In 1943 a small group of criminals are brought to Cairo so a Maj. Richard Mace (Stewart Granger) can hire them for a very dangerous mission, a suicide mission actually.
The group consists of an Organizer named Rocca (Raf Vallone), Terence Scanlon, a demolition expert (Mickey Rooney), Simon Fell, a forger (Edd Byrnes), John Durrell, an assassin (Henry Silva) and Jean Saval (William Campbell).
These men are going to be used to infiltrate a German prison in Dubrovnik and break out a captive Italian general being held by the Nazi's. No, this isn't an original plot, but it works tremendously well. The entire cast works well and Henry Silva, in my opinion, steals the show as a cold blooded assassin who really does have some humanity in him.
His character of Durrell falls for a young woman (Spela Rozin) with a child and protects her, but on night in a cemetery they hide from two Nazi soldiers and Durrell puts his hand over the baby's face to keep it from crying, and he accidentally kills it. This changes him a bit and Silva is such a talented actor, that he manages the change flawlessly.
The men are captured and interrogated by the Nazi's and then plan their final escape, which makes a great third act for the film. If you have never seen this film, it may surprise you who actually survives and who doesn't, but that is part of what makes this film so powerful as it leads to a somewhat sad but interesting climax.
Roger Corman's brother Gene produced this film which was written by R. Wright Campbell and the Yugoslavian backdrop is something you could never see in a film made today. Keep in mind this was made three years before a much better known film called "The Dirty Dozen".
The Blu-ray quality is wonderful and the disc includes the original trailer and an interview with Corman about the film. RECOMMENDED!!
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