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Suicide Mission (film)

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Suicide Mission
Directed byMichael Forlong
Screenplay byDavid Howarth
Michael Forlong
Sidney Cole
(as Sydney Cole)
Based onFrom the book
The Shetland Bus by
David Howarth
Produced byMichael Forlong
W.M. Rolfsen
StarringLeif Larsen
CinematographyPer Jonson
Edited byLee Doig
Music byDolf van der Linden
Color processBlack and white
Production
companies
Nordsjøfilm
North Sea
Distributed byColumbia Pictures
Release dates
  • 14 October 1954 (1954-10-14) (Norway)
  • November 1956 (1956-11) (USA)
Running time
70 minutes
CountriesUnited Kingdom
Norway
LanguageEnglish

Suicide Mission is a 1954 British-Norwegian war film directed by Michael Forlong. It was also known as Shetlandsgjengen.[1]

The film was based on historian David Howarth's 1951 book The Shetland Bus.

Plot

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The true story of the Shetland bus, the clandestine traffic across the North Sea from German-occupied Norway to Shetland during the Second World War. A small group of Norwegian sailors loosely connected to the British Royal Navy take refugees from Norway to Shetland in small fishing boats, equipped only with small arms to protect themselves from German aircraft and patrol boats. The film is closely based on real events, and many of the members of the group,[2] including the leader, known as "Shetlands-Larsen", play themselves. The script was written by Øystein Brekke.

Cast

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  • Leif Larsen as himself
  • Palmar Bjørnøy as himself
  • Anthony Oliver as the narrator
  • Johannes Kalve as himself
  • William Enoksen as himself
  • Odd Hansen as himself
  • Finn Clausen as himself
  • Gunnar Klausen as himself
  • Harald Albertson as himself
  • Carsten Johnsen as himself
  • Karl Johan Aarsæther as himself
  • Sigvald Fivelsdal as himself
  • Paul Kråknes as himself
  • Øivind Steinsvåg as himself
  • Johan Haldorsen as himself
  • Willy Rye Andersen as himself
  • Helge W. Fonneland as himself
  • Michael Aldridge as a British naval officer
  • T.W. Southam as British admiral
  • Per Skift as Bård Grotle
  • Oscar Egede-Nissen as Peter Salen
  • Atle Larsen as Johan
  • Torborg Schønberg as an old lady
  • Haakon Særsten as a home front man
  • Mona Levin as Carla, a Jewish refugee

Production

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The film reportedly only cost £25,000.[3]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Career in film-making started in Miramar: [3 Edition] Evening Post 4 May 2000: 5.
  2. ^ Suicide Mission at IMDb
  3. ^ Suicide Mission "(Shetlandsgjengen)" Monthly Film Bulletin; London Vol. 24, Iss. 276, (Jan 1, 1957): 67.
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