resources whatever. Training at managing the kayak-like craft to be used on the raid also provides some early laughs. This is an honest, well-mounted and vastly- entertaining film whose subject is really human nature and the demands made on imagination and on self-discipline in times of war. The great raid itself is staged mostly at night and is extremely well-presented visually and in its blocking. The escape following the success of the raiders' efforts against German ships that are their targets is the final achievement in this taut and very-well-made film. But the individuals, their relationships, characters and actions are what one remembers. A very-well remembered film, and one admired by many, including myself.

Nazi_Fighter_David These were the last words spoken by an officer to his men before their execution by a German firing-squad...Trevor Howard was a devoted officer and a gentleman, never afraid to give his life for his country... Howard was a great character actor with a big presence on the screen in many good films as "Mutiny On the Bounty," "Ryan's Daughter," "The Sea Wolves," and "Gandhi."The motion picture deals with the silly mission of ten British Royal Marines, who after embarking a submarine from the English Channel port of Portsmouth traveled by flimsy canoe into Bordeaux harbor, southern France on the Garonne River, blowing enemy ships by attach limpet-mines..Directed and starred by Jose Ferrer (1909-92) star of "Cyrano De Bergerac" and "Moulin Rouge," and photographed in CinemaScope and Technicolor, the film succeeds in reflecting the brave deed of the English Commando and is somewhat exciting and tense in its depiction of the hazardous journey into enemy territory in World War II...