The 1957 film "Ill Met by Moonlight" is based on the World War II true story of two British Army officers who land on the Greek island of Crete in 1944 to kidnap a German Army general and take him to the British headquarters in Cairo Egypt. The title is a quote from William Shakespeare's play "A Midsummer Night's Dream." The film was released in America with the title "Night Ambush." It was based on W. Stanley Moss's 1950 book Ill Met by Moonlight: The Abduction of General Kreipe. The British agents are assisted by Cretan resistance fighters who have been fighting the Germans since the Germans invaded Crete in 1941. Major General Heinrich Kreipe always carries a "lucky gold coin" with him as it stopped a bullet when he was fighting in Russia. The coin sees some action in the film. The large coin used in the film is a real gold coin minted by Austria between 1872 and 1915.

The film opens with a map and a prologue:

In the midst of the dark sea is a land called Crete, fair and fertile, surrounded by the waves. The Odyssey of Homer, Book XIX

It is 1944 and the island of Crete has been occupied by thousands of German soldiers since 1941. A Cretan resistance movement has been operating in the mountains and towns ever since. A local bus stops on a road.

British Army Captain Billy Moss gets off and heads for an outdoor cafe.

"Philedem" is Major Paddy Fermor who speaks the Greek language and knows the Cretan culture. He sometimes dresses like a native of the island. Both men work as agents for the British Army in Egypt and they have been assigned to kidnap German Major General Heinrich Kreipe who is the commander of the German forces in Crete and take him to Cairo in order to publicly show that they could do it. Captain Moss has brought some equipment including British gold sovereigns which unfortunately are not shown or used in the film. The Cretans would rather have boots which are in short supply there. The general is driven from his house to his office and back every day. A Cretan cook in the general's house tells the agents that the general keeps a gold coin with him and considers it his "lucky coin" as it stopped a bullet from killing him in Russia.

The kidnappers, assisted by some Cretan men, hijack the car.

The general knows that he is in big trouble. The car then passes through several road checkpoints with one of the men wearing the general's hat.

At the general's home some friends and staff are waiting for him. Once the general is missing a search is started for him. The plan is to leave the car somewhere and take the general on foot across the mountains on trails to a beach where a boat will pick the agents and general up and take them to a ship. The general complains that his gold coin is missing and Major Fermor replies that they will buy him a replacement. The general tells him that it would not be the same and that it is a German coin not a common British sovereign.

The plan is to travel at night and make rest stops.

The book is an illustrated edition of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.

The general reminds the agents that the Geneva Conventions require that a general officer prisoner of war has to be provided transportation.

After a few nights of walking and riding the group is near the pick up point. However they discover that German soldiers are camped on the beach.

A Cretan boy, Niko, is with the group and the general makes him an offer.

The general pulls out his gold coin.

Two more pictures of the coin:

The coin is a real Austrian 4 Ducat gold coin.

An Austrian gold 4 ducat coin:

This coin is a large thin coin of diameter 40 mm, weight 13.98 grams, 0.986 fine, gold 0.44 troy ounce.
These coins were struck in Vienna from 1872 to 1915.
They have since been restruck by the Vienna Mint with the date of 1915 for sale as bullion coins.

The general gives the coin to Niko.

The general tells Niko to take it to the German soldiers on the beach and that they will give him a pair of boots for it. Niko also receives instructions from the British officers.

The British tell Niko to go to a nearby canyon with a message for the Cretan resistance men there. However they watch Niko head to the beach and the German soldiers.

The general brags that his plan has worked and the Germans will soon know where he is. Niko however shows the coin to the Germans and tells them that the general is up in the canyon (where the Cretan resistance men are). Later some resistance men with Niko visit the British and tell them that they have ambushed and killed the Germans in the canyon. Night falls and the British ship arrives.

A boat picks up the two British officers, the general, and Niko and takes them to the ship.

The British return the general's military decorations which he had left on the trail and the "luck gold coin."

The film has a happy ending.

Dirk Bogarde as Major Patrick Leigh Fermor aka "Paddy" and "Philedem"
David Oxley as Captain W. Stanley Moss aka "Billy"
Marius Goring as Major General Heinrich Kreipe
Cyril Cusack as Captain Sandy Rendel
Dimitri Andreas as Niko Soldan Emeris
Directors: Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
Writers: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger, W. Stanley Moss (book)

In 1956 W. Stanley Moss wrote Gold Is Where You Hide It; What Happened to the Reichsbank Treasure?. It is about his private investigation of what happened to Reichsbank treasure buried in Bavaria in 1945 when the Nazi regime collapsed. Moss found evidence of pilfering after the U.S. Army dug up the treasure.