About this episode
The episode reviews the 1961 film Invasion Quartet, highlighting its significance in Spike Milligan's career and its whimsical wartime narrative.
This week we look at Invasion Quartet (1961), one of the most significant, if forgotten, films in Spike Milligan's career. Set in a military convalescent hospital on the English south coast during 1942, the story follows three disabled service officers and an ageing military veteran who decide to launch their own private invasion of occupied France to destroy a German super-gun known as "Big Hermann", whose shelling is disrupting both the war effort and their cricket matches. The result is a whimsical wartime adventure that one hack at the time described as "a skit on The Guns of Navarone ." The film was made shortly after Spike signed a contract with MGM's British subsidiary, soon after the Oscar nomination of The Running, Jumping & Standing Still Film . Invasion Quartet was part of MGM British's first production slate under Lawrence P. Bachmann, alongside future hits such as Village of the Damned and Murder She Said . While those films became major successes and spawned sequels, Invasion Quartet was one of the few productions that failed to make much impact at the box office. The cast included Bill Travers, John Le Mesurier, Grégoire Aslan, Millicent…
People in this episode
Host: Goon Pod
Topics covered
- film review
- Spike Milligan
- wartime adventure
- military history
- forgotten films
Keywords
- Invasion Quartet
- Spike Milligan
- wartime film
- MGM
- film history
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: MGM, MGM British
Books & works: Invasion Quartet, The Guns of Navarone, The Running, Jumping & Standing Still Film, Village of the Damned, Murder She Said
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