📽️ The Guns of Navarone is a 1961 action adventure war film directed by J. Lee Thompson from a screenplay by Carl Foreman. It is based on Alistair MacLean's 1957 novel of the same name. Foreman also produced the film. The film stars Gregory Peck, David Niven, and Anthony Quinn, along with Stanley Baker, Anthony Quayle, Irene Papas, Gia Scala, Richard Harris, and James Darren.

🍿 - A team of Allied saboteurs is assigned an impossible mission: infiltrate an impregnable Nazi-held Greek island and destroy the two enormous long-range field guns that prevent the rescue of 2,000 trapped British soldiers.

• Gregory Peck as Keith Mallory
• David Niven as Corporal Miller
• Anthony Quinn as Andrea Stavros
• Stanley Baker as Brown
• Anthony Quayle as Roy Franklin
• James Darren as Spyros Pappadimos
• Irene Papas as Maria Pappadimos
• Gia Scala as Anna
• James Robertson Justice as Jensen (also opening narration)
• Richard Harris as Barnsby
• Albert Lieven as Commandant
• Bryan Forbes as Cohn
• Allan Cuthbertson as Baker
• Walter Gotell as Muesel
• Norman Wooland as Group Captain
• Michael Trubshawe as Weaver
• Percy Herbert as Grogan
• George Mikell as Sessler
• Tutte Lemkow as Nicolai
• Cleo Scouloudi as Bride
• Christopher Rhodes as German Gunnery Officer

▸ Peter Grant, future music manager of the Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin, and Bad Company, played an uncredited British commando.

⟢ Factoid: Navarone Island is a fictional island portrayed in a novel by Alistair MacLean entitled The Guns of Navarone. The novel was made into a movie, but the film changed some of the geography of the island. Although Navarone does not exist, its history is based on the real history of the Aegean Islands of Greece.

⟢ Where Is The Actual Navarone Located?

Navarone is an island off the coast of Greece. It is more commonly known as the island of Leros and is a historical World War II site.

Historical Factoid: The Battle of Leros in 1943 inspired the movie The Guns of Navarone. British and Italian troops were stationed as peacekeeping forces on Leros during the war and coexisted with little incident. The British forces began shooting at German planes flying over the island, and in September 1943, Germany attacked them. After a 50-day siege during which the British were cut off from supplies and surrounded by enemy forces, they ultimately surrendered.

The Guns of Navarone is based on the best-selling 1957 novel by Alistar MacLean. While not centered around an actual real-life mission of the Second World War, the story does take place during the Dodecanese Campaign of 1943 – the failed Allied attempt to capture the Dodecanese Islands from the Axis powers following the signing of the Italian Armistice. For many, it’s considered British Prime Minister Winston Churchill‘s worst military blunder of the conflict.

Columbia Pictures’ Mike Frankovich, who’d served with the US Army Air Corps during WWII, read the book. He saw its cinematic potential and passed the story along to Carl Foreman, the mastermind behind the screenplay for The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957). While Foreman was initially hesitant to turn the book into a movie, he later agreed to write the screenplay, albeit with a few changes.

As aforementioned, The Guns of Navarone was inspired, in part, by the Dodecanese Campaign—more specifically, the Battle of Leros. Set in 1943, it centers around a hastily formed Commando unit tasked with infiltrating the fictional Navarone Island and destroying its German long-range field gun emplacements. Those involved include an officer with the Long Range Desert Group (LRDG), an explosives expert, and an expert knife fighter known as the “Butcher of Barcelona.”

While many would assume the guns would be of lesser importance compared to other German-held areas in the Mediterranean, their position means the Allies are unable to rescue around 2,000 trapped British soldiers on the nearby island of Kheros. Whenever vessels get near, the Germans aim their guns and fire, sinking them.

To successfully cross the Aegean Sea, the Commandos disguise themselves as Greek fishermen and later meet two local resistance fighters who’d previously been captured by the Germans. Throughout their journey, they come face-to-face with enemy soldiers, at one point overpowering the Germans and donning their uniforms so as not to be recognized.

As the film progresses, it’s assumed the Commandos aren’t destined for success. One of the resistance fighters is found to have been recruited by the Germans, ultimately leading to her execution. Also, when the group finally arrives at the cliffs housing the gun emplacements, they find themselves beaten time and time again, with the Germans defusing their explosives and forcing them to fight in brutal close-quarters combat.

In the end, the surviving Commandos flee Navarone aboard Allied destroyers, but not before they’re somehow able to take out the long-range field guns and the impregnable fortress in which they’re held with one magnificent explosion.

Similar to many WWII-era films produced during the 1950s and ’60s, many of those who starred in The Guns of Navarone actually served in the conflict. Among the most decorated was British actor David Niven, who commanded a Commando squadron during D-Day and Operation Market Garden. Additionally, he aided in the creation of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force’s (SHAEF) efforts to entertain troops via radio.

James Justice, who portrayed Jensen, also served, first during the Spanish Civil War and later, with the British Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. While seeing action in 1943, a German shell detonated, with its shrapnel injuring him enough to be honorably discharged.

Allan Cuthbertson served as a flight lieutenant for the Royal Australian Air Force, seeing action in the Pacific Theater with the No. 111 Air-Sea Rescue Flight RAAF. At the same time, Anthony Quayle was best known for organizing guerrilla forces in Albania during the conflict.

Other military veterans included Percy Herbert, Michael Trubshawe, and Christopher Rhodes. Gregory Peck, who portrayed Capt. Keith Mallory was among the few who didn’t enlist – but not because he didn’t want to. He was exempt from US military service because of a back injury he’d previously suffered.

This star-studded cast also included other big names, including Anthony Quinn, Stanley Baker, Richard Harris, Irene Papas, and Gia Scala.

Despite being a fictional story, the intention was to make The Guns of Navarone as authentic as possible. This included shooting on the Greek island of Rhodes and other locations in the Mediterranean. The production crew even secured an actual warship, the former USS Slater (DE-766), which, at the time, had been transferred to Greece for use as a training vessel.

Prior to filming, there were concerns that Gregory Peck’s inability to speak German convincingly would hinder the film. To rectify this, Columbia Pictures hired voice actor Robert Rietty to dub all of Peck’s German dialogue. Further authenticity was created by enlisting mapmakers who’d previously worked on animated films.

That said, there’s one aspect of The Guns of Navarone that hurts the filmmakers’ aim to make it as authentic as possible: the age of its cast. The majority—if not all—of the stars were arguably too old to portray their characters, something that became obvious to the general public. The British press even went so far as to dub the movie “Elderly Gang Goes Off to War.”

Now that we’ve gotten all that out of the way, it’s time to share some little-known facts about The Guns of Navarone, the first few of which involve David Niven. If you look closely, you’ll notice his character, Cpl. John Anthony Miller wears a Light Infantry cap badge on his beret. This is significant, as it was the regiment the actor himself was commissioned into during WWII.

On a more worrisome note, Niven nearly lost his life while filming. While shooting a scene in a dirty tank of water and suffering from a split lip, he became seriously ill, with the crew worried he’d fall victim to the fatal infection that was ravaging his body. He spent weeks in the hospital and, against medical advice, wound up returning to set to complete his scenes. This ultimately led to another seven weeks of recovery time.

This third fact isn’t just about Niven, but it does involve him. While filming The Guns of Navarone, he forged what became a life-long friendship with Gregory Peck, whom he admired for his ability to drink large amounts of brandy and still recite his lines. The pair became so close that Peck even delivered the eulogy at Niven’s funeral after he passed in 1983.

Since we’re on the topic of Peck, you might be interested to learn that he wasn’t the first actor tapped to portray Capt. Mallory. William Holden was initially approached about the role but wound up turning it down, as he believed it was too similar to his portrayal of Cmdr. Shears in The Bridge on the River Kwai.

Finally, those with keen eyes likely noticed some familiar faces in the background of the scene set at the Mandrakos café. There’s a reason why. On the day it was shot, members of the Greek Royal Family visited the set and were invited to appear in the film as extras!