Ill Met by Moonlight
They stole a General under the noses of his 20,000 crack paratroops.
1957 | 104m | English
Popularity: 0.6 (history)
| Director: | Emeric Pressburger, Michael Powell |
|---|---|
| Writer: | Emeric Pressburger, Michael Powell, W. Stanley Moss |
| Staring: |
| Led by British officers, partisans on Crete plan to kidnap the island's German commander and smuggle him to Cairo to embarrass the occupiers. | |
| Release Date: | Jan 31, 1957 |
|---|---|
| Director: | Emeric Pressburger, Michael Powell |
| Writer: | Emeric Pressburger, Michael Powell, W. Stanley Moss |
| Genres: | Action, War, Adventure |
| Keywords | general, kidnapping, crete, partisan, morse code |
| Production Companies | The Rank Organisation, Vega Film |
| Box Office |
Revenue: $0
Budget: $215,000 |
| Updates |
Updated: Jan 30, 2026 Entered: Apr 20, 2024 |
| Name | Character |
|---|---|
| Dirk Bogarde | Maj. Patrick Leigh Fermor aka "Philedem" |
| David Oxley | Capt. William Stanley "Bill" Moss |
| Marius Goring | Major General Kreipe |
| Dimitri Andreas | Niko Soldan Emeris |
| Cyril Cusack | Captain Sandy Rendel |
| Laurence Payne | Manoli |
| Wolfe Morris | George |
| Michael Gough | Andoni Zoidakis |
| John Cairney | Elias |
| Brian Worth | |
| Roland Bartrop | Miki |
| George Eugeniou | |
| Paul Stassino | Yani Katsias |
| Peter Augustine | The Dentist |
| Christopher Rhodes | General Breuer |
| Christopher Lee | German officer at The Dentist's office |
| Richard Marner | German Officer with Gen. Breuer |
| David McCallum | Sailor on Pick Up Ship (uncredited bit) |
| Peter Swanwick | Spectacled Officer with General Breuer |
| Adeeb Assaly | |
| Peter Brace | |
| Guido Lorraine | |
| Howard Marion-Crawford | |
| George Pravda | |
| Andreas Malandrinos | Greek (uncredited) |
| E. V. H. Emmett | Narrator(voice) (uncredited) |
| Gisela Birke | German Girl(uncredited) |
| Phyllia Houseman | Michali's Sister |
| John Houseman | Johnny Houseman |
| Takis Frangofinos | Michali |
| Theo Moreas | Village Priest |
| Name | Job |
|---|---|
| Emeric Pressburger | Director, Writer |
| Michael Powell | Director, Writer |
| W. Stanley Moss | Adaptation |
| Christopher Challis | Director of Photography |
| Arthur Stevens | Editor |
| Alex Vetchinsky | Art Direction |
| Jean Osborne | Unit Publicist |
| Arthur Alcott | Production Controller |
| Jack Swinburne | Production Manager |
| Charles Orme | Assistant Director |
| Austin Dempster | Camera Operator |
| Bill Warrington | Special Effects |
| Nandi Routh | Costume Designer |
| Archie Ludski | Sound Editor |
| Gordon K. McCallum | Sound Recordist |
| Charles Knott | Sound Recordist |
| Gladys Goldsmith | Continuity |
| Paul Rabiger | Makeup Artist |
| Frederic Lewis | Music Director |
| Míkis Theodorakis | Original Music Composer |
| Name | Title |
|---|---|
| Sydney Streeter | Associate Producer |
| Michael Powell | Producer |
| Emeric Pressburger | Producer |
| Earl St. John | Executive Producer |
| Organization | Category | Person |
|---|
Popularity History
| Year | Month | Avg | Max | Min |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 3 |
| 2024 | 5 | 8 | 14 | 4 |
| 2024 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 3 |
| 2024 | 7 | 7 | 14 | 3 |
| 2024 | 8 | 5 | 10 | 2 |
| 2024 | 9 | 4 | 6 | 2 |
| 2024 | 10 | 4 | 8 | 2 |
| 2024 | 11 | 5 | 9 | 2 |
| 2024 | 12 | 5 | 17 | 2 |
| 2025 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 2 |
| 2025 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 1 |
| 2025 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 1 |
| 2025 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 2025 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 2025 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 2025 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2025 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 2025 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| 2025 | 10 | 2 | 4 | 2 |
| 2025 | 11 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| 2025 | 12 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
| 2026 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
Trending Position
Dirk Bogarde was good in these light-hearted but entertaining wartime dramas, and together here with Marius Goring manages to keep this moving along well. He's a British officer on Crete who comes up with a plan to kidnap the Nazi's commanding general "Kreipe" (Goring) together with the local resist ... ance. Quite quickly, they discover that the general isn't that well protected. Getting him is one thing, keeping him and getting him off the island is going to be something completely different though as it turns out he's quite a shrewd customer. With the soldiers combing the island to find them, we have quite a few daring escapades as this game of cat and mouse pans out. There's plenty of charisma and mischief on offer here and the plot even leaves a little wriggle room for some integrity too. It's roots are in fact and the production is all pretty standard but it's quite niftily stitched together and I enjoyed it.