The tagline for Operation Amsterdam is "They had to outsmart a city in order to save the world." It's a curiously overstated line for a film that's really quite low-key. Set in 1940, this film tells the story of a British agent (Tony Britton) and two Dutch diamond experts (Peter Finch and Alexander Knox) who go on a daring mission to remove as many industrial diamonds as possible from the city of Amsterdam before the German invasion force arrives. They find an ally in a desperate Dutch woman named Anna (Eva Bartok), but are also faced with threats on all sides, including German agents disguised as Dutch soldiers.

Operation Amsterdam is watchable, but it did leave me cold and unengaged. It's certainly not that nothing happens; the story follows a steady pace of event following event as the protagonists try to complete their mission, but somehow I always felt distant from the action, even when it should have seemed tense and exciting.

The opening sequence of the film may be part of the problem; beginnings are important in setting the tone for the rest of the film experience, and sometimes a film just never recovers from a slipup early on. In the case of Operation Amsterdam, the opening is fairly jarring: a brash newsreel-style narrator's voice announces the circumstances of the plot and introduces the three protagonists. We're shown how they swiftly head off on their mission, and then... before we know it, we're in Holland and the mission is well underway. We've been told, not shown, the situation, and it never really sinks in. One event follows another, but none of it is particularly engaging, because right from the first, we've been distanced from the events and characters.

One interesting aspect of Operation Amsterdam is what appears to be a strong push in the direction of realism in depicting the effects of the war. While other, earlier war films tended to present the war in a more heroic light (sometimes to the point of propaganda), with danger and death being merely the flip side of fame and glory, Operation Amsterdam consistently shows a more human, somber side. (Of course, we're only shown the destruction and danger caused by the Germans; 1959 is a bit too early for the film to recognize that the horrors of war affect both sides.) The effects of the German invasion on the civilian populace is always at the forefront, most notably in the crowds of refugees on the docks and roads. The troublesome fact that the protagonists are on a completely non-humanitarian (although important) mission in midst of all these desperate people is touched on to a certain extent, although it isn't really developed much.

Perhaps in a certain sense, Operation Amsterdam is undone by its sense of realism. The three protagonists go about their business with a great deal of professionalism. There's hardly any interaction among them, and we really don't get to know them at all as people; instead, they focus on getting the job done and getting out safely. We get a glimmer of a difference among them, in that the British agent is evidently the tougher one of the lot, ready to do whatever it takes to succeed, while the two Dutchmen are evidently more nervous, but that's it. And in reality, that's exactly what a successful team of undercover agents on a mission would want to be like: professional and cool. However, this doesn't necessarily make for the best cinema, and in Operation Amsterdam, there's nothing much in the story to make positive use of the characterizations, and the film as a whole feels rather flat.

The DVD

Video

Operation Amsterdam is presented in a clean and attractive black and white transfer, at the film's original widescreen aspect ratio. It is not anamorphically enhanced, but given that the aspect ratio is only 1.66:1, this is an understandable choice. (If it were anamorphically enhanced, it would look a bit better on a widescreen TV, but it would be "windowboxed" on a 4:3 TV.) The print is in very good condition; very little noise appears, and while there are a few scratches in the print, these are not very noticeable. Clarity is excellent, with the image looking nicely sharp and detailed. In some high-contrast scenes, the image suffers a bit, with darker areas a little too dark, and some edge enhancement showing up, but on the whole it's quite good.

Audio

The Dolby 2.0 mono sound is quite solid. Dialogue is almost always perfectly clear, with only a few instances in which it sounds a bit muffled. The background sound is clean and free of any noise or distortion. The understated musical score (it is used fairly infrequently, more for special emphasis than as a consistent background) and the environmental effects are all correctly balanced with the dialogue, and sound clear and clean.

Extras

A trailer for the film is provided, nothing more.

Final thoughts

Operation Amsterdam will probably be of most interest to fans of war movies, and in particular of World War II films; it does offer a clear and unsentimental look at a front of conflict that's often overshadowed by more spectacular events in the war. The transfer is quite good, so viewers who know that they like the film can pick up a copy with confidence that the viewing experience will be pleasing. On the whole, Operation Amsterdam is a likely candidate for a rental.