Suicide Mission (film)

Suicide Mission
Directed by	Michael Forlong
Screenplay by	David Howarth Michael Forlong Sidney Cole (as Sydney Cole)
Based on	From the book The Shetland Bus by David Howarth
Produced by	Michael Forlong W.M. Rolfsen
Starring	Leif Larsen
Cinematography	Per Jonson
Edited by	Lee Doig
Music by	Dolf van der Linden
Color process	Black and white
Production companies	Nordsjøfilm North Sea
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release dates	14 October 1954 (1954-10-14) (Norway) November 1956 (1956-11) (USA)
Running time	70 minutes
Countries	United Kingdom Norway
Language	English

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

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

Plot

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, including the leader, known as "Shetlands-Larsen", play themselves. The script was written by Øystein Brekke.

Cast

• 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

The film reportedly only cost £25,000.

Reception

The entire royal family was present at the ceremonial premiere in 1954, where the participants were introduced from the stage. It has been claimed, however, without this being documented for certain, that the "world premiere" took place in the gymnasium in the basement of Rubbestadnes Folkeskule. The film received an overwhelming reception from the entire Scandinavian press and was also shown to large audiences in Sweden, Denmark and Iceland. It was later sold to Hungary, Czechoslovakia and China, and an English version was made and shown throughout much of the Western world under the title "Suicide Mission".

See also

• List of British films of 1954

External links

• Suicide Mission at IMDb
• Shetlandsgjengen at the British Film Institute