The Heroes of Telemark is a 1965

1965 in film

The year 1965 in film involved some significant events, with The Sound of Music topping the U.S. box office.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :Academy Awards:...

 war film

War film

War films are a film genre concerned with warfare, usually about naval, air or land battles, sometimes focusing instead on prisoners of war, covert operations, military training or other related subjects. At times war films focus on daily military or civilian life in wartime without depicting battles...

 directed by Anthony Mann

Anthony Mann

Anthony Mann was an American actor and film director, most notably of film noirs and Westerns. As a director, he often collaborated with the cinematographer John Alton and with James Stewart in his Westerns.-Biography:...

 based on the true story of the Norwegian heavy water sabotage

Norwegian heavy water sabotage

The Norwegian heavy water sabotage was a series of actions undertaken by Norwegian saboteurs during World War II to prevent the German nuclear energy project from acquiring heavy water , which could be used to produce nuclear weapons...

 during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. It was filmed on location in Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

.

Plot summary

The Norwegian

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 resistance sabotage the Vemork

Vemork

Vemork is the name of a hydroelectric power plant outside Rjukan in Tinn, Norway. The plant was built by Norsk Hydro and opened in 1911, its main purpose being to fix nitrogen for the production of fertilizer. Vemork was later the site of the first plant in the world to mass-produce heavy water...

 Norsk Hydro

Norsk Hydro

Norsk Hydro ASA is a Norwegian aluminium and renewable energy company, headquartered in Oslo. Hydro is the fourth largest integrated aluminium company worldwide. It has operations in some 40 countries around the world and is active on all continents. The Norwegian state holds a 43.8 percent...

 plant in the town of Rjukan

Rjukan

Rjukan is a town and the administrative center of Tinn municipality in Telemark . It is situated in Vestfjorddalen, between Møsvatn and Tinnsjå, and got its name after Rjukanfossen west of the town. The Tinn municipality council granted township status for Rjukan in 1996. The town has 3 386...

 in the county of Telemark

Telemark

is a county in Norway, bordering Vestfold, Buskerud, Hordaland, Rogaland and Aust-Agder. The county administration is in Skien. Until 1919 the county was known as Bratsberg amt.-Location:...

, Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

, which the Nazis

Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

 are using to produce heavy water

Heavy water

Heavy water is water highly enriched in the hydrogen isotope deuterium; e.g., heavy water used in CANDU reactors is 99.75% enriched by hydrogen atom-fraction...

 to make a nuclear bomb.

Besides this impressively filmed sequence, Operation Gunnerside, Operations Grouse and Freshman and the final attack are depicted in location filming, in which snowy Norwegian locations serve as a backdrop for the plot.

Kirk Douglas

Kirk Douglas

Kirk Douglas is an American stage and film actor, film producer and author. His popular films include Out of the Past , Champion , Ace in the Hole , The Bad and the Beautiful , Lust for Life , Paths of Glory , Gunfight at the O.K...

 plays Rolf Pedersen, a Norwegian physics

Physics

Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...

 professor, who, though originally content to wait out the war, is soon pulled into the struggle by local resistance leader Knut Straud (based on Knut Haukelid

Knut Haukelid

Knut Haukelid was a Norwegian resistance movement soldier during World War II, most notable for participating in the Norwegian heavy water sabotage...

, portrayed by Richard Harris

Richard Harris

Richard St John Harris was an Irish actor, singer-songwriter, theatrical producer, film director and writer....

).

They are both smuggled to England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 to have microfilmed plans of the Hydro examined, and then return to Norway to plan a commando

Commando

In English, the term commando means a specific kind of individual soldier or military unit. In contemporary usage, commando usually means elite light infantry and/or special operations forces units, specializing in amphibious landings, parachuting, rappelling and similar techniques, to conduct and...

 raid on the Hydro. When a force of Royal Engineers

Royal Engineers

The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually just called the Royal Engineers , and commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps of the British Army....

, who were to carry it out, are all killed, Petersen and Straud lead a small force of saboteurs into the plant. The raid is successful, but the Germans quickly repair the equipment.

They then plan to ship tankers of heavy water to Germany. Petersen and Straud sabotage a ferry

Ferry

A ferry is a form of transportation, usually a boat, but sometimes a ship, used to carry primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services...

 carrying the tankers, and it sinks in the deepest part of a fjord

Fjord

Geologically, a fjord is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created in a valley carved by glacial activity.-Formation:A fjord is formed when a glacier cuts a U-shaped valley by abrasion of the surrounding bedrock. Glacial melting is accompanied by rebound of Earth's crust as the ice...

.

Other versions

Ray Mears made a documentary entitled The Real Heroes of Telemark. Despite mainly sticking to the factual evidence, some scenes in the documentary, like the film, were partly dramatised, focusing more on the survival skills involved in the operation.

The same story was also covered in the 1948 Franco-Norwegian film Kampen om tungtvannet. Quite faithful to the real events, it even had many of the original Norwegian commandos starring as themselves.

Cast

Actor	Role
Kirk Douglas Kirk Douglas Kirk Douglas is an American stage and film actor, film producer and author. His popular films include Out of the Past , Champion , Ace in the Hole , The Bad and the Beautiful , Lust for Life , Paths of Glory , Gunfight at the O.K...	Dr Rolf Pedersen
Richard Harris Richard Harris Richard St John Harris was an Irish actor, singer-songwriter, theatrical producer, film director and writer....	Knut Straud
Ulla Jacobsson Ulla Jacobsson Ulla Jacobsson was a Swedish actress who is perhaps best known for playing one of the very few female roles in the film Zulu....	Anna Pedersen
Michael Redgrave Michael Redgrave Sir Michael Scudamore Redgrave, CBE was an English stage and film actor, director, manager and author.-Youth and education:...	Uncle
David Weston David Weston (actor) David Weston is an English actor, director and author. Since graduating from RADA in 1961 he has acted in numerous film, television and stage productions, including twenty-seven plays in Shakespeare's canon. With Michael Croft he was a founder member of the National Youth Theatre...	Arne
Sebastian Breaks	Gunnar
John Golightly John Golightly John Golightly is an actor who has appeared in numerous British television productions over a 45 year period.His father was a transport foreman...	Freddy
Alan Howard Alan Howard Alan MacKenzie Howard, CBE, is an English actor known for his roles on stage, television and film.He was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company from 1966 to 1983, and played leading roles at the Royal National Theatre between 1992 and 2000.-Personal life:Howard is the only son of the actor...	Oli
Patrick Jordan Patrick Jordan -Selected filmography:* Companions in Crime * No Smoking * The Battle of the River Plate * Cloak Without Dagger * The Man Upstairs * The Angry Hills * The League of Gentlemen...	Henrik
William Marlowe William Marlowe William Marlowe was a British theatre, television and film actor.He served in the Fleet Air Arm and hoped for a career as a writer before training as an actor at RADA. His most famous role was probably that of Chief Supt. Thomas in The Chief...	Claus
Brook Williams Brook Williams Brook Richard Williams was an English stage actor who also made numerous film and television appearances in small roles....	Einar
Roy Dotrice Roy Dotrice Roy Dotrice, OBE is a British actor known for his Tony Award-winning Broadway performance in the revival of A Moon for the Misbegotten.-Life and career:...	Jensen
Anton Diffring Anton Diffring Anton Diffring , born Alfred Pollack, was a German actor.-Biography:Diffring was born in Koblenz...	Major Frick
Ralph Michael Ralph Michael Ralph Michael was an English actor. He was born in London, United Kingdom.His film appearances include: A Night to Remember, Children of the Damned, Khartoum, Grand Prix, The Assassination Bureau, and Empire of the Sun.Television credits include: The Adventures of Robin Hood, Dixon of Dock Green,...	Nilssen
Eric Porter Eric Porter Eric Richard Porter was an English actor of stage, film and television.-Early life:Porter was born in Shepherd's Bush, London, to Richard John Porter and Phoebe Elizabeth Spall...	Terboven
Wolf Frees	Knippelberg
Karel Stepanek Karel Štěpánek Karel Štěpánek was a Czech actor who spent many years in Austria and generally played German roles onscreen. In 1940 he fled to Britain and spent much of the rest of his career acting there.-Selected filmography:...	Hartmuller
Gerard Heinz Gerard Heinz Gerard Heinz , born Gerhard Hinze, was an actor. He later moved to England, where he changed his name to Gerard Heinz. He appeared in almost 60 movies , and a number of stage productions...	Erhardt
Victor Beaumont Victor Beaumont Victor Beaumont , was an German born film and television actor.As Peter Wolff he appeared in a number of German films and at least one play...	German Sergeant
George Murcell George Murcell George Murcell was a British character actor. His first wife was Josephine Tweedy whom he married in 1953, and his second was the actress Elvi Hale whom he was married to from 1960 until his death....	Sturmfuhrer
Mervyn Johns Mervyn Johns Mervyn Johns was a Welsh film and television character actor. He was a mainstay of Ealing Studios.Among his dozens of film roles were Walter Craig in Dead of Night , the Church Warden in Went the Day Well? and Bob Cratchit in Scrooge...	Colonel Wilkinson
Barry Jones Barry Jones (actor) Barry Jones was an actor seen in British and American films, on American television and on the stage.-Biography:...	Professor Roderick Logan
Geoffrey Keen Geoffrey Keen Geoffrey Keen was an English actor who appeared in supporting roles in many famous films.-Early life:Keen was born in Wallingford, Oxfordshire, England, the son of stage actor Malcolm Keen. He was educated at Bristol Grammar School. He then joined the Little Repertory Theatre in Bristol for whom...	General Bolt
Robert Ayres Robert Ayres (actor) Robert Ayres was an American film, stage and television actor.-Selected filmography:* The Black Widow * Delayed Action * A Prize of Gold * It's Never Too Late...	General Courts
Jennifer Hilary Jennifer Hilary Jennifer Mary Hilary was a British actress of stage, film and television...	Sigrid
Maurice Denham Maurice Denham Maurice Denham OBE was an English character actor who appeared in over 100 television programmes and films throughout his long career.-Life and career:...	Doctor

See also

• Norwegian heavy water sabotage
  Norwegian heavy water sabotage
  The Norwegian heavy water sabotage was a series of actions undertaken by Norwegian saboteurs during World War II to prevent the German nuclear energy project from acquiring heavy water , which could be used to produce nuclear weapons...
  
  
• Norwegian resistance movement
  Norwegian resistance movement
  The Norwegian resistance to the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany began after Operation Weserübung in 1940 and ended in 1945. It took several forms:...
  
  
• List of World War II films

External links

• The reality behind the movie