Coming to DVD: Ill Met By Moonlight (1957)

In last weekend's link roundup I noted the passing of British author-adventurer Sir Patrick Leigh Fermor at the age of 96.

The 1957 Powell-Pressburger film about Fermor's wartime exploits, ILL MET BY MOONLIGHT, known in the United States as NIGHT AMBUSH, will be released on Region 1 DVD in the U.S. on August 16, 2011.

The film has previously been released on VHS as well as on Region 2 DVD.

The movie stars Dirk Bogarde and Marius Goring.

Leonard Maltin, in a three-star rating, describes the film as a "Taut WW2 actioner set in Crete, with fine British cast." The film also has a three-star rating from Steven Scheuer.

ClassicFlix shares the information that the DVD will be the uncut 104-minute British version. The U.S. version was 93 minutes.

In addition to the roundup links on Fermor, there's much more information about his fascinating life from a 2008 article in the Daily Telegraph, as well as in a reminiscence from Paul Rahe at Ricochet (via Power Line).

The Daily Telegraph obituary headline says Fermor was "one of the few genuine Renaissance figures produced by Britain in the 20th century, a man both of action and learning." The paper also notes "Leigh Fermor was the architect of one of the most daring feats of the Second World War, the kidnapping of the commander of the German garrison on Crete, and also the author of some of the finest works in the canon of English travel writing."