Review of Mosquito Squadron

Introduction

Made in 1968, this is a cheap entry in the WW2 heroics line which shamelessly borrows ideas and quite frequently stock footage from other war pics such as "Operation Crossbow", "633 Squadron" and "Dambusters". David McCallum, fresh from playing Illya Kuryakin in "The Man From UNCLE" stars as the fair-haired and square-jawed hero who leads his squadron on the attack with mini bouncing bombs to breach the wall of a French chateau. Vladek Sheybal, everybody`s favourite sinister European of the 1960s puts in a nasty turn as the Kommandant most likely to get his ass blown off. ITC charm schooler Suzanne Neve is the dewy-eyed girl left behind and Dinsdale Landen and Charles Grey add little style as "good show old chap" senior officers.

The whole thing has an odd sixties television look about it, although it wasn`t made for tv. Paul Beeson`s photography has that flat, saturated colour typical of tv shows like "The Avengers" or "Randall and Hopkirk" (which were all filmed at the same studio as this movie). Matters aren`t helped by many locations being familiar to those who know their ITC series. There`s a tender love scene by that bridge out of the main titles of the Tara King Avengers stories.

Sadly, a lot of stock footage of aircraft is used, but effects maestro Les Bowie has some fun with miniature pyrotechnics during the denouement of the film.

Video

Presented in 1.66:1 non anamorphic, the film shows considerable wear and tear, although the main body of the film is better than many of the grainy, scratched stock shots used.

Audio

A no nonsense Dolby 2.0 rendition of the original mono mix. Nothing to comment on.

Features

This is a bare-bones MGM release, with just a grainy trailer and full multilingual subtitles.

Conclusion

If you`re a war movie buff, you`ll probably enjoy this potboiler, but in comparison with some of the war films MGM has recently released you might be better with something else.