Rewatching - The Guns of Navarone

As time passes you find new authors to read. But there are some who leave an impression in your mind. One such from yesteryear was a Scotsman called Alistair Maclean, who wrote the book titled 'The Guns of Navarone' about a heroic attempt by a ragtag team of Englishmen, Greek and who knows what to blow up strategic guns operated by the Nazis on a fictitious island off the coast of Turkey. The book was written circa 1960 and a film was made by Columbia Pictures shortly after.

Starred Gregory Peck and Anthony Quinn among other stalwarts of the era. I watched it on DVD after some four decades of having watched it as a kid in a theater in India. Now I paid close attention to lot of things including the fact that all the maps used in the film were created by a Cartoon production company in the UK.

The dialog is engaging without being glib. A line from one of the chief's to his butler is "men can do great things during times of war with courage and ingenuity but it would be so much better if they could do it in times of peace."

The film went on to be a then box office hit grossing many times than its production budget. Without too much high tech and theatrics this film still captures a viewer's imagination and keeps one riveted till the end as the guns of Navarone are destroyed.

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