The final film created by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger (their partnership having previously produced 'A Matter of Life and Death', 'The Red Shoes' and 'The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp'). Set on the island of Crete during the Nazi occupation, the film stars Dirk Bogarde and David Oxley as British officers assigned to kidnap the German commander-in-chief General Kreipe (Marius Goring) and spirit him back to Cairo. If successful, the morale of the Germans would be weakened and the resistance would be stronger. But once he is captured, the British officers have to get him passed German patrols at almost every turning.