Director: John Frankenheimer
Starring: Michael Caine, Victoria Tennant, Anthony Andrews, Lilli Palmer, Michael Lonsdale
Running Time: 112 minutes
Synopsis: 40 years after the end of World War Two, American architect Noel Holcroft (Michael Caine) receives shocking news from Swiss lawyer Manfredi (Michael Lonsdale). Holcroft's birth father General Heinrich Clausen, a remorseful high-ranking Nazi commander, left Noel a $4.5 billion fund to administer for good causes. Noel has to find two other Nazi offspring to co-sign the covenant, but evil forces are already at work to seize the fortune and use it for a nefarious plot.
What Works Well: This adaptation of Robert Ludlum's book enjoys an intriguing initial set-up, placing a world-influencing sum of money tantalizingly within reach of an ordinary architect for the purpose of redressing Nazi horrors. The globe trotting across major cities (New York, London, Berlin, Geneva) adds breathless glitz to the sense of danger, and the cinemaphotography rides a wave of Dutch angles.
What Does Not Work As Well: A confusing muddle of chases, assassinations, kidnappings, and undefined shadowy figures erode the plot's credibility. The unsophisticated script lacks coherence, and drags in too many characters including Noel's mother (Lilli Palmer), another son of a Nazi General and his sister (Anthony Edwards and Victoria Tennant), a wheelchair-bound anti-Nazi, an MI5 operative, and countless faceless hitmen. Director John Frankenheimer leaves motivations and explanations hidden for far too long, and the decent ending cannot rescue the fragmented mess.
Key Quote:
Manfredi: The world is full of lunatics shooting each other in the streets.
All Ace Black Movie Blog reviews are here.
No comments:
Post a Comment
We welcome reader comments about this post.