A little-known comedic war movie released in 1961, Invasion Quartet was a part of Turner Classic Movie's recent Memorial Day Salute. The IMDB rating was a lowly 4.9 at the time (can't even reach a 5 overall? Ouch), and the trailer at the TCM website looked painfully unfunny. Still, I've got to take advantage when I can. I'd never heard of it, and who knows how long it will be before the movie is shown again? Now that I've seen it and pointed that out, it will probably be within a week or two. I didn't hate it (well, all of it), and I didn't love it. It's pretty harmless all things considered with at least a little potential wasted if nothing else.
Wasting away in an army hospital on the English coast, wounded officer Freddie Oppenheimer (Bill Travers) would like nothing more than to get to a front line position or at least be approved for active duty. Thanks to losing his leg below the knee, that's just not going to happen. Another prisoner, a Frenchman named Debrie (Gregorie Aslan), is in a similar boat having lost his right hand in combat. The duo come up with a plan when an immense German artillery piece -- dubbed Big Hermann -- across the English Channel keeps blasting away at the surrounding countryside. What if they put together a commando unit, sailed across the channel, posed as German soldiers, and knocked out the gun? Recruiting another patient, Godfrey Pringle (Spike Milligan), by lying to him about their ultimate goal, and a Home Defense colonel (John Le Mesurier), this odd little quartet goes about planning their raid.
Mostly because 'Invasion' doesn't try to be anything other than a mindless war comedy, I can't completely rip into it. If it tried to be a classic, epic, sprawling comedy, then I'd give it both barrels. But as is, it is a relatively harmless WWII comedy that has some funny moments sprinkled in with some decidedly unfunny moments. Director Jay Lewis only has six films to his name, and one of those is a documentary, another is a short film. The movie is shot in black and white so in my messed up head, there's a certain old school charm to the movie. It starts off on a high note, an animated credits sequence reminding me of some 1960s MGM Pink Panther cartoons, and even once the characters are introduced I was enjoying the movie. It never goes anywhere though, and ends up taking quite a few steps backward.
Like so many generally forgotten movies from years past, I'm guessing we can chalk a lot of Invasion's forgotten status because of its less than inspiring cast. These are faces you would recognize, but maybe not know who they are (myself included). Travers and Aslan have a great chemistry together, Travers' Oppenheimer the prim, proper and conniving Brit, Aslan's Debrie the lover of life Frenchman. An early bit with them posing as the other one to get medical clearance is a high point. Le Mesurier is subtle in his humor, the WWI vet constantly referring to his past war exploits and is a welcome addition to the group. Thorley Walters plays Cummings, a fifth member of the commando team who gets left behind by accident. Now if you're keeping up, that accounts for 1, 2, 3 and 5 members of the team. What about the fourth?
That's British comedian Milligan as the finnicky, clueless Godfrey Pringle. I have no background with Milligan other than what I read at his Wikipedia entry. He was a British comedian that shot to fame in the years following WWII, and by all accounts is a funny guy...just not in this movie. His character is the Jerry Lewis character here for lack of a better description. Around for slapstick humor and some side gags, Pringle ends up being an obnoxious character all around. How Oppenheimer and Co. get him on the mission is funny, but the recurring gag gets old because of the character's complete and total idiocy.
The potential is there in a lot of scenes for this movie to amount to something more, but it never quite gets there. The quasi-Guns of Navarone plot-line is a good jumping off point, but even the "raid" is somewhat boring. My favorite part of the movie was British Intelligence's efforts (including John Wood, Alexander Archdale, and Bernard Hunter) to figure out what's going on. They keep receiving cryptic messages from Pringle who believes he's a legitimate commando. Intelligence of course tries to decipher the messages, none of them having any clue as to what's going on but not willing to admit it. The ending does provide a good chuckle, but generally the movie flatlines through its 90-minute running time. Funny at times, boring at others, it's a mixed bag. What else would you expect from a war comedy?
Invasion Quartet <---TCM trailer (1961): **/****
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