''The Captive City'' (Italian: ''La città prigioniera'') is a 1962

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

English-language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about navy, naval, air force, air, or army, land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle s ...

directed by

Joseph Anthony Joseph Anthony (born Joseph Deuster; May 24, 1912 – January 20, 1993) was an American playwright, actor, and director. He made his film acting debut in the 1934 film ''Hat, Coat, and Glove'' and his theatrical acting debut in a 1935 productio ...

and starring

David Niven James David Graham Niven (; 1 March 1910 – 29 July 1983) was an English actor, soldier, raconteur, memoirist and novelist. Niven was known as a handsome and debonair leading man in Classic Hollywood films. His accolades include an Academ ...

Lea Massari Anna Maria Massetani (born 30 June 1933), known professionally as Lea Massari, is an Italian actress and singer. Massetani was born in Rome and studied architecture in Switzerland. She adopted her stage name at the age of 22, after the sudden ...

and

Ben Gazzara Biagio Anthony "Ben" Gazzara (August 28, 1930 – February 3, 2012) was an American actor and director of film, stage, and television. He received numerous accolades including a Primetime Emmy Award and a Drama Desk Award, in addition to nomina ...

. It is based on the 1955 novel ''The Captive City'' by John Appleby. The film was released in the US as ''Conquered City'' by

American International Pictures American International Pictures, LLC (AIP or American International Productions) is an American film production company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, AIP was an independent film production and distribution c ...

as a

double feature The double feature is a Film, motion picture industry phenomenon in which theaters would exhibit two films for the price of one, supplanting an earlier format in which the presentation of one feature film would be followed by various short subjec ...

with '' The Day the Earth Froze''.

Plot

At the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Athens is liberated by the Allies. Greek soldiers and partisans, fresh from waging

guerilla Guerrilla warfare is a form of unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military, such as rebels, partisans, paramilitary personnel or armed civilians, which may include recruited children, use ambushes, sabotage, terrorism ...

warfare on the Germans join with local insurgents in an attempt to seize power and the British are finally compelled to vacate the city to encamp around its perimeter.

Gibraltar Chronicle The ''Gibraltar Chronicle'' is a national newspaper published in Gibraltar since 1801. It became a daily in 1821. It is Gibraltar's oldest established daily newspaper and the world's second-oldest English language newspaper to have been in pri ...

newspaper; dated 15th October 1966; Page 5 Meanwhile, a small group of men and women in a hotel find themselves besieged by a rebel army that wants the Nazi armaments in the basement.

Cast

as Major Peter Whitfield *

as Lelia Mendores *

as Captain George Stubbs * Michael Craig as Captain Robert Elliott *

Martin Balsam Martin Henry Balsam (November 4, 1919 – February 13, 1996) was an American actor. He had a prolific career in character roles in film, in theatre, and on television. An early member of the Actors Studio, he began his career on the New ...

as Joseph Feinberg * Daniela Rocca as Doushka *

Clelia Matania Clelia Matania (28 March 1918 – 14 October 1981) was an Italian film and voice actress. Life and career Born in London, the daughter of the Capri-born naturalized Briton painter Fortunino Matania (best known as Saturnino), Matania attended ...

as Climedes *

Giulio Bosetti Giulio Bosetti (26 December 1930 – 24 December 2009) was an Italian actor and director. Career Giulio Bosetti appeared in film, on television and on stage over 30 times. In 1972, he narrated the television special ''La vita di Leonardo da Vi ...

as Narriman * Percy Herbert as Sergent Major Reed *

Ivo Garrani Ivo Garrani (6 February 1924 – 25 March 2015) was an Italian actor and voice actor. In films since 1952, Garrani is possibly best known for his role as Prince Vajda in Mario Bava's '' Black Sunday'' (1960). Biography Born in Introdacqua, ...

as Mavroti * Odoardo Spadaro as Janny Mendoris *

Roberto Risso Roberto Risso (22 November 1925 – 16 November 2010) was a Swiss-born Italian film actor. Life and career Born Pietro Roberto Strub in Geneva, Risso joined the cinema industry when he was still a university student of architecture, playing a ...

as Loveday *

Venantino Venantini Venantino Venantini (17 April 1930 – 9 October 2018) was an Italian film actor.''La Città Prigioniera''
at the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

* 1962 films Italian World War II films English-language Italian films American International Pictures films Films scored by Piero Piccioni 1960s English-language films 1960s Italian films {{WWII-film-stub