The Ministry Of Ungentlemanly Warfare [Movie]

[Brian]

Saw this last night. It was a fun little Guy Ritchie movie based on an actual historical event (more on that later) early in World War 2.

It tells of an unsanctioned mission (Operation Postmaster) to blow up a cargo ship full of U-Boat parts and supplies in an effort to reduce the U-Boat menace in the Atlantic and allow convoys from the US to reach England. The problem is the cargo ship is docked (and supported) in a Spanish port and any mission to this port would be a breach of Spanish neutrality. In reality,

Spoiler:

the actual mission was to steal the ship and sail it away which, in the film version, is eventually how the mission goes.

The mission is unsanctioned and at risk of political intervention but is pushed forward by none other than Churchill aided by Ian Fleming (yes, the James Bond author) and Brigadier Gubbins played by Carey Elwes.

Henry Cavill was a bit over-the-top as Major Gus March-Phillips who was an actual founder of one of the British Army Commando units which were the forerunners of the modern Special Air Service. Cavill looks like he's having a blast even if the mayhen of the movie doesn't quite match the more subdued reality of the actual mission.

However it's Alan Ritchson (Reacher in the Amazon series) as Anders Lassen that really grabs your attention. Lassen was also a true figure in the Postmaster mission. Alan exudes charisma and charm as he merrily punctures and lacerates a parade of Nazis. He very much Guy Ritchie's his way through this movie.

Other historical figures in the mission are Major Geoffrey Appleyard (Alexander Pettyfer) and Captain Graham Hayes (Hero Fiennes Tiffin) though he is renamed to Henry Hayes in the film.

Rounding out the operatives you have Marjorie Stewart (Eiza González) as the femme fatale who

Spoiler:

while an actual historical figure and who did eventually marry March-Phillips before becoming an actress, didn't really have any active roll in Operation Postmaster

works to seduce and distract the German commander (Til Schweiger) while working closely with the local agent Heron (Babs Olusanmokun) who, in reality, was an entirely different man by the name of Richard Lippett.

Based on a couple of books; Ian Fleming and SOE's Operation POSTMASTER: The Untold Top Secret Story and Churchill's Secret Warriors: The Explosive True Story of the Special Forces Desperadoes of WWII the movie jumps from liberty to liberty while loosely following the actual story of the mission.

It's very much got the Guy Ritchie feel in both action and characters and was a fun little romp with a wink and a nod to history, I don't think it has the staying power of some of Ritchies earlier films tho. I think this is one of those movies that is fun to watch once, maybe twice, and then quickly forgotten.

Six out of eight tentacles. We enjoyed it but at the end, neither of us felt particularly wow'd.

Oh, and if you were wondering:

Spoiler:

None of the four operatives, March-Phillips, Anders Lassen, Geoffrey Appleyard, and Graham Hayes ended up surviving the war.

March-Phillips was shot and killed during Operation Aquatint. A raid to the French coastline during the German occupation.

Hayes also participated in Operation Aquatint but was captured and later executed by the Germans.

Lassen died of wounds suffered during Operation Roast during the final weeks of the war.

Appleyard was in a plane that was shot down during Operation Chestnut. Sadly, it's believed the plane was actually brought down by friendly fire.

[Madmarcus]

Operation Postmaster is amazingly similar to the earlier Operation Longshanks. Send in a covert team to cut out an Axis ship in a neutral harbor.

[Brian]

You go with what works I suppose.

[Jaymann]

Glad to see Cavill is getting work beyond Witcher. Plus Guy Ritchie? Definitely in.

[em2nought]

Seeing adverts for this movie has me wishing for something new to have a "Guns of Navarone" feel to it. Would be nice to get some new movies like that.

[Blackhawk]

Force Ten from Navarone is newer than Guns...

It's also terrible, of course. The books the two films were based on were good, though.

But yeah, I'd love to see more along those lines, whether it be cheesy action or historical. Give us David Stirling and Jock Lewes in a film about the early SAS. David Stirling founded the SAS and created modern special operations in the process. Lewes became famous when a covert raid on a German airfield saw them run out of explosives before they'd sabotaged all the planes, so Lewes climbed into the cockpits of the remaining planes and tore them apart by hand. Oh, and for the Lewes bomb named after him.

[em2nought]

From watching the trailers this does seem to have a bit of a "Guns of Navarone" feel even if a bit more crude & gore. Could use some David Niven, but then maybe it would have to be "gentlemanly" which the title obviously excludes.

If they'd only had a container ship in "Force 10" they could have taken that bridge out easy peasy. They could have used some David Niven there too, good ol' Fritz.

[LawBeefaroni]

Force Ten from Navarone is newer than Guns...

It's also terrible, of course. The books the two films were based on were good, though.

But yeah, I'd love to see more along those lines, whether it be cheesy action or historical. Give us David Stirling and Jock Lewes in a film about the early SAS. David Stirling founded the SAS and created modern special operations in the process. Lewes became famous when a covert raid on a German airfield saw them run out of explosives before they'd sabotaged all the planes, so Lewes climbed into the cockpits of the remaining planes and tore them apart by hand. Oh, and for the Lewes bomb named after him.

There's a show called Rogue Heroes, based on the book of the same name, that is precisely this. I haven't seen it yet but I have read the book and it was good.


https://m.imdb.com/title/tt10405370/

SAS: Rogue Heroes charts the creation of the famed Special Forces unit. Based on the book by Ben Macintyre.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAS:_Rogue_Heroes

SAS: Rogue Heroes is a British historical drama television series created by Steven Knight, which depicts the origins of the British Army Special Air Service (SAS) during the Western Desert Campaign of World War II. The storyline is a broadly accurate representation of real events, as described by Ben Macintyre in his 2016 book of the same name.

The narrative begins in a Cairo hospital in 1941, when, after a failed training exercise, British Army officer David Stirling has the idea of creating a special commando unit which could operate deep behind enemy lines.