The Cockleshell Heroes

The Cockleshell Heroes is a 1955 British Technicolor war film with Trevor Howard, Anthony Newley, Christopher Lee, David Lodge and José Ferrer, who also directed. The film depicts a heavily fictionalised version of Operation Frankton, the December 1942 raid on German cargo shipping by British Royal Marines Commandos, who infiltrated Bordeaux Harbour using folding kayaks.

It was the first Warwick Film to be filmed in CinemaScope. The producer, Cubby Broccoli, went on to produce films about a famous fictional commander of the Royal Navy in the James Bond franchise.

It was one of the top British box office hits of 1956.

In the Second World War, newly promoted Major Stringer of the Royal Marines devises a novel idea for a raid. By using collapsible canoes, he believes it is possible for commandos to reach an enemy-held harbour undetected and blow up ships with limpet mines. He is given command of a small group of volunteers. However, he clashes with his veteran second-in-command, the cynical, by-the-book Captain Hugh Thompson. The two officers represent the clash of cultures in the Royal Marines in the Second World War and postwar. Stringer, a temporary wartime officer, is the enthusiastic promoter of commando operations requiring daring and initiative, but has no experience leading men or operations. Thompson, an embittered middle-aged regular captain who has been repeatedly passed over for promotion after failing to take an objective in the First World War, represents the old guard of traditional ship's detachments. Sergeant Craig trains the men following Stringer's directions, but Thompson strongly disapproves of his commander's lax methods. When a test mission ends disastrously, Stringer admits his mistake and turns to Thompson, who soon whips the marines into shape.

Ruddock, one of the men, goes AWOL due to marital problems. Thompson gets to Ruddock's wife first and finds her with her civilian lover, but leaves when they both insult him. He goes to the local pub for a drink and finds the missing Marine. Thompson gives Ruddock enough time to beat up his wife's paramour, then drives him back to camp.

The raid is launched soon afterwards by submarine in HMS Tuna under the command of Lieutenant-Commander Alan Greaves. As the submarine carrying the canoeists arrives off the Gironde estuary, a depth charge attack by a passing German patrol boat knocks out Ruddock's partner. Thompson, who was not supposed to go on the raid, volunteers to take his place. The commandos are inserted into the sea close to the mouth of the Gironde river in their Cockle Mk II collapsible canoes as Greaves resubmerges and HMS Tuna disappears. The raiders then disembark and begin their attack. Facing fantastic hazards, they paddle 70 miles of arduous paddling upriver. After moving by night and hiding by day, only four men reach the target, where they plant limpet mines on a number of German cargo ships. All this takes place during harsh December weather. The raid is successful, but only two men, Stringer and Clarke manage to escape. Four, including Thompson and Ruddock, are captured while the other four are killed on the way to the docks. When Thompson and the other prisoners refuse to divulge what their mission was, they are shot by firing squad, just as the mines explode. Stringer and Clarke walk away, accompanied by apparitions of Thompson and those lost.

In 1953, it was reported that the Australian author Hugh Hastings was working on a script called "Cockleshell Heroes" for the star Gregory Peck and the director Lewis Milestone. The script was based on a Reader's Digest account of the mission by George Kent.

Film rights to the story eventually went to Warwick Films, a new production company based in Britain run by the American producers Albert Broccoli, who would later produce many James Bond films, and Irving Allen. Warwick's first film had been The Red Beret, based on a real-life British commando raid in the Second World War, with an American star in the lead role. It was very popular; The Cockleshell Heroes followed the same formula. It was the company's fourth movie.