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The Cockleshell Heroes

The Cockleshell Heroes is a 1955 British Technicolor war film with Trevor Howard, Anthony Newley, Christopher Lee, David Lodge and José Ferrer, who also directed.[3] The film depicts a heavily fictionalised version of Operation Frankton, the December 1942 raid on German cargo shipping by British Royal Marines Commandos, who infiltrated Bordeaux Harbour using folding kayaks.

The Cockleshell Heroes

Cockleshell Heroes
1951 Reader's Digest story
by George Kent

Phil C. Samuel, Cubby Broccoli

  • 16 November 1955 (1955-11-16) (UK)

97 minutes[1]

United Kingdom

English

$200,000 (Germany)[2]

It was the first Warwick Film to be filmed in CinemaScope. The producer, Cubby Broccoli, went on to produce films about a famous fictional commander of the Royal Navy in the James Bond franchise.


It was one of the top British box office hits of 1956.

Reception[edit]

Box office[edit]

It was one of the ten most popular films at the British box office in 1956.[29] The film performed poorly at the US box office, like most British war movies of this era.[30]

Book[edit]

Based on the real-life Operation Frankton, the film was quickly followed by the publication of Brigadier C. E. Lucas Phillips' book of the same name. Commanding officer Herbert "Blondie" Hasler had connections with both the film and the book. He hated the title of both and left his role as technical adviser for the former to try to set the matter right in the latter.[31][32]

List of British films of 1955

Dixon, Wheeler W. (2001). . SIU Press. ISBN 9780809324170.

Collected Interviews: Voices from Twentieth-century Cinema

at the British Film Institute

The Cockleshell Heroes

at IMDb

The Cockleshell Heroes

at the TCM Movie Database

The Cockleshell Heroes

at AllMovie

The Cockleshell Heroes

at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films

The Cockleshell Heroes