"There was nothing more to be done here now.
I'd sent two men to their deaths and that couldn't be undone."
Alistair MacLean - When Eight Bells Toll
British
naval officer Philip Calvert (Anthony Hopkins) has been attached to a
mission to locate the criminals behind a spate of gold-bullion ship
disappearances in the seas off the rugged West Scottish coast.
After his two spies put aboard the next shipment,
Nantesville,
are
found dead after reporting the hijacking, and Calvert himself only just escapes with his life, he is
recalled to London, but chooses to stay, believing that the sleepy town
of Torbay might hold the key, where everyone from the police officials
to the visiting Sir Anthony Skouras (Jack Hawkins) seem to have
something to hide...
Scripted
by Alistair MacLean himself, from his gripping 1966 novel, the film
remains very
close to the book throughout, both in story and atmosphere. Accordingly
we get a tight paced, well plotted and often very grim
adventure film, which like most of MacLean's work, emphasises the
gritty reality rather than the Hollywood glamour of espionage, hence
the remote and windswept Scottish settings and the frequent failure and
bloody consequences of Calvert's plans. Fortunately MacLean
realises the changes necessary to adapt a book to the screen, and trims
enough parts of the story to keep the film comprehensible without
forcing unnecessary exposition. A
couple of new sequences are included into the plot, including an
effective flashback near the start, and a rather
gratuitous hint of sex and romance. The tension between Calvert and
Uncle Arthur over the secret agent's dislike of the upper classes, is
emphasised more than in the book, and provides a light vein of humour
that balances well with the otherwise quite grim tone. Importantly
the film is very well paced
throughout, building up to an explosive and exciting climax, with a
couple of twists towards the end that will certainly catch fans of the
book by surprise.
Little
known Belgian director Etienne Périer does some solid work here, making
good use of the dramatic Scottish scenery, and shooting the action
scenes very well. Fortunately, unlike many films of the era, optical
effects work is all but absent, and the limited special effects shots
all look very good - with an explosive sequence part way though,
gaining massively from use of full size vehicles instead of models.
There is a suitably dramatic orchestral soundtrack
from
Watership Down (1978) composer Angela Morely (then known as Walter Stott) with a distinctive main theme.
