Friday Film - The Heroes of Telemark (1965)

Based on a true story from WWII, this cinematic classic stars the iconic Kirk Douglas and Richard Harris. On paper, it’s a wartime sabotage thriller; on screen, it’s also two hours of rugged mountain missions, cable cars, and some of the finest cold-weather kit ever committed to film. It features a procession of chunky knits, and parkas and smocks made from natural cotton fibres, way before synthetics became a menswear mainstay.

Aside from the aesthetic though, this is just a really good film. It’s based on the story of Norwegian resistance fighters who risked everything to stop Adolf's baddies from developing an atomic bomb. In 1942, Norway was occupied by the Germans, who used the isolated location of the Telemark mountains to pursue their plans. The local resistance had other ideas though, one of whom - Knut Haukelid - was American born. It was his memoirs published in 1947 and later revised in 1953 which formed the basis for this story of sabotage.

As the biting cold continues to prevail here in the UK, you could do a lot worse than load up iplayer and give this a watch.

Then, if you're as obsessed as us, do your best to dig out the 1948 film which this is technically a remake of. Produced by native Norwegians, Kampen om tungtvannet actually features some of the original heroes playing parts. There's never a bad time to remind ourselves of the sacrifices made by our ancestors either.