History Vs Hollywood
This star-studded WWII blockbuster was a big hit in 1977, but does it sacrifice facts for fame?
Does A Bridge Too Far stretch credulity?
Director: Richard Attenborough Starring: Dirk Bogarde, Sean Connery, Michael Caine, Country: USA/UK Released: 1977 01
The film portrays Operation Market Garden, the Allied attempt to break through the German defences in the Netherlands. A colossal failure, one problem was the landing zones being too far from Arnhem Bridge – a misjudgment shown in the film.
02
Early on in the film, General Browning (Dirk Bogarde) ignores warnings of Panzer tanks stationed in Arnhem and places the young officer who warns him, Major Fuller, on sick leave for “rocking the boat”. This occurred, though the major’s real name was Urquhart.
03
Anthony Hopkins plays Lieutenant Colonel Frost, who becomes stranded at Arnhem. Hopkins uses a hunting horn to rally his troops, something the real Frost also did. He lost the horn in the battle but it was presented to the Airborne Museum in 1997.
04
A key scene depicts a German tank lumbering its way across the Arnhem Bridge. Unfortunately (much to the chagrin of Al Murray as featured in Watching War Films With My Dad) the tank is Leopard I, a post-war tank that entered service in 1965.
05
In the film’s final scenes Browning says he always suspected they attempted to go “a bridge too far”. While this was indeed stated, it was in fact said by Browning to Field Marshal Montgomery before the operation had begun and not at its end.