Operation Crossbow (1965)

Operation Crossbow (later re-released as The Great Spy Mission) is a 1965 British spy thriller film directed by Michael Anderson and starring Sophia Loren, George Peppard, Trevor Howard, John Mills, Richard Johnson and Tom Courtenay. The screenplay was written by Emeric Pressburger (under the pseudonym Richard Imrie), in collaboration with Derry Quinn and Ray Rigby, from a story by Duilio Coletti and Vittoriano Petrilli. It was filmed in Panavision and Metrocolor at MGM-British Studios.

Set during the Second World War, the film is loosely based on an actual series of events where British bombers targeted the German manufacturing facilities for experimental rocket-bombs. Although it is largely fictional, the film touches on the main aspects of the operation, which was geared to thwart the German long-range weapons programme in the final years of World War II. The story alternates between Nazi Germany's development of the V-1 flying bomb and V-2 rocket, and the efforts of British Intelligence and its agents to counter those threats. All characters speak in the appropriate language, with English subtitles for those speaking German or Dutch.