Dirk Bogarde is fun to watch, hiding behind a mustache speaking Greek. Michael Gough, an uncredited David McCullum, and Christopher Lee as a very tall German soldier also appear. The lightness of tone virtually undermines any suspense in the story. The craftsmanship is still here, with the obvious visual motif of shots of the night sky. Beginning with Mikis Theodorakis cheerful, Greek folk style music, Ill Met by Moonlight comes off as a boy's adventure film rather than the dramatization of men on a mission.

If Ill Met by Moonlight is a disappointment, They're a Weird Mob is almost a disaster. The film is based on a novel that was purported to be the autobiography of an Italian, Nino Culotta, in Australia. As it was, the book was written by an Australian, John O'Grady. This fish out of water story made me think of Preston Sturges' The French They are a Funny Race, presenting an English gentleman's view of the French. In both cases, you have filmmakers who have done so much better work in the past that watching these films is painful. The DVD includes a television documentary on the making of the film which is both useful and horrifying. According to this documentary, They're a Weird Mob was made not only to sell Australia to the world (the film made at a time when the country was actively trying to attract immigrants like future Ozzie Mel Gibson), but also to revive the Australian film industry.

As it turned out, Michael Powell was not the one to save the Australian film industry. He did get the opportunity to make one last feature, the much better Age of Consent, in which he finally got to work with James Mason who played against the then unkown Helen Mirren. They're a Weird Mob is saddled with heavy handed humor, and almost every cliche about Australians. We see Walter Chiari struggle with the slang, lots of beer drinking, and the "boys" playing in the mud. The film also stars two men who are almost axioms of classic Australian cinema, Chips Rafferty and John Meillon. Powell's discovery, Clare Dunne, is a redhead like Deborah Kerr and Moira Shearer. Her career as a movie star began and ended here. Not only did Powell reuse some music from Ill Met by Moonlight, but further reseach reveals that the screenplay, credited to Richard Imrie, was really by Emeric Pressburger. As such, They're a Weird Mob is a reteaming of The Archers that has substantially missed the mark.