True tale of wartime heroes’ mission to recoup treasures

Many artworks from around Europe, plundered by Hitler’s troops in the late 1930s and early 1940s, might have been lost forever were it not for the valiant efforts of the Monuments Men.

This small platoon of museum curators, architects, artists and historians, who were too old to be drafted, shared an unwavering belief in the preservation of 1000 years of culture.

They risked their lives to locate caches of stolen artworks and return paintings, sculptures and drawings to their rightful owners.

This fascinating true story of heroism is retold as a gung-ho Ocean’s Eleven-style caper by George Clooney in his fifth directorial feature.

As history lessons go, The Monuments Men is lightweight and mildly entertaining.

President Roosevelt (Dalton) sanctions Harvard art historian Frank Stokes (Clooney) to venture behind enemy lines and save as many treasures as possible.

Stokes recruits six men – curator James Granger (Damon), Sergeant Richard Campbell (Murray), Sergeant Walter Garfield (Goodman), Lieutenant Jean Claude Clermont (Dujardin), Private Preston Savitz (Balaban) and Major Donald Jeffries (Bonneville) – and despatches them to key points to search for the loot.

Granger heads to Paris, where he hopes to extract vital intelligence from Claire Simone (Blanchett), curator at the Jeu de Paume in Paris.

However, she is reluctant to help, believing the Allies will relocate the recovered treasures to collections in Russia or America.

The Monuments Men strikes an uneven tone between comedy and drama, which sometimes jars.

Clooney, Damon and co look dapper in military attire while Blanchett comes closest to delivering a full performance in limited screen time.