| The Secret Invasion | |
|---|---|
Original film poster by Howard Terpning |
|
| Directed by | Roger Corman |
| Produced by | Gene Corman |
| Written by | R. Wright Campbell |
| Starring | Stewart Granger Raf Vallone Mickey Rooney Edd Byrnes Henry Silva Spela Rozin William Campbell |
| Music by | Hugo Friedhofer |
| Cinematography | Arthur E. Arling |
| Editing by | Ronald Sinclair |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
| Release date(s) | September 16, 1964 |
| Running time | 95 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Secret Invasion is a 1964 Eastmancolor war film directed by Roger Corman that was filmed in Yugoslavia. In World War II, convicts are recruited by the Allies for an extremely hazardous mission. This is a scaled-down precursor to The Dirty Dozen (1967).
Criminal mastermind Rocca (Raf Vallone), demolitions expert and Irish Republican Army member Scanlon (Mickey Rooney), forger Fell (Edd Byrnes), cold-blooded murderer Durrell (Henry Silva), and thief and impersonator Saval (William Campbell) are offered pardons in exchange for attempting to rescue an Italian general sympathetic to the Allies from captivity in German-occupied Yugoslavia. They are led by Major Richard Mace (Stewart Granger), a man trying to expiate his feelings of guilt for sending his own brother on a dangerous mission and waiting too long to extricate him. The Mission begins with Mace's team hiding in a fishing boat. The fishing boat is stopped by a German patrol boat, however, the team manages to capture the boat and blow it up before coming ashore.
With the assistance of local partisans led by Marko (Peter Coe), they split up and enter Dubrovnik. Durrell is partnered with Mila (Spela Rozin), a recent widow with a baby. They are attracted to each other, but Durrell accidentally smothers her crying child to avoid detection by a German patrol. The team is captured and taken to the same fortress where the Italian general is being kept. They are tortured for information, but manage to escape and fulfill their mission, although Mace, Fell, Scanlon and Saval are killed while fending off German troops.
At the last minute, Rocca and Durrell, the only two survivors, discover that the man they have freed is an impostor and that he is about to exhort "his" troops to stay loyal to the Axis. Durrell shoots the fake general while pretending to be a Nazi fanatic and is killed by the outraged Italians. Rocca directs the Italians' anger at the Germans. In the end, Rocca, the only survivor left, walks by Durrell's body before leaving Dubrovnik.