User reviews

I was 10 years old when I first saw Hell Boats at the drive-in movies with my dad. I have to say that the nude scene with Elizabeth Shepherd left a lasting impression on me. I've watched it again more recently in my 60s. And, like the other reviewer, I simply love this movie. There's nothing really special about the effects or the plot line. I think it is just the wonderful cinematography situated around the island of Malta, and the stunning screen presence of James Franciscus and Elizabeth Shepherd who do have a special chemistry, despite what I've read about them not getting along off camera. There's also something to be said about the uncomplaining matter-of-fact way that these naval officers go about doing their dangerous and thankless job.

Hell Boats is basically a poor man's version of higher production value films like the Guns of Navarone. That is not to say that the acting is subpar by any means. The main characters, Franciscus, Shepherd and Ronald Allen all hit the right notes of expressing loneliness, anger and an unfulfilled life which is amazing, considering the plot they had to work with. This is one of Director Paul Wendkos' best works if not his best.

Passable warlike movie with two brave officers : James Franciscus/Jeffords and Ronald Allen/Ashurst who must lead a mission in a risked attack on Sicily coast , as well as a loving triangle takes place between Jeffords and Alison -Elizabeth Shepherd- , Comdr. Ashurst's wife . This exciting film contains cold war heroics , non stop excitement , and full of tension and intrigue . It starts in English Channel 1942 where a British Convoy is sailing and the German Nazis are deployed in the Mediterranean theater in WWII . An American Lt. Comdr. Jeffords , R.N.V.R. (James Franciscus) , serving under the British Royal Navy in 1942 , is assigned along with Comdr. Ashurst, R.N. (Ronald Allen) to blockade the island of Malta and told to formulate a plan to destroy the Nazi arsenal in Sicily . Their job : hit it head-on , their target hell-one-earth ¡ . As they have to destroy the "glider bombs" there to be used against Allied shipping , as the Nazis have such destructive weapons , the world's first smart bombs . At the end happens the British attack on the heavily defended dry dock at Sicily in German-occupied Italy during the Second World War .

James Franciscus and Ronald Allen play WWII commando leaders who lead a group of soldiers on a suicide mission to destroy a Nazi naval arsenal on the Sicilian coast by means of dead ships turned into a live bombs . As the valiant soldiers sailed it down the throat of the enemy . They carry out their risked assignment while keeping their activities hidden from outsiders and German boats and airplanes . The movie title "hell boat" comes from a term used by the Nazis for their motor torpedo E-boat . At the ending , they arrive in the enemy port , being a strongly defended position and commanded by stiff Nazi officers . The Germans had a number of reinforced submarines , planes and boats , but the target of the actual attack was the dry dock facilities and the bomb-shelters . The yarn utilizes an often-used plot line of the war movie genre which has two brave soldiers in love with the same woman , such as : ¨Day-D the sixth of June¨(1956) by Henry Koster , ¨Kings go forth¨(1958) by Delmer Daves , ¨Mosquito Squadron¨ by Boris Sagal and ¨633 Squadron¨ by Walter Grauman , among others . The movie actually comes to life by decently realized action shots , they were fairly well-staged ; however , it also contains some stock-shot footage . The intriguing premise gets to satisfy completely , though it was reminiscent of other wartime films by that time , as it has breathtaking moments , including an explosive climax with bombs , rockets and ammo exploding in the depot . It mixes a twisted tale with intrigue , noisy action , bombings , explosion and a triangular love story . It results to be a sustained and predictable story , although partially based on true deeds , upon the Operation Ruthless planned by Ian Fleming . Acceptable acting from James Franciscus and Ronald Allen as two commanders who take on a strong battle of wits , as for the dangerous operation as a woman . The film progresses with Lt. Comdr. Jeffords/James Franciscus training the crews of the ships , even though the crew lacks faith in his command abilities and he must overcome tensions with his antagonist Comdr. Ashurst/Ronald Allen . The highlights of the movie are the violent as well as exciting fights of the crews against Nazis , who successfully fend off an final attack at Sicily port . And moving scenes at the final when the ships penetrate the highly armored stronghold , nets in the port , and explosives blow up under the dry dock . It includes stock WWII , especially when show up some airplanes , and dog-fighting . Atmospheric cinematography by Paul Beeson , Walt Disney's usual cameraman , though an alright remastering is necessary . Being filmed on location , it was shot entirely on location in Malta including the 'Sicily' scenes . Good and enjoyable musical score by Frank Cordell .

The film was financed by Oakmont production , a company exclusively dedicated to warfare films (Submarine X1 , Hell boats , Mosquito Squadron , Thousand plane raid , Last escape) which was a production arm of Walter Mirisch Films. The motion picture was compellingly produced by Lewis J. Rachmil and professionally realized by Paul Wendkos who was imported from Hollywood to helm this English Wartime movie , displaying enough spectacular images to keep things interesting . Apparently , director worked on the film's original screen story with writers Anthony Spinner , Donald Ford , Derek Ford , being based on a story written by S.S. Schweitzer , but Wendkos is uncredited for such . Wendkos whose works remain undervalued in USA directed various TV series and some films as ¨Guns of the Magnificent Seven¨ , ¨Cannon for Cordoba¨, ¨Gidget¨, ¨The Flight¨, ¨The legend of Lizzie Borden¨ and ¨Attack on the Iron Coast¨

Malta is its usual stunning self in this cinematically beautiful film. Why was it not filmed wide? What irritates me is the overly strong U.S. asserter officer shouting at the Brits to do something.

James Franciscus and Elizabeth Shepherd's relationship is ludicrously overblown and misconstructed. Sorry, filmmakers but the silly introduction where she is "starkers" and swimming and flaunts herself at him is priceless. She is so forward and up for IT, it's not true yet her acts all gallant and appears only mildly stirred... It's so awkward - it's clear she is says "Come on bog boy!" with everything she has but he is only modestly aroused. Oh you have to see it to understand it.

I find this film is embarrassing. It's full of bristly macho-ness and "U.S. attitudes will shake up the Brits and sort 'em out" and the Brits deference is bordering on obsequious.

A good story with weak characters. Elizabeth Shepherd is gorgeous and acts strongly but a poor story and and weak direction diminish what could have been a great part.

I hate giving bad reviews but this film seems to come from a time when studios squashed good film-making in the process of simply creating star vehicles and it makes it very difficult for me to watch it happily.

The real star of the film though is Malta.

The usual uninspired rehash of 60's war movies like 'The Guns of Navarone' and '633 Squadron' detailing the usual raid on an impregnable fortress with lousy special effects and lots of preliminary talk before the climactic gunplay against the backdrop of the island of Malta.

As usual the hero is American (we're told his mother was English). Although it's set in 1942, a wholly wasted Elizabeth Shepherd wears her hair swept back in an elegant sixties mane as the unhappily married chainsmoking commanding officer's wife who dallies with blond hunk James Franciscus before he sets off to kill a few Nazis. (When I saw Ms Shepherd interviewed on stage five years ago Franciscus was one of only two co-stars of whom she spoke ill, citing his obsession with how he looked in their big love scene.)

Low-budget film loosely inspired by the scheme conceived for the famous Operation Ruthless, only adapted to a naval context, and set in the Mediterranean war theater. The production goes unnoticed, achieving a passing grade thanks to its smooth narrative flow and the performances of the lead actors. It doesn't score higher due to the low quality of the supporting characters, the management of extras, and the 1970s idiosyncrasies (incorrect wardrobe, incorrect hairstyles, etc...) that turn out to be unconvincing. It's a shame; with a little effort in philological reconstruction, it could have surely reached a higher cinematic level.

This movie clearly didn't have much of a budget, but what it lacks in effects it makes up for in the personal elements of the story.

There are no big stars in the cast, but they all do a good job with their roles, letting us see how the war affects people differently.

The plot is fairly straightforward, to blow up U-Boat pens in Sicily. The pens are storing glider bombs that the Nazis were using to sink allied shipping in the Med.

It's an enjoyable movie, all things considered, and my only complaint is that they couldn't do a better job of mocking up the very distinctive shape of a German E-Boat.

Apart from that, not a bad way to spend 90 minutes!

Given that this movie was made in 1970 on Malta, I can only guess that there was an actual MTB on Malta and someone thought "It'd be great to make a movie about MTBs at Malta" and instead of making an actual historical movie, they made this bit of garbage.

To give it credit, the boat that we see the main crew aboard does look good, the uniforms seem spot on (I am not an expert on British Naval Uniforms of WWII however), but the plot is just a throw-away, the combat scenes are hopelessly bad, the special effects are just plain awful (even for 1970) and the technique shown for picking up the two divers didn't exist in 1942 (and the Aqua-lung wouldn't have been in use by the British Navy, either).

Not very entertaining and certainly not educational.

I'm being too generous with a 6 rating but this was a watchable war film especially if you are watching it with a date, such as your wife (like I did). I personally hate most love interests in a war film with a few exceptions like from Here to Eternity, but here the love interest triangle helps move the story forward. Otherwise this is a cartoonish war film. Lots of action and explosions in the manner of a Gerry Anderson production (toy boats). Directed by the same person who made the 1968 Lloyd Bridges film, Attack on the Iron Coast, the effects, love interest storyline and suicide mission with small boats are both very similar, Attack on the Iron Coast is based on the real St Nazaire Raid. In a way, Hell Boats is another variation on that raid. Interesting to watch, and my wife stayed interested due to the love interest back story. Its available on Prime Video as of 08/2023.

You'd have thought with the concept of total war it might have given film producers more scope to make a film that doesn't revolve around this cliché: a British woman is romantically involved with an American serviceman and a Brit and both male characters have to work together on an extremely dangerous mission in which either only one of them or neither of them will come back . Stop me if you've seen this type of movie before . In the film producers defence they can claim that women won't instinctively feel the need to watch war films hence they need an angle , usually a love triangle , to sell a film to the widest possible audience

HELL BOATS continues this cliché and brings many other clichés to the party . Being a film that features the Royal Navy it means they have to be led by an American in order to boost its box office stateside . As can be expected the best looking member of the cast is the American as well as being the bravest member on the suicide mission . Guns when fired by the good guys never run out of ammo while Germans never seem to be able to shoot straight etc etc

In it self there's nothing fundamentally bad about HELL BOATS . The problem lies that it's a victim of film studios churning out one war film after another which all use the same type of premise and plotting and nothing in this movie sets it apart from its peers . It's not helped either that channel 5 broadcast this movie then followed it up with the brilliantly cynical THE BRIDGE AT REMAGEN immediately afterwards

Superficially it's a war drama of the tiny motor torpedo boats which did much unsung work in WW2, but the naval battles merely provide an exciting story in which an even more special romantic drama is wrapped up. The difficult love triangle involves the stuffy, awkward Brit and his unhappy wife, complicated by the arrival of the flamboyant American. The three play their parts beautifully as the tension rises; husband suspects wife, she is agonisingly torn between the two, lover tries to win her over.

Additionally there is an element of professional respect between the officers, which only serves to frustrate their base instincts, as the competent yet uncertain Brit tries to hold onto both a command and a wife he knows he doesn't deserve, and the daring yet sensitive American (a divorcée?) starts to see some semblance of bravery fighting to break out from the Brit's inhibited facade. Very like real life, the path of love does not run true, and the result is thus more realistic than one would expect from a movie. The madcap plans to outwit the enemy mimic perhaps, the deceptions played out in the romance.

This may not be a totally memorable film, but it has some finely understated beauty, which quietly avoids using hackneyed stereotypes, and mawkish efforts at pathos.

At about 53:00 minutes the incorrect rank pronunciation is used when the Lieutenant Commander is introduced to the Commander & then by the latter to the Lieutenant from intelligence!

LEFtennant was used both times.

Ironically it was the American that used the correct LOOtennant when greeting the intelligence officer!

I adore Hell Boats, unapologetically.

The plot's engine or conceit concerns a naval officer (Lieutenant Commander Jeffords) planning to destroy a German glider bomb depot in Augusta, Sicily, with his flotilla of motor torpedo boats (MTBs). Whilst preparing for this attack in a Malta under tourniquet, he becomes part of a love triangle.

You could point out that it seems like a film where there were opposing creative forces at work, so that the parting shot of the movie, the final line of the script, falls like seed on marble. You could point out that in this movie, fairly inert objects seem to have an alchemical propensity for explosive combustibility when hit by bullets and that highly trained military individuals don't understand lines of fire, that Wehrmacht soldiers pointing machine guns at the back of spies magically fizz out of existence during a crunch, that Jeffords has a mage-like ability to become invisible in front of the enemy. You could point all this out but miss the beauty and oozing anguish of the film.

I just like the honesty of the film, the portrayal of lonely people living with death wishes, confronting raw sexual compatibility when unavailable, making sentimental love choices, envying, being hypocrites, behaving petulantly. It's all baked under the Mediterranean sun, shot beautifully, and scored wonderfully. The film is as much about what is unsaid or not shown and merely alluded to than what is heard and shown.

There's something crazy about watching these three creatures with irises like arctic meltwater, treading over Malta's quiet places, under the sandstone shadows, in and about its crenellations. The film seems much more in keeping with the tradition of Marguerite Duras and India Song than with typical World War II genre movies; Malta almost feeling like Camus's Oran.

What's also quite clear though is that the action that happens, whilst sometimes making a few elementary mistakes, often achieves with model work alone, a "Boy's Own" intensity, that makes following aerial bombs down in Michael Bay's Pearl Harbor seem academic.

It's well worth pointing out that director Paul Wendkos was in the Navy in World War II, and this film clearly meant a lot more to him than his usual fairly undistinguished output. Composer Frank Cordell served in military intelligence in the Mediterranean theatre during WWII and it would be fascinating to find out if he also had some influence as he was very much an engaged artistic collaborator.

Rarely is a film as human as Hell Boats.

"Hell Boats" is an okay WWII action picture. While the basic plot isn't bad, the subplot involving the horny lady with 1960s style hair and her flaccid husband seems pretty dull.

Lt. Comdr. Jeffords (James Franciscus) is a patrol boat commander and he's been ordered to Malta to help with the defense of this besieged island fortress. His mission is to somehow sneak away from Malta and blow up an Italian Sub base...and the odds seem insanely against them.

At the same time, the commander of the base is a guy who spends his time wringing his hands and making himself distant from his frisky wife. So, she seeks solace with Lt. Comdr. Jeffords.

The action sequences are pretty good, though the film does make the Germans seem amazingly stupid and easy to beat. Additionally, the romance, well, it's pretty dull stuff. Purely a time-passer and not much more.