Bäreninsel in der Hölle der Arktis

I've been a movie geek since my childhood in the early 80's. This is one of the titles that for some reason stuck in my mind, even tho I never saw it because I was too young. Now was the first time I caught it on TV (scandinavian TCM). I'm surprised to see it's only available as a Spanish DVD and has an such a low score on IMDb (5.4/10).

I must say it's one of the better films I've seen this year, although I'm easy to please when it comes to certain types of film and this really is one of them. The locations and set design are amazing. This kind of isolation, feel of cold bleak winter, snow storms are very rarely portrayed so well, it's up there with Carpenter's The Thing. Grab a warm cup of coffee on a rainy day or a whiskey on a darkening evening while watching this.

I saw this without subtitling and had a bit of a trouble keeping up with the plot, even tho I'm pretty fluent in English. There are characters from USA, Germany, Denmark, Poland etc and a lot of exaggerated accents. It also doesn't make it much easier to follow the plot when the actors have similar clothing and are covered all the way, so you can't see their faces when outdoors.

I'm not much into action, but the scenes here worked. They are quite few, but longish and build slowly. There is some noticeable trick cinematography and jump cuts, but they're easily forgiven.

It's a fun detail that the expedition to Bear Island is initially about investigating the global warming. Judging by the original book synopsis, this wasn't the case on Maclean's book, but added to the movie. The movie is already over 30 years old so it's a nice eye opener for those who think global warming is something Al Gore invented.

It's far from perfect movie (from a relatively unknown Hammer horror director!), but the arctic scenery, some enjoyable performances (Sutherland) make up for it. Catch it if you can (TCM shows the widescreen version). It's a true nostalgia trip to a movie land that doesn't seem to exist anymore.

I had heard that Bear Island was not a good movie at all, but I wanted to see it anyway because I like the cast a lot. When I eventually saw it, I didn't find it great, but it was much better than I expected.

Pros: Lovely photography and great sets and locations. Atmospheric score by Richard Farnon. Great performances from Richard Widmark and Christopher Lee, Vanessa Redgrave has her moments but has an inconsistent accent. Sharp and well paced direction.

Cons: As much as I love Donald Sutherland, he does look bored and stiff here. The dialogue is uneven, having moments when it is decent but some of it is really quite bad. The story has great idea and starts and ends well, but the film is rather sluggish with some of the middle section feeling like filler.

All in all, not great, not awful, just somewhere in between. 6/10 Bethany Cox

I read the book and saw the movie. I enjoyed both. Donald Sutherland was excellent. This is a suspense thriller and so it goes slower than a typical action flick. If you expect this to be an action flick you will be disappointed. There are a few surprises which is typical of the writer's style.

If you want an action movie MacLean is not for you as he is the Master of Suspense and writes in a way to keep you on the edge of your seat wondering what is going on. If you see this from the middle, you will be bored, you must see it from the start and watch with full attention. If you miss any of the plot, you will get confused frustrated and wonder why you're watching the movie.

When you watch this, don't do anything else except watch it and I assure you that you will applaud this movie along with others like unto it like Where Eagles Dare, Guns of Navarone, Force 10 from Navarone, Ice Station Zebra, Detonator I and Detonator II, Satan Bug and a few more. The only one that dragged for me was Puppet on a Chain but I saw it chopped up on network TV so I need to see it again unchopped, unedited and not edited for television.

The similar theme music, Arctic setting, Norwegians and group alone left wondering who the antagonist is. This is a neat little film I found cross referencing Donald Sutherland films I haven't seen before. The Nazi U boat subplot is also great for its atmosphere. Another bonus is that it offers a pretty good line up of old school actors such as Richard Widmark, Loyd Bridges and Christopher Lee. There aren't many great films about the Arctic but this is one that you will enjoy.

Film with good scenes from Alaska and good actors. He holds attention until the end of the film