The Guns of Navarone: David Niven and the Scene of his Career

The Guns of Navarone, Directed by J. Lee Thompson.

There are few movies that get my attention like J. Lee Thompson's Navarone.  (It was actually Alistair MacLean's first, though the screenplay strays from the book quite a bit.)  Full of action, tension, exotic locations, all centered around a band of men on an epic mission, it never fails to captivate.  With a strong ensemble cast, led by Gregory Peck, Anthony Quinn, and David Niven, there is plenty of action, drama, and even a bit of comedy to go around.  Filmed in 1961, the cast includes the obligatory teen star James Darren (in a failed attempt to break out of his teen-idol status into the role of a serious actor), a fairly unknown (and troubled) Gia Scala, Greek actress Irene Papas, British star Stanley Baker, and the veteran stage and screen Shakespearean actor/director Anthony Quayle.  Producer Carl Foreman was aiming for international appeal when he assembled this group.  I suppose he just couldn't figure out how to stick an Asian into this story.

I won't spend much time on the plot of this movie.  It is largely a fantasy, or as Gregory Peck suggested, a parody (he even went so far as to complain that it was more like a Keystone Cops caper).  Simply put, this band of intrepid, quarreling, reluctant men are sent to destroy massive guns that are blocking the one shipping lane that is holding up the entire war effort.  It seems that there is no way that the Allied Navy can avoid this island.  But that hardly matters.

David Niven as Corporal Miller

Early in the film, as we're getting to know the crew, David Niven shows off his comedic flair as the men prepare to sail a decidedly un-seaworthy boat into the German-held Aegean.  An explosives expert who's been assigned this mission against his will, Niven's character, Corporal Miller, spends most of the film cracking jokes and making sarcastic remarks about Captain Mallory's (Peck) determination to win at all costs.  He complains to Mallory: "Sir, I've inspected this vessel and I think you ought to know that, ah, I can't swim."  This sums up his character perfectly.  He's smart enough to know the limitations of their equipment, determined to make sure Mallory knows how disgruntled he is, and is not ashamed to point out that his main concern is for his own safety.

Anthony Quinn, a Mexican playing a Greek, as Andrea Stavrou.

Niven is not the only actor showcasing his skills in this film.  Anthony Quinn, already a two-time Oscar winner for supporting actor (Viva Zapata!, and Lust for Life) and three years away from his signature role in Zorba, the Greek, displays his wide range of skills.  Despite his intimating presence (his character has sworn to kill Peck's character when the war is over), one of his best scenes is when he grovels before the German officer as he attempts to con the man into believing that he has nothing to do with the resistance fighters.  He can be mesmerizing, even when he is only in the background.

Anthony Quayle, who actually organized resistance fighters in Albania during WWII, takes something of a backseat in this film, spending most of his time on a stretcher, merely a prop brought along to spur on Miller's debates with Mallory over which is more important; the men or the mission.  Darren, in what must have been his best attempt to be a serious actor, just looks mad all the time, and impatient, and well, basically a teenager.  I've always been intrigued by Irene Papas in this movie.  She is full of mystery, and I always felt that her character should have been brought to the front more.  She's tough, but retains her dignity and humanity.  But in this massive story there wasn't much room to do this.

Now let me explain why I've written this post.  It isn't for the massive guns that are inevitably destroyed.  It isn't for the large, talented international cast.  It isn't for the chase scenes and the intricate rock climbing scenes or the silent, lengthy infiltration scene as the men break into the gun emplacement.  (Which, by the way, is marvelously filmed like the nerve-wracking heist scenes in movies like Rififi and Topkapi.)  The one scene that really sets this movie above so many of its fellow WWII escapades is when David Niven's Miller exposes the traitor in the group.

(Severe Spoiler-Warning: If you haven't seen this movie, and you want all of the surprises to be intact when you watch it, simply know that you've got to see this movie, then stop reading.  Come back later to read the rest of it.  I'm not a fan of spoilers, but no matter that this is supposed to be a major revelation in the movie, I don't feel that this ruins anything.  I've seen this movie over a dozen times, and the impact of this scene is never diminished by my foreknowledge.)

David Niven points out the traitor.

Miller, the explosives expert, discovers that his toys have been tampered with.  Ruined, in fact.  Piecing together all of the pitfalls they've encountered, he has finally figured out who's to blame.  Like Hercule Poirot, he methodically talks through his reasoning to the entire crew and when he finally reveals the traitor, the assembled team is shocked: he suspects Anna (Gia Scala), the emotionally disturbed mute island girl who had been tortured by the Germans.  His accusation is easily proved.  Tearing the back of her dress, they see that her scars are non-existent.  She had never been tortured.  To avoid this, she'd agreed to spy for the Germans.  While this is good drama, it is not yet that which sets this movie apart.  That comes next.

Niven, stripped of his humor, delivering the performance of a lifetime.

Miller now goes after the real target of his anger: Mallory.  The man who has been constantly putting every man's life below the success of the mission.  As I said, Anthony Quayle's character, Franklin, is a prop who has been carried around on a stretcher this whole time for just this purpose.  You see, Miller is Franklin's best friend, and he knows that Mallory doesn't give a damn about what happens to Franklin.  And now Miller goes after Mallory.  He demands that Mallory be the one to shoot the girl.  They can't leave her behind to warn the Germans, and they can't take her with them.  Someone's got to shoot the girl.  And Miller wants his pound of flesh.  Mallory must be the one to shoot an unarmed and terrified young girl.

Niven is riveting in his delivery of this speech.  His comedic lines are all gone, his jaunty, British ease now vanished, made all the better by the director cutting to Peck and his iconic, jaw-clenched simmering-to-a-boil glare.  Niven's Miller has set the trap, and Peck's Mallory is caught in it.  Will he do it?  How can he not?  Gregory Peck, our once beloved Atticus Finch, the white knight of this film, is going to have to execute what is essentially an innocent girl.  Sure, she was helping the Germans, but it was out of fear, not ideology.  And now Peck/Mallory is going to have to put a bullet in her.

What happens next is pure cinema gold.  Not because the writer found a way to get Peck out of his trap.  That was a given.  Gregory Peck was not going to gun down a girl who is splayed on the floor, half-undressed and crying.  Especially not when he was wearing a German uniform.  They couldn't pay him enough money to tarnish his reputation like that.

Let's look at the sequence:

First, Peck is goaded into killing the girl by Niven who says "Come down off that cross of yours, close your eyes, think of England and pull the trigger!"  Exasperated, Peck stalks over to the girl.  She looks up at him, eyes filled with tears.  He unholsters his gun.  A cut to the profile of Niven, who turns apprehensively to see what Peck will do.  A shot of Quinn, then Papas, the girl's only friend.  Back to the girl, who raises her head, as if placing her head on the chopping block.

Gia Scala, as Anna, awaiting her fate.

  Now Peck, raising the gun.

Gregory Peck as Captain Mallory.  Will he kill the woman?

  And a quick shot of Niven, suddenly dashing forward, a split-second realization that Peck is actually going to shoot her.  A sickening realization that this girl is going to be executed because of him.  A last second decision to stop what he has started.  But it is too late.  A close-up of a gun firing.  A gun with a silencer.  The girl now, rocked back by the impact of the bullet.  She looks at her killer, shocked.  Now, a second close shot of the gun, pan back, and we see Irene Papas, a grim, bleak stare smoldering from her dark eyes.  The girl slides to the ground.  Reactions from Peck and Quinn, then a wide screen shot of everyone, the girl's body in the foreground.

No more debates, no more flippant one-liners.  Nothing more to say.

Niven drops his hands, all of his anger and sarcasm drained away.  Peck, still conflicted, stares at Papas, trying to fit the facts into his ordered mind.  We, the viewers, take a breath, trying to process our own feelings on what just happened.  Some of us, who had been rooting for Niven, now doubting our own judgement in wanting Peck to shoot her.  Some of us, firmly believing in Peck's fatherly leadership, refusing to believe he was actually going to kill the girl.  All of us in awe that Papas took on the role of executioner.

Well, not all of us.  See Anthony Quinn there in the background?  He's watching this whole scene almost casually.  He's a hard man in this film, and he not only isn't fazed by violence, he's rather attracted to the tough character of Papas.  As I said, he stands out, even when he doesn't have lines.

Oh yeah, they still have to destroy those guns.

For me, the rest of this movie is just tying up loose ends.  It's all grand adventure, but the execution of the traitor raises this movie to the upper echelon of war films.  It is no wonder that it was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including best picture.  One rarely finds an action epic of this proportion with such a profound and disturbing scene tucked inside it.  And David Niven never had such a plum role as that of Corporal Miller.

Now that you've read about it.  Watch the movie, and this scene and decide for yourself.  I'd love to hear your opinion of it below.  (Oh yeah, one more thing.  At the end of the scene, don't miss Gregory Peck's delivery of one of his best lines ever as he threatens to shoot Niven.  Just the icing on the cake for this scene.)

You can watch this movie at Amazon, just click on the link.

The Monuments Men: A Book Review

The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History

by Robert M. Edsel and Bret Witter

Don't give up on this blog because you've just now realized it is a review of a book instead of a movie.  The movie review can be found at the link at this end of this post.  But I wanted to start out with the book, to make sure the real story is given its rightful place.

Robert Edsel and Bret Witter have done a great job of bringing the story of the Monuments Men back from historical obscurity.  I can easily admit to the fact that even though I consider myself a major World War II history buff, and a lover of classical art, I was unaware of these men.  It is sad to think that Walker Hancock, James Rorimer, and George Stout have been largely forgotten.  Edsel and Witter are to be congratulated for unearthing their story and bringing it to light.

I first heard of the story through a movie trailer last summer.  I was excited at the prospect of such a film: WWII, precious art, and the men who risked their lives to save the bulk of Western culture.  That John Goodman and Bill Murray were in the cast was just an extra bowl of ice cream added to an already sumptuous feast.  A little research led me to the book and I felt I needed to read it first before the film arrived.  I'd read a few rumblings that the movie took far too many liberties with the source material and I did not want to get blindsided with the truth after watching the movie.  So I downloaded the book onto my Kindle and broke into the mysterious past of the Monuments Men.

George Stout (from
/www.monumentsmen.com)

One of the original members of the Monuments Men, the nickname derived from their MFAA designation (Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives Section) was George Stout (pictured on the left).  Stout was the real drive behind this effort to get in with the Army as they liberated Europe and attempt to save whatever art and cultural artifacts they could.  It was an unheard of mission.  But early in the war, museum curators from Europe, as well as the United States, recognized not only that important architecture and art were at risk from battle damage but that the Nazis were quite purposefully plundering the continent.

Stout, like most of the men in the unit, worked mostly alone, moving with the allies as they pushed back the German line.  Given a list of monuments, art works, buildings, and historical places, Stout and his compatriots tried to find the items on the list as each area was liberated.  They weren't given much else.  No supplies, no transportation, and no authority to protect what they found.  But that did not stop Stout from accomplishing his mission.  Fortified with the zeal to protect the items listed, Stout and the others bullied, begged, and bluffed their way to protecting buildings and sites after, before, and even during battles.

In his mid-forties, Stout spent 13 months on the continent, in pursuit of the items on the list.  Many of them, valuable works of art, had been stolen by the Nazis, and Stout had to perform the work of a detective to track down the loot.  As the war drew to a messy end, the Monuments Men knew that their chances of finding so many missing works of art were growing slimmer by the day.  So desperate was their search for the pilfered paintings and statues, by the end of his tour, during those thirteen months, Stout only took one and a half days off for personal time.

The Madonna of Bruges

The Madonna of Bruges was one of the most important pieces sought by the Allies.  Sculpted by Michelangelo in 1501-1504, it was a beloved piece that resided in the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Bruges, Belgium.  The only sculpture of Michelangelo's to leave Italy in his lifetime, it was first taken by the French during the Revolution (later returned by Napoleon) and then stolen by Germans during WWII.

This statue, one of over one hundred statues that were eventually recovered in the massive underground storage mine at Altaussee, had been meticulously hunted by Monuments Man Ronald Balfour for almost an entire year.  Along with Johannes Vermeer's famous painting The Astronomer,  it was one of the most sought after pieces during that last year.

One might wonder about more famous pieces, such as the Mona Lisa.  I knew it had been removed from the Louvre, as had all of the most important French pieces.  Oddly, the Nazis, under Hitler's direction, made an attempt to appear as if their looting had some basis of legality.  If works like the Mona Lisa were owned by a state such as France, they were left alone.  Most art stolen was taken from Jewish collectors, whom the Nazis declared to be non-citizens, which meant they could not own property.  As the war dragged on, this distinction became more hazy and the Nazi's lust for art led them to blur their own semi-legal standards.

from "Minutes of a Special Meeting of the Association of
Museum Directors on the Problems of Protection and
Defense held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art" Dec, 1941

The book is a fascinating look at the Monument men and their lonely attempts to complete such a noble exercise in the face of such a tragic, costly, and hellish war.  It follows not only the Monuments Men, but also the French heroes Rose Valland (custodian of the Jeu de Paume museum during the Nazi occupation, who spied on their looting operations) and Jacques Jaujard, director of French Museums, who asked her to do so.  

The amount of art stolen by the Nazis was astounding.  According to Edsel and Witter, "the Western Allies discovered more than one thousand depositories in southern Germany alone, containing millions of works of art and other cultural treasures, including church bells, stained glass, religious items, municipal records, manuscripts, books, libraries, wine, gold, diamonds, and even insect collections."  The totals are almost impossible to believe.

More impossible to believe is the dedication of the Monuments Men to save not just the culture of the Allies, but of the Germans as well.  British Monuments Man Walker Hancock, like the others, felt this was highly important.  According to Hancock, "to save the culture of your allies is a small thing.  To cherish the culture of your enemy, to risk your life and the life of other men to save it, to give it all back to them as soon as the battle was won..." was unheard of.  But it is unheard of no more, thanks to Edsel and Witter.

The review of the movie can be read here.