The Guns of Navarone

The Guns of Navarone

Mallory

Miller

Andrea

Brown

Franklin

Pappadimos

Maria

Anna

Prologue Narrated by

Barnsby

Cohn

Baker

Grogan

Sessler

Muesel

Nicolai

Commandant

Group Captain

Bride

Patrol Boat Captain

German Gunnery Officer

German Officer in Gun Cave (uncredited)

Greek Cleric at Wedding Plaza (uncredited)

German Soldier on Patrol Boat (uncredited)

German Radar Operator (uncredited)

Radio Operator (uncredited)

British Commando (uncredited)

(uncredited)

Mallory - German

Extra (uncredited)

German Soldier on Navarone (uncredited)

The original 1961 road show release used Technicolor prints made in London, which gave the film eye-popping clarity and disguised many of the imperfections of the sets and special effects. When it came time to turn out mass runs of prints for the general release, Columbia shipped the original negative to a bargain-rate lab in New York, where it was reconfigured for normal Eastmancolor printing. This meant re-cutting the negative to insert standard opticals to approximate the Technicolor process's smooth dissolves, etc. No preservation separations were made and the negative wasn't properly protected. Poor-quality dupe sections were soon patched in to replace damaged pieces of the negative. Eventually two entire reels would have to be replaced in this way, after that New York lab accidentally destroyed the originals through handling errors. Columbia also discarded the film's original sound elements and stereo tracks. A collector's magnetic print was used to recover the original four channel stereo mix.

Gregory Peck revealed, in a later interview, his bemusement at co-star Anthony Quinn's decision to wear a red undershirt, which was only somewhat revealed through most of the film, but which became a glaring focal point when wet and placed against a most blue and gray background near the end of the movie.

Actor Michael Trubshawe (Weaver) was David Niven's oldest friend. The two men served in the military together as young men, and Niven was later responsible for persuading Trubshawe to pursue an acting career. Niven also made it an inside joke to try to mention Trubshawe's name in as many of his own films as he could, usually as a reference to some unseen character.

After the team has scaled the cliff the Germans respond to an alarm jumping on trucks and driving towards the mountain. When driving off the you can clearly see printed Dodge on the back latch of one truck. Germans did not drive Dodge trucks in the second world war.

It is expected that the Germans would use Scopolamine in their interrogation of Franklin, but Scopolamine wasn't seriously tested for use as a truth drug until the 1950s.

In the wedding scene, Anna wears a blue checked dress. In a few of the following shots, the dress seems to change to a black color. This could be a lighting or film stock artifact.

Mallory: You think you've been getting away with it all this time, standing by. Well, son... your bystanding days are over! You're in it now, up to your neck! They told me that you're a genius with explosives. Start proving it!

Mallory: Surprised?

Commodore Jensen: Gentlemen, these men have a special interest in Navarone. I got your radio report, but I thought perhaps you could be more specific.