A fearsome rumor reaches Britain’s World War II command. The Nazis are developing rocket technology that could rain death on London and then New York. Quickly, England develops a plan to send saboteurs into the sites manufacturing the rockets. Just moments after the carefully chosen commandos parachute into the drop zone, their pilot receives an urgent message: The mission may be compromised. Abort. Operation Crossbow is the partly fact-based tale of how that team succeeded against daunting odds. Michael Anderson (The Dam Busters, Logan’s Run) directs, guiding a huge cast in a film that builds to a spectacular finale, yet never neglects war’s unsparing personal costs. As a record of a wartime espionage incursion and as an intrigue-filled thriller, Operation Crossbow is on both counts Operation Accomplished.

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Video Quality

Warner Archive presents Operation Crossbow with a sterling 1080p master transfer released in 2019 in its original 2.35:1 aspect ratio sourced from a 2K scan of the Interpositive that looks like a dream. Viewers are unlikely to spot the difference between this and a scan from the Original Camera Negative, given the amazing effort from the label. The film exhibits no serious signs of wear and tear or debris. Even momentary softness during optical transitions that cannot be avoided is handled with care.

The colors of the environments are striking with memorable touches in the clothing and production design. Each hue is ideally saturated for first-rate accuracy. Black levels are deep with impeccable stability throughout, and highlights similarly hold firm. Detail and clarity are of the highest order with the sumptuous natural film grain intact and resolved consistently. There are no unwanted digital fumbles such as compression artifacts, banding, or any other such issues. Warner Archive showed off with this one.

Audio Quality

The Blu-Ray comes with a DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track that comes to life quite memorably. There is quite a bit of chatter at the base in German with English subtitles, and the overwhelmingly English dialogue sounds great, as well. Things kick into gear in your speakers as you fully engage with the thrilling finale. The score from Ron Goodwin is used perfectly to transport you into this spy thriller filled with simmering emotions. Even when it is particularly active, it does not step on any important exchanges or background noises. There is no obvious age-related wear and tear to the track such as drop-outs, hissing, or popping. Warner Archive has put forth good work with this audio presentation. Optional English (SDH) subtitles are included for the feature film.

Special Features

A Look Back At Crossbow: A ten-minute archival featurette that takes a look at the real-life rocket program fictionalized in the feature film.

Theatrical Trailer (2:36)

Final Thoughts

Operation Crossbow is a thrilling espionage movie that brings a personal touch to a very important wartime story. The movie takes some measures to feel authentic with Germans actually speaking in German with subtitles, and the movie establishes some heavy consequences to these heroic efforts. The performances are quite good all around, even if some of the tertiary characters could have been a bit more fully developed. This is definitely worth a watch for fans of wartime dramas. Warner Archive has released Blu-Ray featuring a stellar A/V presentation and a couple of special features. Recommended

Operation Crossbow can be purchased directly through MovieZyng or various other online retailers.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Warner Archive has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.