Fascinating trivia (and any goofs) connected with the film
- The story was inspired by the true story of a U-boat hijacked
by Dutch dockyard workers.
- Emeric Pressburger wrote the story this film is based upon
but was unhappy with the way that Vernon Sewell changed it
and removed references to the brutality of the Nazis so withdrew
his name as a writer.
-
Reported by Christoph Michel:
Check out the insignia in the scene of the first conversation between
von Schiffer (Knight), Captain Müller (Burtwell) and Jaap van Leyden
(Richardson), 3 to 4 minutes into the film. Look at von Schiffer's
armband: the outer sides of the swastika are too short (as sometimes
seen in clumsy graffiti by slow-witted skinheads); now look at Captain
Müller's chest: that little swastika in the eagle's talons is even a
mirror-image, making it a sun wheel. I found this odd, not only because
of the scrupulously "correct" props and costumes we are used to in films
bearing the Archers' logo, but also because the other Nazi uniforms are
"correct" throughout this film. A strange slip-up, especially in 1943.
There isn't anything I'd deduct from this observation; it's merely a
surprising intrusion of amateur-show elements into an otherwise
professional production.
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