8mm Forum: FORCE 10 FROM NAVARONE EXPANDED (optical sound)

This is topic FORCE 10 FROM NAVARONE EXPANDED (optical sound) in forum 8mm Print Reviews at 8mm Forum.

To visit this topic, use this URL:
https://8mmforum.film-tech.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=4;t=000200

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on April 15, 2007, 09:47 PM:

A very recent post by Douglas Meltzer reminded me of the fact that I had meant to write a review of this feature film and never got around to it.

therefore ....

FORCE 10 FROM NAVARONE

This was a sequel of sorts to the classic British war film
"The Guns of Navarone". The only similarity between this film and that one is :

1 : Two of the operatives from the mission to Navarone are on this new mission.

2 : The film also takes place during World War 2

The film begins with footage from the original film, while ending upon the two operatives sitting together after the mission.

After the beginning credits , we see our two operatives called into the commanders office. There is to be a new mission behind enemy lines to catch a double agent, which one of the two, (Played by Robert Shaw, in one of his last film appearances), and Edward Fox, (I believe) have met before.

They are to go in undercover with a bunch of Yanks, led by none other than Harrison Ford (my man!, in one of his early roles fresh out of STAR WARS) They are to hijack a plane off the airfield, as this is to be an undercover mission, strictly hush hush, therefore, a plane can't just be given to them . On route, they run into a black solgier (Carl Weathers, of "Rocky" fame) who's about to be put in prison for insubordina-tion. He joins them on board the plane, (whether they want him or not).

Upon getting over enemy soil, Harrison Fords plane is under attack and is soon on it's way down. They all parachute down, many losing thier lives, (except for the stars of course, who always survive, dont figure.)

Upon arriving on the ground, they are soon captured under false pretences by some local solgiers who are under German control(headed by Richard Keil, "Jaws" from the Bonf films!). They are soon imprisoned by the Germans. Harry and Shaw then concoct a story to con the greedy German captian to let them go in search of rare medical supplies worth much money.

(By the way, the german captian is none other than the same German captian that Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) faces in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade", the guy who says "And this is how we say Goodbye in Germany, Doctor Jones", check it out for yourself!)

The greedy german captian sends his girlfriend, (double secret agent, played by the lovely Barbera Bach), along with two German solders to capture the goods, but they are quickly subdued and having shot the two german solders, she lets them go.

The two wander for a little bit before being captured by the good guys. It's here that Shaw finally meets up with the double agent that he's been sent to kill, who works for the good guys. they convince them to help them get out the other yanks out of German clutches, which they successfully do, with some well placed explosives by Fox.

Now they are in full swing to do what Harrison Fords mission has been from the start, to blow up a bridge. they
radio for supplies, but the bad double agent (Played by Franco Nero) sends a plane to kill them. He also manages to kill Barbera Bach (okay, now the bastard must die!)

Having now lost almost all of thier party,(gunned down by the fighter) they are forced to rob a german supply post. The bad guy tries to double cross them to the germans, but is thwarted. Finally, the bastard pays, and he is killed. Shaw now sees nothing in the way to bomb the bridge.

The whole last reel is the preparations and blowing of the bridge, as well as a nice fight between Carl Weathers (Blackie)
and Jaws, Weathers finally winning the day.

What follows is a very nicely concieved blowing of the dam
and the toppling of the bridge down the river as the Germans are trying to cross it with tanks and such! There is only one
problem :

How are we supposed to get back home, when were on the opposite side of the bridge, and the way home, is the other side?

THE END

sadly, when this came out, as with all sequels, this was judged in comparison with the original. the original was an
obvious classic, and so this one was called a bomb, (in a bad
way) Just watching it on it's own, it's a fun romp! I(f it had been released seperately without any reference to the original, it might have done much better in the theaters and in reviews. This was One of Robert Shaws last roles before he died, and he did a fine job. It's also great to see Harrison Ford before Indy and after STAR WARS, Alongside Robert Shaw, this was Harrison Fords first actual starring role (also funny seeing that german actor playing a German in this and the earlier mentioned Indiana Jones film) and who can pass on the lovely Barbera Bach, I can't.

As with nearly all optical sound prints, the sharpness on this is excellent, certianly better than the digest version of this. The sound is slightly lower than usual but certianly passable. The colour is fine, (mine has the slightest fade, but is more than acceptable). The contrast is very good.

From what I noted, the only edit in this is when Barbera Bach stands up topless in the bath tub (DAMN!!), but that's only a few seconds of the whole feature.

Note: There was a 400ft digest of this released both in flat AND SCOPE, (by Cinevision). The problem with it, is that (in this reviewers opinion) it is very poorly edited. There is an unusually long sequence for a 400ft when they are robbing the train. But when it comes to the damn blowing and the bridge toppling, it is done very quickly and then immediately going to a cheap the end title. Though, alongside having the feature on optical, having the scope digest at least gives you a good taste of what some of this films scope sequences looked like.

Also of note: According to Andrew Wilson, there is a 2X400 ft version of this out there, and it sounds like the editing is quite good.

If you should invest in optical sound super 8, this is a fun romp for your collection. From what I've seen and heard, this run of prints, on this title, have tended to have better color than others from around the same time, a good run.

A rollicking good romp of an adventure!!!

[ May 17, 2008, 10:29 PM: Message edited by: Osi Osgood ]

Posted by Douglas Meltzer (Member # 28) on April 16, 2007, 03:35 PM:

Osi,

I'm glad I reminded you! About 4 years ago, one of the second hand lists had an optical print of "The Guns of Navarone" for sale. I ordered it and the dealer had made a mistake in the listing. It was "Force 10". I enjoyed the film enough to hold onto it. I'm a huge Robert Shaw fan and I've read that he hated this film and did it for the money (he had 10 kids after all). "Force 10" was recut with new narration and dialogue added right before it's release. The original version is supposed to be superior. Sadly, Shaw died while working on his next film, "Avalanche Express".

Doug

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on April 16, 2007, 06:29 PM:

I remember something along the lines that Robert Shaw had made a deal with some actor, (can't remember the name) that he would do this film, if the other actor did some other film.

Has the colour held up on your copy, Doug?

The DVD has 10 minutes added back into the film, making it over two hours. But I felt that at it's optical running time, it works better. There are a few parts that drag on, (when they are stealing munitions from the German base.) that could easily have been edited down. I haven't seen the ten minute longer version, but would be curious to see if it flows any more smoothly.

Posted by Andrew Wilson (Member # 538) on July 20, 2007, 06:45 PM:

Excellent review there Osi;as always!I have the two reeler cutdown
and its a total balls up of an editing job!However i love this film more than the original,funny that.Andy.

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on May 25, 2008, 07:28 PM:

Hey guys, I just received an original cored, nearly unused, (at least, from nothing I can see), print of this, and the colour is absolutely superb. A magnificent print and I was very happy to update my collection!

Posted by Del Phillipson (Member # 513) on June 01, 2008, 01:18 PM:

I had a copy of this in the 90's which had gone red, I made a filter to place over my lens and put blue and green filters in it, it worked a treat, not perfect but certainly better.

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on June 01, 2008, 06:40 PM:

I just sold my earlier print (and recouped almost all of my costs for the new prints) of this, which had nearly no fade, and I hope the fella who bought it will love it as much as I do.

I just screened one of the reels of my new print and I was really happy looking at it. You wouldn't think it's a thirty year old print!

UBB.classic^TM 6.3.1.2