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Operation Snatch
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<h2 id="plot">Plot</h2> <p>The story takes place in <a href="/facts/Gibraltar/ja2yukgq">Gibraltar</a>, and is based on a local legend: if the resident <a href="/facts/Barbary_ape/ct712gSW">Barbary apes</a> were ever to leave, the British would lose <a href="/facts/Gibraltar/ja2yukgq">Gibraltar</a>. This wartime comedy has Terry-Thomas as the keeper of the apes. When one of the apes goes missing, he is required to go behind enemy lines to capture another one, or be personally responsible for the loss of Gibraltar. </p> <h2 id="cast">Cast</h2> <ul><li><a href="/facts/Terry-Thomas/tbBqPtCG">Terry-Thomas</a> as Lieutenant Wigg</li> <li><a href="/facts/George_Sanders/ILSfqW00">George Sanders</a> as Major Hobson</li> <li><a href="/facts/Lionel_Jeffries/85Mqqt3u">Lionel Jeffries</a> as Evans</li> <li><a href="/facts/Jocelyn_Lane/PSXtHmNA">Jocelyn Lane</a> as Bianca Tabori</li> <li><a href="/facts/Mark_Eden/zQ8kqs6U">Mark Eden</a> as Mosquito pilot</li> <li><a href="/facts/Mario_Fabrizi/7Atk5szL">Mario Fabrizi</a> as Tall Man</li> <li>John Gabriel as Major Frink</li> <li><a href="/facts/Gerard_Heinz/YNYxJaXu">Gerard Heinz</a> as Colonel Waldock</li> <li>Bernard Hunter as Captain Baker</li> <li><a href="/facts/Dinsdale_Landen/KelUjmmY">Dinsdale Landen</a> as Captain Wellington</li> <li><a href="/facts/Howard_Lang/wA0vqvIX">Howard H. Lang</a> as P.T. Sergeant</li> <li><a href="/facts/Angus_Lennie/t6BRzwSj">Angus Lennie</a> as Vic</li> <li><a href="/facts/Jeremy_Lloyd/MCV4RmeI">Jeremy Lloyd</a> as Captain James</li> <li><a href="/facts/John_Meillon/DTB4I07x">John Meillon</a> as medical officer</li> <li><a href="/facts/Warren_Mitchell/x6c4Xc5Y">Warren Mitchell</a> as contact man</li> <li><a href="/facts/Lee_Montague/lE0B9s5E">Lee Montague</a> as Miklos Tabori</li> <li><a href="/facts/Nyree_Dawn_Porter/bGJQRK6m">Nyree Dawn Porter</a> as W.R.A.C. officer</li> <li>John Scott as Lieutenant General Hepworth</li> <li><a href="/facts/Mark_Singleton_(actor)/nz46N6jW">Mark Singleton</a> as Prime Minister's secretary</li> <li><a href="/facts/Graham_Stark/bC0Unvqe">Graham Stark</a> as soldier</li> <li><a href="/facts/Michael_Trubshawe/4GrVV51q">Michael Trubshawe</a> as Colonel Marston</li> <li><a href="/facts/James_Villiers/eryeyzl9">James Villiers</a> as Lieutenant Keen</li> <li><a href="/facts/Ian_Whittaker/yqf80LVN">Ian Whittaker</a> as Dyson</li> <li><a href="/facts/Ronnie_Corbett/ahVL9pWL">Ronnie Corbett</a> appears in an uncredited role disguised as a Gibraltar Rock Ape</li></ul> <h2 id="reception">Reception</h2> <p><i><a href="/facts/The_Monthly_Film_Bulletin/F0gkpGVn">The Monthly Film Bulletin</a></i> wrote: "Clumsy British farce, in which a badly directed Terry-Thomas endeavours to extract laughs from a wan script which pins its faith in jokes about monkeys, bananas, thickly-accented spies and fatuous British espionage agents."<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a> </p><p><i>The <a href="/facts/Radio_Times/UpuUMMN6">Radio Times</a> Guide to Films</i> gave the film 3/5 stars, calling it "enjoyably daft," writing: "There are too many stock characters, but this does have several ridiculously funny scenes."<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="see-also">See also</h2> <ul><li><a href="/facts/Barbary_macaques_in_Gibraltar/0NFAf3UX">Barbary macaques in Gibraltar § Legend</a></li></ul> <h2 id="external-links">External links</h2> <ul><li><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056311/"><i>Operation Snatch</i></a> at <a href="/facts/IMDb_(identifier)/uWrqVYVy">IMDb</a></li></ul> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>"Operation Snatch". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 9 February 2025. <a href="https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150013019" target="_blank">https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150013019</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>"Operation Snatch". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 9 February 2025. <a href="https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150013019" target="_blank">https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150013019</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:3"><p>Crowther, Bosley (25 September 1962). "Screen: Terry-Thomas and Slapstick; Gibraltar Is Setting of 'Operation Snatch' Picture Pits Comedian Against a Thin Plot". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 May 2018. <a href="/wiki/Bosley_Crowther" target="_blank">/wiki/Bosley_Crowther</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:4"><p>"Operation Snatch (1962)". BFI. Archived from the original on 17 February 2017. Retrieved 5 May 2018. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170217065740/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6951bfc6" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20170217065740/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6951bfc6</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:5"><p>"Operation Snatch". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 29 (336): 54. 1 January 1962. ProQuest 1305823317. <a href="/wiki/The_Monthly_Film_Bulletin" target="_blank">/wiki/The_Monthly_Film_Bulletin</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:6"><p>Radio Times Guide to Films (18th ed.). London: Immediate Media Company. 2017. p. 689. ISBN 9780992936440. <a href="9780992936440" target="_blank">9780992936440</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>