Operation Daybreak (1975) Import, Play In All Region

Although made in 1975 this interpretation of the story of the assassination of Rheinhard Heydrich stands the test of time very well. It is atmospheric and tense. The video recording is clear and the soundtrack trouble free.

This is the WB archive collection, its a region 1 US disc, it is not the Korea released pirate disc that is also receives reviews here.The video quality is very good, no complaints there, it was very watchable on my 46 inch TV and it filled the screen format with no bars at the top or sides, Im in the UK with a multi region player, there was no tax charged on the delivered package as the value is not high enough. Made in 1975 on location in Prague the film deals with the true WW2 story of the plan to assassinate "The Butcher of Prague", Nazi Reinhard Heydrich, the plan was in reality called Operation Anthropoid, that has been changed for this movie to Operation Daybreak but there is a more recent movie called Anthropid with Cillian Murphy, more of that later.Operation Daybreak is a superb movie with high production values, directed by Lewis Gilbert who is famous for directing hugely successful James Bond Films such as You Only Live Twice, The Spy Who Loved Me, and Moonraker, he knows how to tell a story and mix it with action but unlike a Bond film this is not fantasy, it's a true story and a gripping one at that. Good use is made of locations in and around Prague which in 1975 probably was not so different to how it was in 1942, the character of Heydrich is fleshed out by Anton Differing who has a few scenes to establish what a thoroughly nasty piece of work he was, I would highly recommend this movie, I remember seeing it as a schoolboy 30 years ago and I had always wanted to see it again to see if it was as good as I remembered it to be, I was not disappointed. A word about the 2016 movie "Anthropoid" directed by Sean Ellis and starring Cillian Murphy.That movie is the same story and also a very good film, there are scenes and shots in that film that look to me like they are shot for shot duplicates of what appears in Operation Daybreak, the scriptwriter and director had obviously viewed Operation Daybreak before making "Anthropoid" , I would be most surprised if they hadn't, I did also enjoy "Anthropoid", if you like the story both movies are worth watching and having, I would say Operation Daybreak has the edge and is somehow a more real film.

Timothy Bottoms leads a team of dedicated Free Czech exiles in a dangerous mission to assassinate ruthless Reichsprotektor Reinhard Heydrich in Prague (a momentous subject dealt with by the great director Fritz Lang during World War Two in his epic Hangmen Also Die!). The soldiers need shelter and information from the Resistance, who rightly fear reprisals for any attempt on Heydrich’s life. Intelligently scripted by Ronald Harwood (an Oscar-winner for Roman Polanski’s Warsaw ghetto drama, The Pianist), this powerful, tragic drama is an intensely grim and ultimately deeply moving evocation of a desperate time of suffering and oppression. The two big set-pieces rank alongside the screen’s most memorable depictions of men at war: Heydrich’s messy, almost bungled assassination, and the horrifying siege and battle at the soldiers’ place of hiding in a church. Entirely anachronistic, the oddly effective and haunting synthesizer score is by David Hentschel. And Anton Diffring is outstanding as the cruel and punctilious Heydrich. The 21st century saw two further films about Heydrich’s assassination, Anthropoid and The Man with the Iron Heart, neither quite as emotional or effective as Daybreak.

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Well if I'd listened to all the doom and gloom written here I probably wouldn't have bothered. I'd last watched this film on television back in 1979 and it left an impression.Based on the true story of the assassination of SS Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich by Czech agents parachuted into Czechoslovakia especially for the task. Heydrich was Acting Reich-Protector of Bohemia and Moravia, the German name for occupied Czechoslovakia, and was felt by British intelligence to be a strong candidate to succeed Hitler, should he die.The film gives a graphic account of the assassination attempt and events leading up to and beyond. However, it wrongly shows Heydrich completely disabled immediately by a hand grenade. It is known Heydrich was initially fit enough to personally give chase to one of his attackers, Jan Kubiš, until he was overcome by shock and loss of blood. He also took nearly a week to die which is not reflected in the film. By the standards of the day Heydrich had access to some of the best medical treatment available and initially the prognosis was thought to be good. As the film suggests, Hitler's decision to send his own physicians from Berlin, caused a delay which probably affected the outcome. Heydrich eventually died from blood poisoning.The aftermath, and particularly the massacre at Lidice, and the final shootout at Ss. Cyril and Methodius Cathedral in Prague is portrayed pretty much as it happened for real.It's hard to compare this with Anthropoid, I think the later film plods a bit more than this one.The only let-down is the quality of the DVD, so I give it 3 stars. I managed without the subtitles and even though I don’t speak German I don’t think I missed much. I can’t guarantee it will play in everyone’s player or that everyone will be happy with the picture. I played this on my windows 10 laptop with windows DVD player, which I don’t think does justice to anything I play.At the end of the day it’s a tenner, and you can send it back if you don’t like it. What’s the problem?

De kwaliteit van de DVD is uitstekend. Jammer dat ook deze officiële kopie een verkorte versie is en niet de bioscoopversie. Zo ontbreken de executies die Reinhard Heydrich laat uitvoeren in aanwezigheid van Himmler waardoor deze laatste braakneigingen krijgt. Ook ontbreken verschillende scènes van repetities op die locatie voor de aanslag op Heydrich. De verzetsgroep wil 100% zeker zijn van de timing op het traject. Wat het enorm spannend maakt is dat de timing niet meer klopt op de dag van de aanslag en je hoopt echt dat het lukt. Ik ben nog altijd op zoek naar de onverkorte versie van Operation Daybreak die aantoont in welke mate Heydrich de meedogenloze ‘Beul van Praag’ was.

以前に日本語の字幕付きの本作品を見ているので、日本語字幕なしでも、おおよそ何を云っているかは理解している。語学の勉強の為に、あえて日本語字幕なしで鑑賞するのもいいだろう。最近同じ様な内容の映画が発表されたが、こちらの方が緊張感や、役者の熱の入れ方が格段に優れている様な気がする。

Recibi la película antes de la fecha prevista y en perfectas condiciones. La película es muy buena, por toda la historia verídica que hay detrás de ella. Creo que se han respetado muy bien casi todos los aspectos reales de lo sucedido en ese episodio de la triste II guerra mundial. Lo único que lamento es que dicha película, por razones que desconozco, no se haya producido en Blu-Ray.

le dvd correspond à nos attentes et nous sommes satisfaits de ce produit excellent ainsi que du rapport qualité prix. merci

love this product -good quality