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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;willieboyd2, post: 4903931, member: 4910&quot;]The 1957 British film &quot;Ill Met by Moonlight&quot; is based on the World War II true story of two British Army officers who land on the Greek island of Crete to kidnap a German Army general and take him to the British headquarters in Cairo Egypt.</p><p><br /></p><p>The title is a quote from William Shakespeare&#039;s play &quot;A Midsummer Night&#039;s Dream&quot;. The film was released in America with the title &quot;Night Ambush&quot;. It was based on W. Stanley Moss&#039;s 1950 book <i>Ill Met by Moonlight: The Abduction of General Kreipe</i>.</p><p><br /></p><p>The British agents are assisted by Cretan resistance fighters who have been fighting the Germans since the Germans invaded Crete in 1941.</p><p><br /></p><p>Major General Heinrich Kreipe always carries a &quot;lucky gold coin&quot; with him as it stopped a bullet when he was fighting in Russia.</p><p><br /></p><p>The large coin used in the film appears to be a real gold coin minted by Austria between 1872 and 1915.</p><p><br /></p><p>Right after the abduction the general complains to the British that he has lost his coin. A British officer offers to replace the coin but the general doesn&#039;t want a &quot;British sovereign&quot; because his coin was a German coin.</p><p><br /></p><p>Later the group is joined by a Cretan boy whose greatest desire is a pair of boots.</p><p><br /></p><p>The group is near some German soldiers and the general offers the coin to a Cretan boy to take to the Germans to buy boots (The coin would let the Germans know that their general is nearby).</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://www.brianrxm.com/posts/post_movie_illmetmoonlight_general.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p>The general makes an offer</p><p><br /></p><p>A closer look at the coin:</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://www.brianrxm.com/posts/post_movie_illmetmoonlight_coin.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p>Two views of the coin</p><p><br /></p><p>The coin appears to be a real gold coin, an Austrian 4 ducat coin.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://www.brianrxm.com/posts/post_austria_ducat4_1915_west.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p>Austria 4 ducats 1915</p><p>This coin is a large thin coin of diameter 40 mm, weight 14 grams, 0.986 fine, gold 0.44 troy ounce.</p><p>These coins were struck in Vienna from 1872 to 1915.</p><p>They have since been restruck by the Vienna Mint with the date of 1915 for sale as bullion coins.</p><p><br /></p><p>The film has a happy ending.</p><p><br /></p><p>On the boat taking the general to Egypt the British officers return the general&#039;s medals and original gold coin to him.</p><p><br /></p><p>The last scene is the boy polishing his new boots.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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