Operation Amsterdam

Operation Amsterdam
Original cinema poster
Directed by	Michael McCarthy
Produced by	Maurice Cowan
Written by	John Eldridge Michael McCarthy; based on the 1955 novel, Adventure in Diamonds by David E. Walker.
Starring	Peter Finch Eva Bartok Tony Britton
Music by	Philip Green
Cinematography	Reginald Wyer
Edited by	Arthur Stevens
Production company	Maurice Cowan Productions & Rank Organisation
Distributed by	Rank Organisation (UK) 20th Century Fox (US)
Release date	12 January 1959 (1959-01-12) (UK) 6 July 1960 (1960-07-06) (U.S.)
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Operation Amsterdam is a 1959 British action film, directed by Michael McCarthy, and featuring Peter Finch, Eva Bartok and Tony Britton. It is based on a true story as described in the book Adventure in Diamonds, by David E Walker. The action of the story covers a few days in May 1940 when the Germans invaded the Netherlands. The composer Philip Green composed two original pieces of music for the film, the Pierement Waltz and the Amsterdam Polka.

In May 1940, as the German invasion of the Netherlands is under way, the British government decides to send a team to the Netherlands on board HMS Walpole to secure stocks of industrial diamonds before the invaders can get to them. Accordingly, two Dutch diamond experts, Jan Smit (Peter Finch) and Walter Keyser (Alexander Knox) with a British Army Intelligence officer, Major Dillon (Tony Britton), are dropped by ship off the Dutch coast. Dodging German bombs and suspicious Dutch police and soldiers, they commandeer a car driven by Anna (Eva Bartok), whom they have just saved from trying to commit suicide. The four of them drive to Amsterdam.

They meet Jan's father at his diamond business house and he agrees to try to persuade other dealers to bring their diamonds later that day for transport to Britain. But as many of the stones are stored in a time-locked bank vault which won't open for 24 hours, they recruit a group of sabotage experts to break in.