Wölfe in der Nacht

When Dr Nils Ahlen develops a device that can capture and utilise the energy of sound he naturally becomes the target of the government, be it in the energy field or weapons development. Having convinced his employers of his discovery, Ahlen returns to his home to get his full files only to find that his wife and his partner have gone missing – along with information vital to the development of the technology. With the help of the local police (Inspector Peterson), Ahlen sets out after the two to prevent them getting the information into the hands of the Russians.

In the opening ten minutes of this film things look good – the tone is dark, the wartime plot looks like it will produce a slick and exciting conspiracy/chase thriller and I must admit I settled down for a good "romp". However, not long into the chase the film decides to dump all this silly stuff and becomes some sort of wilderness adventure instead. At this point I tried to stay with the film but it became too stodgy and uninteresting for its own good and the melodrama of the whole affair failed to engage me. The script is pretty talky and, without character development, it didn't keep me with it; instead it throws in wolves and vultures and elements of "savage" life but not in such a way that is fun or entertaining in any sense of the word.

The cast can't do much with it and they come off pretty clunky and wooden. McCallum and Warner have the hardest jobs as they try to lead the film but, from their performances I can only assume that they were as unconvinced and as bored by the whole thing as I was. Dawson and Wood have potentially interesting characters and Wood does have some good scenes but the film doesn't help her by developing those around her to support her emotions within her marriage. The direction is OK but the stock footage is far too obvious and obtrusive.

Overall this starts out well but then becomes a plodding adventure story in the snowy wilderness; near the end it tries to look at the emotions of Ahlen's marriage briefly but it doesn't spend the time on it that that thread deserved. The end result showed potential but the majority of it is boring and flat and produced a film that is watchable at points but mostly not really worth a look.

VALLEY OF EAGLES starts off as a typical and oh-so-British spy thriller, with a scientist inventing a new type of machine that will serve mankind. Before long his secrets are stolen after he's betrayed by his own wife and assistant, so he must give chase. Where the film differs from the ordinary thriller template is that the action shifts to the snowbound locales of Sweden and an outdoor adventure follows.

Be warned: if you're an animal lover, you'll probably hate this film. Adventures undertaken by the central characters include encounters with reindeer, wolves, and eagles, and plenty of the poor beasts are executed or killed by the time the credits roll. However, the stark black and white photography is a nice match for the icy backdrop, and the film looks great at least. There's even some not-bad avalanche footage achieved on what is obviously a low budget. Watch out for Christopher Lee's cameo as a detective.

This is a hugely enjoyable and surprising film. It starts out as a standard post-war spy thing with a Swedish scientist (John McCallum) inventing some thingy that turns sound to light (or whatever). It's stolen by his wife and his best friend. He ends up with the police where a copper (Jack Warner) doesn't seem terribly interested or efficient. But after a few false starts, they learn the pair of thieves is on the run with the gizmo to Finland where they plan to sell it to the Russians. McCallum and Warner take chase. And this is when the film takes off as well. The culprits have chosen to take a northern route across the frozen north, so the good guys join up with a group of reindeer herders since there are no roads. The herders will guide them across the frozen expanse of Lapland. Among the herders is the fetching Nadia Gay.

The trek is difficult. The reindeer are contrary. And they're being followed by a pack of wolves. from this point on there's one surprise after another until they get to the valley of the eagles. The ending is a tad abrupt, but it's a hell of an adventure.

The Cold War was seldom chillier than this travelogue set in Lapland that begins with wintry location work in Stockholm (were we encounter Isak Borg's mother, Naima Wifstrund, and Gösta Cederlund, who had recently featured in Bergman's own Cold War drama, 'This Can't Happen Here'), before hero John McCallum and copper Jack Warner set off it hot pursuit of the film's 'MacGuffin': rectifiers & condensers for a device for converting sound waves into enough energy to light an entire city or (if the Baddies get their way) level them.

But this is just a pretext for a chase thriller framed around footage of reindeer, wolves and an avalanche with the Swedish actors dubbed into English and most of the rest shot back at Pinewood (which is presumably where the scenes featuring Christopher Lee & Euan Solon as a grim-faced pair of detectives were shot). Director Terence Young was reunited a few years later with villain Anthony Dawson on 'Dr No'.

A below par British action thriller. I use both words in their broadest terms as what is supposed to be a chase across the Finish mountains turns into a nature film on the lives of the Laplanders for a large length of the film.

The lead characters deliver their lines so woodenly that if you closed your eyes they could be reading out loud from a drawing room in Hampstead Heath, so any attempt at pace is lost, not that there was much of an attempt in the first place.

If anything you have to sympathise with one of the villains, on the grounds that they want to 'get away from it all'.

Only worth while if it is on TV on a wet afternoon, when it is marginally better than watching rain hitting the window.