When Eight Bells Toll (1971)

Alistair MacLean is one of those curious authors, much like Stephen King, who is incredibly popular as a writer but whose films tend to be great disappointments for their loyal readers.

I remember as a kid reading all of MacLean's books and enjoying them immensely up until his novels of the 70s changed from action thrillers to a band of guys spending more time talking (and drinking) than actually doing anything.

When Eight Bells Toll is a typical MacLean novel and was turned into a typical MacLean film. What the films could never capture was MacLean's 'boys own adventure style of writing that was exciting and tense and humurous. When Eight Bells Toll, the book, starts with the hero Calvert (Anthony Hopkins) confronted by a man with a gun in a dark room. We get a brief history of the Colt 45, as a reflection of the nervous ramblings of a man who may be about to be shot.

The film starts in exactly the same way, but without the ramblings its a somewhat flat scene, with no real tension. And that basically sums up the rest of the film. Robert Morley as Uncle Arthur, Calverts boss, tries to lighten the mood, Jack Hawkins appears as the millionaire Skouras and Corin Redgrave (to me the least known of the Redgrave clan, but imdb.com shows he's been steadily employed for a long time) plays Calvert's assistant Hunslett.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067976/

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