When Eight Bells Toll (1971)

Sorry, this movie sucks

i must have seen a different film!!

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Hopkins could have been Bond and I think he'd have made a good one. In fact, a review at the time of his performance in When Eight Bells Toll proclaimed he played his character Calvert in a way that "made James Bond look like a lounge lizard." The film is a fondly remembered actioner from my childhood (well, early teens). Although there's no way in which the pyrotechnics on show could bear realistic comparison with the CGI-dominated eye-candy extravagance of today's equivalents (witness the studio bound finale in the boat house if you really need convincing), it remains a brisk, fun way to idle away the best part of two hours.The script is sharp, the dialogue cynical, the action belts along nicely - and Robert Morely's Whitehall mandarin thrust into the field is an eccentric delight. Nathalie Delon (whatever happened to her?) is an icy femme fatale who couldn't act to save her life (or anyone elses) and Jack Hawkins, who had throat cancer, is voiced by Charles Gray. Jack's lip-synching is well-duff to say the least. He's almost a good five minutes behind. Add Old Vic stalwart Corin Redgrave as Calvert's pragmatism-challenged sidekick and you have a recipe for some top fun.The plot (McGuffin) is some nonsense about missing bullion ships, but it's no more than a hook to hang the action on. For me, this is a case of nostalgia most certainly being what it used to be. I just love it.For anyone who likes the early seventies Bond movies, it's almost an essential accoutrement.Right, next stops on the Alistair MacLean '70s movie DVD trail - Fear Is The Key, Caravan To Vaccares and the sublime Puppet On A Chain.

While adaptation of Alistair MacLean's books been popular few have been successful, and this is one of the less successful.Even with a great script (screenplay by MacLean) the film just doesn't take off, not least due to the fights and in various dark surroundings, where you really can't tell what is supposed to happen.Anthony Hopkins as the undercover man, and Corin Redgrave as his clumsy pal, works great, less sure about the bad guys. Robert Morley, as Hopkin's boss, is marvelous, and Leon Collins, as the shark fisherman, not bad at all.So great script, nice scenes from around Skye & Torbay, from the water, from the air and from land, buy much of the lighting and cinematography stinks! A film perfect for a remake!

It's important that films such as this be recognised as breaking away from the 60's bond fayre, and that they introduced a gritty reality all of their own. Bond indeed could never say 'bastard'. Even though he really was. Bond films strayed from the books,which as period literature remains quite good. Where as EBT was reasonably similar to what the author wanted to get across. A man in a dangerous situation, dealing with ruthless adversaries,who kills without hesitation. Very military, very straight to the point. Bound to upset the Vicars wife at the local tea party. But he wouldn't care, he would sooner be elsewhere, Pursuing the enemy, where ever they hide in the class system, tap, tap, he's slotted, move on. A perpetually restless individual, as Mr Hopkins no doubt was at that point in his life. Drowning his frustrations in alcohol when off duty (as does every professional?) I am off to Scotland this month, to the Kyle of Lochalsh. To me as a teenager this was a significant film in my development, as well as the book. In a politically correct world, where cynical reality can only be found in 'spin', a world in which the late author could only bemoan; I find solace in this film. Where people actually disprove of my children playing with their toy guns and reading Commando magazine; in the comfortable cities which refuse to recognise the reality of living and surviving in the Hebridies; Please take me back to 1971!. These old values are as strong as ever and this films principles and values remain the same to this day.Alan David Noorkoiv.

In order to investigate a missing ship, Officer Philip Calvert is employed by intelligence head "Uncle Arthur" and equipped with a small team including intelligence officer Hunslett. Finding the ship once turns out to be easy off the coast of Scotland but comes at a price – the lives of two of his team. Finding the ship again is the first step but soon Calvert has uncovered a bigger scheme involving the disappearance of many other smaller boats.As a teenager I read Where Eagles Dare and, from there, got quickly into other Alistair McLean books and still would tend to enjoy them now. Most of his films though, are a different matter and it is often the case that they are average at best. So it is with this film that fails to really engage with a plot that aims for mystery by not revealing detail but just ends up being all a bit boring, slightly confusing and ultimately not worth watching. The story begins with a tense opening and then jumps back to provide a bit more set up but it keeps its cards close to its chest and, as a result, there is no real hook to grab the audience with. The character development is poor; Calvert is a cardboard cut out and the film really suffers from the lack of a bad guy with any sort of screen presence because there isn't any tension built up other than in the odd scene. Of course this is partly the fault of the very flat direction and production, which helpfully inserts very loud "Dah-Dah" music into any scene where we are meant to be excited.The cast can do nothing to improve things, so few of them actually bother. Hopkins is interesting because I'm not used to seeing him so young, but other than that he pretty much goes through the motions and never convinced me as the sort of person I think his character was meant to be. Morley is at least quite funny in his role and is a welcome injection into the film; he may not help build tension but he at least provides a bit of life or animation into things. Meanwhile Hawkins and Bond are pointless and Delon is too blonde and obvious.Overall, very much in the mould of the majority of McLean films in that it is weak, lacking the punch tension of his books and pretty dull. The plot is totally unengaging and the characters do all they can to prevent you giving a toss about them or their story. Even when the whole plot becomes clear, you'll be too busy wondering why you bothered sticking with it that far anyway.