Set in March 1943, Allied shipping in the Indian Ocean is being ravaged with devastating precision by German U-boats. British Intelligence discovers the source – a secret radio transmitter aboard German merchant ships interned in Mormugão Harbour in Goa, India.
Because Goa is a colonial territory of neutral Portugal, any official military attack would cause a massive diplomatic crisis.
Unable to send in regular troops, Special Operations Executive (SOE) officers Colonel Lewis Pugh (Gregory Peck) and Captain Gavin Stewart (Roger Moore) devise an unorthodox plan.
They recruit the Calcutta Light Horse, a volunteer cavalry unit of retired, middle-aged British-Indian businessmen, bankers, and tea planters led by Colonel W.H. Grice (David Niven).
Disguised as drunken holidaymakers aboard a decrepit mud-dredging barge named the Phoebe, the elderly volunteers quietly sail into Goa, board the German freighters (including the Ehrenfels), plant limpet mines, smash the radio equipment, and successfully scuttle the ships before slipping back out.
The real-life “Operation Creek” raid of 9 March 1943 was so politically sensitive that the British government kept it strictly classified for 35 years until James Leasor published his book in 1978.
Col. Lewis Pugh
Gregory Peck Capt. Gavin Stewart
Roger Moore Col. W.H. Grice
David Niven Jack Cartwright
Trevor Howard Mrs Cromwell
Barbara Kellerman Major Yogi Crossley
Patrick Macnee Wilton
Kenneth Griffith Colin Mackenzie
Patrick Allen Trompeta
Wolf Kahler U-Boat Captain
Robert Hoffmann First Officer
Dan van Husen Ehrenfels Captain
George Mikell First Officer
Jürgen Andersen Underhill
Bernard Archard Mr Montero
Martin Benson Mrs Grice
Faith Brook Melborne
Allan Cuthbertson Lumsdaine
Edward Dentith Sloane
Clifford Earl The Governor
Rusi Gandhi Dennison
Percy Herbert Barker
Patrick Holt Hilliard
Donald Houston Peters
Glyn Houston Williamson
Victor Langley Malverne
Terence Longdon Radcliffe
Michael Medwin Lovecroft
William Morgan Sheppard Finley
John Standing Manners
Graham Stark Manuel
Keith Stevenson Maclean
Jack Watson Breene
Moray Watson Butterworth
Brook Williams Ram Das Gupta
Marc Zuber Croupier
Scot Finch Kruger
Martin Grace
Director Andrew V. McLaglen
Video
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Because Goa is a colonial territory of neutral Portugal, any official military attack would cause a massive diplomatic crisis.
Disguised as drunken holidaymakers aboard a decrepit mud-dredging barge named the Phoebe, the elderly volunteers quietly sail into Goa, board the German freighters (including the Ehrenfels), plant limpet mines, smash the radio equipment, and successfully scuttle the ships before slipping back out.
