“The Eagle Has Landed” is a World War II drama, screenplay by Tom Mankiewicz based on the novel by Jack Higgins and Directed by John Sturges.
The
movie of Higgins' bestselling debut book, in my opinion by far the best book he
wrote, unfolds at the height of World War II when a German plot to kidnap Sir
Winston Churchill in 1943 is proposed, at a time when the war is entering its
final stages and Germany is teetering on the brink of defeat.
So
an increasingly unhinged Hitler, orders a mission to have British Prime
Minister Sir Winston Churchill kidnapped and brought to Germany.
The
plan seems ludicrous in the extreme, but Himmler (Donald Pleasence)
tasks Admiral Canaris (Anthony Quayle) and Colonel Radl (Robert Duvall) to put
a plan together just to keep Himler happy, but a message sent from a German spy in the Norfolk countryside
Joanna
Grey (Jean Marsh) makes Radl
believe that such a mission might just succeed.
So Oberst Kurt Steiner (Michael Caine) and his rapidly
dwindling command land in East Anglia posing as Polish Soldiers on manoeuvres.
They
are aided by Irish nationalist Liam Devlin (Donald Sutherland) though not a Nazi sympathiser assists the Germans
after being offered money for the cause, but he is distracted by a local young
girl
Molly (Jenny Agutter) who is fixated on him, and might derail the whole enterprise
before the goal is achieved.
It’s a very enjoyable movie with a good story, strong
characters and an able supporting cast, including Sven-Bertil Taube as
Steiner’s second in command Captain von Neustadt, John Standing as Father
Verecker, Judy Geeson as his sister Pamela, Treat Williams as Captain Clark and
Larry Hagman as Colonel Pitts.
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