Operation Swallow: The Battle for Heavy Water

Operation Swallow: The Battle for Heavy Water
From left, Joachim Rønneberg, Jens-Anton Poulsson and Kasper Idland receive King Haakon VII of Norway at the premiere of Operation Swallow: The Battle for Heavy Water (1948)
Kampen om tungtvannet
Directed by	Jean Dréville Titus Vibe-Müller
Written by	Arild Feldborg, Jean Marin, Dinah Robertson, etc.
Starring	Jens-Anton Poulsson Johannes Eckhoff Arne Kjelstrup Claus Helberg Henki Kolstad Claus Wiese Knut Haukelid Fredrik Kayser Andreas Aabel
Cinematography	Hilding Bladh Marcel Weiss
Edited by	Jean Feyte
Music by	Gunnar Sønstevold
Distributed by	Hero Film Trident
Release date	1948 (1948)
Running time	98 minutes
Countries	Norway France
Language	Norwegian
Box office	5,373,377 admissions (France)

Operation Swallow: The Battle for Heavy Water (original title: Kampen om tungtvannet, French title: La Bataille de l'eau lourde) is a Norwegian-French film from 1948. The history is based on the best known commando raid in Norway during World War II, where the resistance group Norwegian Independent Company 1 destroyed the heavy water plant at Vemork in Telemark in February 1943.

The film is basically a reconstruction of real events, a docudrama, with many of the participants playing themselves in the film. It was filmed on location in Norway.

Cast

• Andreas Aabel as Kasper Idland
• Jens-Anton Poulsson as himself
• Johannes Eckhoff
• Arne Kjelstrup as himself
• Claus Helberg as himself
• Claus Wiese as Joachim Rønneberg
• Henki Kolstad as Einar Skinnarland
• Knut Haukelid as himself
• Fredrik Kayser as himself
• Hans Storhaug as himself
• Torstein Skinnarland as himself, the dam keeper
• Rolf Sørlie as himself
• Knut Lier-Hansen as himself
• David Knudsen
• Harald Schwenzen
• Raoul Dautry
• Frédéric Joliot-Curie
• Lew Kowarski
• Sigrid Gurie
• Øyvind Øyen as the professor, Major Leif Tronstad

Reception

It was the second most popular film at the French box office in 1948.

See also

• The Heroes of Telemark, a 1965 film
• The Heavy Water War, a 2015 TV series

External links

• Operation Swallow: The Battle for Heavy Water at IMDb