Films from Alistair MacLean Novels

[Phillyrich]

When I was a boy I loved the 1960's fantasy-history WWII films "The Guns of Navarone" and "Where Eagles Dare," taken from the novels of Alaistair MacLean. I watched them again recently. Enjoyed Greg Peck, David Niven and Anthony Quinn in "Guns." It was neat to see young Clint Eastwood with Richard Burton in "Eagles."

The special effects are still pretty good and the stories really involve you-- more than today, where the effects seem to trump most stories. True the films were slowly paced and a bit overlong, but never do they insult one's intelligence.

"Ice Station Zebra" didn't fare so well, with the wooden acting of Jimmy Brown, and submarine captain Rock Hudson giving a whole new meaning to the term: "...up periscope." The script wasn't so hot either, nor was the cardboard and plastic indoor North Pole that looked terrible next to the great submarine shots.

I wonder how others rank these films. Were there any other films from MacLean's novels?

[silentfilm]

Alistair McLean's IMDB Credits

Breakheart Pass is pretty good, but I've never seen Bear Island. There are some British TV adaptions. Guns of Navarone is my favorite, and the new BluRay looks incredible, especially when you see how faded the original negative was in one of the extra features.

[s.w.a.c.]

Fear Is the Key is a generally well-regarded '70s thriller. I got a cheap Region 2 DVD of it from Amazon.co.uk, not sure if it's ever been released in North America.

[Rick Lanham]

Fear Is the Key is a generally well-regarded '70s thriller. I got a cheap Region 2 DVD of it from Amazon.co.uk, not sure if it's ever been released in North America.

Amazon (US) lists it as being available for streaming; for $9.99; which seems high to me.

I guess that it's not Alistair MacLean, but I remember THE SATAN BUG as being pretty good, and similar to his work. It's available. Edit: wikipedia says it's loosely adapted from a MacLean novel.

Rick