Tarnished Heroes

Tarnished Heroes
Directed by	Ernest Morris
Produced by	Edward J. Danziger Harry Lee Danziger
Written by	Brian Clemens
Starring	Dermot Walsh Anton Rogers
Music by	Bill LeSage
Cinematography	James Wilson
Edited by	Desmond Saunders
Production company	Danziger Productions
Distributed by	Warner-Pathé Distributors
Release date	1961
Running time	75 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Tarnished Heroes is a 1961 British war film directed by Ernest Morris, from Danziger Productions, starring Dermot Walsh and Anton Rodgers. The film is set in France during World War II, and concerns a British major who destroys a Nazi convoy. The plot of the film bears similarities with the Dirty Dozen, although it was made five years before Robert Aldrich's film, and three years before the novel on which it is based. However, it is possible that Tarnished Heroes was inspired by the success of The Magnificent Seven released in 1960, as the concept seems close: the recruitment of a band of renegades to fight a difficult fight for the common good.

When Major Roy Bell (Walsh) and his company are trapped by the advancing German army, Bell decides to embark on a suicide mission to blow up a bridge which is of strategic importance to the enemy. However, the only resource available to him is a group of rag-tag army failures, made up of drunks, thieves and deserters. According to the officer's handbook, 'an officer will perform whatever task confronts him with whatever men are available'. Under Bell's guidance, these men must now rise to the challenge and prove themselves as heroes if they are to fulfil the mission and come back alive.