I know that the later films (commencing with the novel When Eight Bells Toll and film Where Eagles Dare) were written as film treatments (scripts?) first, but, again, too many - unnecessary, IMHO - changes were made. Also, I can accept the need for female characters (the local contacts) but making the Brown (Baker) character so ineffectual was out-of-place. it has a great blend of action and humour - good location filming, a great score by Wally Stott/Angela Morley and a superb cast, especially with its lead: Anthony Hopkins.Īs much as I like The Guns of Navarone I wish they had not brought in the silly business of the conflict between Mallory (Peck) and Andrea (Quinn). Running a close second is The Guns Of Navarone.Īs a film I like When Eight Bells Toll a lot. Hands down the best Alistair MacLean movie and one of the best popcorn movies ever, period.
Overall the film's a very mixed bag deserving of a better remake. And let's not forget that great theme song. But the movie is well served by Patrick McGoohan and even Rock Hudson, who I'm no great fan of, comes off well. And Ernest Borgnine as a Russian? Oh, the pain. Nor does it help that the "big showdown" with the Russians is just plain boring and anti-climactic. It doesn't help that the frozen wastelands are very obviously soundstage shot. After that when they head out across the ice and reach the station the movie is very ho-hum average. The first half of Ice Station Zebra on board the submarine is a great movie, right up to the intermission. And no one ever mentions what a huge influence this movie was on Raiders Of The Lost Ark. Great action and great writing with some far-out plot twists. Where Eagles Dare is one of my favorite movies/scores. I've never seen the film (it's not available on video). Too bad "Ice Station Zebra" wasn't made true to the novel. Too many MacLean books were made into low budget schlock. But only if they were done as high budget projects. I would love to see many of the titles listed made into films, particularly HMS Ulysses and Night Without End.
If memory serves this was only released in Europe. The Way To Dusty Death was made into a TV film in 1995.
It starred Richard Widmark (who also produced) and was scored by John Williams. The Last Frontier was made into a film in 1961 using the story's US title The Secret Ways. I wonder why these have not been filmed sure these would make good movies? There has been some good films based on alistair maclean novels except the following. Non-Film Score Discussion: ALISTAIR MACLEAN NOVELS/FILMS
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