Puppet on a Chain (1972)

To me, this movie is perfection.

Really Surprised!

best movie i've ever seen.

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

As usual, Alistair MacLean has written a great thriller which doesn't quite fit into the screen, (the only one that did was "The Guns of Navarone",) but here at least they are trying their best, and Sven-Bertil Taube always did a good job in films, especially as wounded soldiers. His complete lack of expression he actually manages to make quite expressive.This is a particularly grim story, as all heroin films and stories are, and the case of the girl with the dolls is quite hair-rising in its horror dressed up in heart-rending innocence. This must be the most appallingly cruel way described in films of managing heroin traffic. It is too shocking not to be true – you really get the insight of how the dealers will stop at nothing, and the more intricate the contrivance to get it through the better, to manage this dirtiest of business. The hanging business mercilessly adds to the mounting horror of the intrigue. As usual in MacLean features, many die, and usually you don't object, since it's normally the villains who get what they deserve, but here it is different. The only softening pillow to the constant hard fall of the grim tale is that you never see the last hanging body.The wild goose chase on water has been made very much about, while all they actually do is going round and around each other, the only point of which is that it can't last forever. But this priest villain is one of MacLean's most revolting ones.On the whole, it's a thriller well worth seeing and remembering for its shocking story, – the risk is you will remain shocked for days, – with its vile and unfortunate characters, but most of all for the excellent sight-seeing of Amsterdam both from above and from below.

Swedish actor Sven-Bertil Taube plays a US narcotics agent (by way of the Netherlands!) assigned by the government to track down the source of a heroin-smuggling ring in Holland, one whose main assassin has already caused bloodshed on American soil. Upon the American's arrival at the Amsterdam airport, a fellow agent is shot dead by the assassin, who manages to get away. The police frown upon the interloper and resent his help, so he reconnects with an undercover agent (and former flame) to ferret out the drug dealers and their base of operations. Alistair MacLean crime story with a nasty streak of sadism. The results are not unlike the 007 adventures, though the wayward good humor of James Bond is entirely missing. Taube is somewhat of a liability: he isn't in Sean Connery's league--he's all business but without the panache--and his fight technique consists of two special moves, a powerful right hook and a flip over his head. Geoffrey Reeve directed (apart from "special material" and an exciting canal race, which were completed by Don Sharp), and the pacing is lean and mean. Terrific cinematography by Jack Hildyard in the final reel; dated but enjoyable music score by Piero Piccioni. Everything is here, actually, except for a bit of personality. ** from ****

Don't you just love it when you stumble across an unknown movie and discover it to be an instant favourite? That's the case with PUPPET ON A CHAIN, a virtually forgotten Alistair MacLean drug smuggling thriller that turns out to be one of the most entertaining of '70s thrillers. With shades of Bond and a wonderful setting in the atmospheric city of Amsterdam, this is up there with the best of genre a la the two FRENCH CONNECTION movies.Sven-Bertil Taube is the solid lead, playing an American agent dispatched to the Netherlands to break up a drug-smuggling ring. Once there he finds himself pursued by an assassin while investigating some shady business ventures that may well be the front for heroin smuggling on a grand scale. The story is fine, but it's the action that makes this a class act: there's a speedboat chase to rival the ones in LIVE AND LET DIE and AMSTERDAMNED alongside plenty of other great suspense and action sequences.Director Don Sharp, famous from his work for Hammer Studios, contributes to the action and stunts, in particular helping shoot the aforementioned speedboat chase which is the definite highlight and might be the best thing Sharp ever did. Elsewhere, a decent cast of character actors has been assembled, with unique-looking faces filling the cast list. The only thing this film needs now is a decent Blu-ray release...

I've grown up reading Alistair McLean's books and I have watched a couple of movies based on his books. There are some pretty good ones made. But this one is probably the best. Mainly because the characters are pretty interesting and the story line is one of the most original ones you will come across (considering the fact that this is as old as 1972!). Movies on drugs/drug trafficking etc. have been inspired from this slick pic! The hero (Sven Bertil-Taube) is cool as a cucumber (just the way McLean sketched it) .. and he suits his role to the hilt. The plot is usual McLean and the concept is WOW! No review of this film is complete without a mention of the Speed Boat chase in the canals of Amsterdam. My Gawd' ! The "French Connection" road chase, the "Ronin" road chase, the "Tomorrow Never Dies" speed boat chase around the Millennium Dome are all inspired by this superbly crafted sequence which is interspersed with aerial shots, close-ups, action shots and more. Even without a background score, this sequence is great! This movie is a MUST WATCH! :-)Enjoy!