When Eight Bells Toll

On the one hand it wanted to be as Bond-like as possible, while on the other hand it wanted to be different from those films... And the result is a pleasant compromise. The quality of the book and the fact that MacLean wrote the screenplay himself is evident in the honest spectacle, as no scene (and almost no sentence) is wasted, almost everything plays a role in the subsequent minutes. The viewer does not get bored, the protagonist played by the excellent Anthony Hopkins entertains with his peculiarly dry humor, and it all flows by nicely. What bothered me, however, was the music by Walter Stott (who became Angela Morley two years later, but that doesn't belong here), which simply ripped off John Barry's Bond films, it did so badly and unimaginatively, and it was boisterously played even in scenes where it didn't fit at all (it was especially annoying during the boat fight and the graveyard brawl). Otherwise, pretty good work. I think I liked the part with the helicopter the most. It's quite a shame that the "liquidator" Agent Calvert never returned. (04/09/2013)