The Holcroft Covenant

After reading nothing more than bad reps, I can see why. I find director John Frankenheimer to be a very capable action director, but here he's lost in a sea of murky conspiracies (involving a fourth Reich) and idle performances (Victoria Tennant and Anthony Andrews are unconvincing) in this very lukewarm, but drearily complicated political thriller. The problem mainly was contributed to the confounded screenplay (a Robert Ludlum adaptation), which lacked probability; efficient enough thrills and consisted of one-note characters. For most part it's about globe trotting (some striking international scenery), Michael Caine looking like a fish out of water, meeting up with important figures, those involved reminding each other how much danger they are in and shady scheming being set in motion for this 4.5 billion dollar Nazi fund. Too bad it's not as exciting and gripping, as it might sound. It lumbers along in quite an repetitive manner, even though a committed Frankenheimer tries his best to inject some stylishly, go-for-broke action suspense; when he does (and this few and far between) it shows his great eye for details and precision with the camera (he loved the tilting camera). Nonetheless he can only work what he has and what the source material allows (one or two stirring moments occur). No one really stands out from the cast; but Bernard Hepton has some amusing dialogue exchanges with Caine and Lilly Palmer has a small role. A frustratingly, unsatisfying mystery thriller.

The movie's opening title card read "Berlin 1945" , these opening scenes, set during the end of World War II, were shot in black-and-white, unlike the rest of the movie which was filmed in color ; the black-and-white opener reflected newsreels of the era . The picture is set approximately exactly forty years after the end of the Second World War. It's second after the film's opener read "New York 1985". There , the son named Noel Holcroft (Michael Caine replaced James Caan ; Caan walked off the production the day before filming started) of a German General becomes part of a mysterious conspiracy to gain hidden Nazi funds . As the amount of secret money in Noel Holcroft's inheritance was US $4 billion . Under the terms of the covenant Noel have to locate the sons (Anthony Andrews , Victoria Tennat , Mario Adorf) of his father's two associates so they can jointly activate their fathers' account. As the movie's MacGuffin was a World War II era large heavy metal case, embossed with Nazi insignia, and containing the The Holcroft Covenant . Noel efforts attempting to release the hidden fund that his father humanly set up to relieve the future sufferings of Holocausto survivors .

This exciting picture packs noisy action , confuse intrigue , thrills , plot twists and enjoyable outdoors from London , Zurich, Berlin , N.Y . among others ; being appropriately photographed by Gerry Fisher . Interesting and nail-biting screenplay written by the notorious George Axelrod and Edward Anhalt ; however resulting to be confusing and slow-moving . The film was made and released about seven years after its source novel of the same name by Robert Ludlum had been first published in 1978. This is second ever feature film adaptation of a Robert Ludlum novel and the third Ludlum adaption overall for any filmed production, as Clave: omega had debuted in theaters in 1983 whilst Rhinemann exchange (1977) had been made for television in 1977. The picture was the second of three 1980s features based on Ludlum novels, the decade ended with a tele-movie titled The Bourne Identity . This was one of a number of action-thrillers of the 1980s which featured a neo-Nazi story twist element ; others included Alistair MacLean's Bear Island (1979) and River of death (1989).

The cast is frankly excellent such as Michael Caine as Holcroft , and other heirs as Anthony Andrews playing Jonathan Tennyson and Victoria Tennant as his sister Helden Tennyson . Agreeable as well as experimented support cast such as the veteran as Lilli Palmer as Althene Holcroft , Mario Adorf as Erich Kessler and Bernard Hepton as Commander Leighton . Furthermore , second and final of two movies that actor Richard Münch made with director John Frankenheimer , as the first film had been The Train (1964) . And first of three movies that actor Michael Lonsdale made with director John Frankenheimer , the later films were Ronin (1998) and Riviera (1987).

Holcroft Covenant was middlingly directed by John Frankenheimer . At the beginning he worked for TV and turned to the cinema industry with The Young Stranger (1957) . Disappointed his with first feature film experience he came back to his successful television career directing a total of 152 live television shows in the 50s . He took another opportunity to change to the big screen , collaborating with Burt Lancaster in The Young Savages (1961) and Birdman of Alcatraz (62) ending up becoming a successful director well-known by his skills with actors and expressing on movies his views on important social deeds and philosophical events and film-making some classics as ¨The Manchurian candidate¨, ¨Seven days of May¨ and ¨The Train¨ and , in addition , ¨Grand Prix¨ including great car races . Holcroft covenant rating : Mediocre film and sometime embarrassing .

John Frankenheimer made a lot of great to good movies. This one isn't one. The Holcroft Covenant is a mildly entertaining waster of time. It has interesting people, a plot that has pared down from one of Robert Ludlum's labyrinthine novels, and green European settings.

Yet, it is bland to the point of walking away. Michael Caine is a pair of comfortable shoes, Victoria Tennant is pretty, and the rest of the cast seem earnest enough.

It's an "almost" movie. Kind of like the story Harry Truman liked to tell about the black man in Independence, Missouri who Truman saw drinking a bottle of whiskey on a curb. Truman asked how he got the whiskey, and the man on the curb said from his employer.

Harry asked, "How is it?"

The black man said, "Almost."

"Almost?"

"Yessuh, if it was any worse, I wouldn't drink it, and if it was any better, he wouldn't have given it to me."

That's The Holcroft Covenant.

Almost.

All of the elements for a great thriller are there. An outstanding director, John Frankenheimer, An excellent source author, Robert Ludlum and a great leading man for thrillers, Michael Caine. What went wrong? The biggest problem I had with this film was the cinematography. The film was grainy and the sub-titles were very hard to read when the actors were speaking German. There were plenty of the usual Ludlum plot twists and misdirections, but somehow the feel of this film was not up to the usual standards of Frankenheimer or Caine. A lot of it is just too kinky for most people, but an accurate portrayal of Berlin during the cold war years. It would have faired better had it been released ten years earlier rather than later. It does deserve an E for effort.

The Holcroft Covenant takes its cue from a bestseller by the prolific Robert Ludlum. I've read the book and it's pretty good, with lots of globe trotting adventures and some startling twists and turns. It also takes upwards of 600 pages to tell its complex tale. The film version misses out most of the events from the book, yet tries in vain to remain faithful to the key plot points.... however, any film which tries to tell a 600 page story in less than two hours is doomed before it even begins. There's no surprise that this film is a muddled, intractable, poorly developed misfire. The story involves an inheritance in Nazi money which falls into the hands of several German descendants in the 1980s. The money is supposed to be a sort of compensation payment for the suffering and misery caused by WWII, but some of the inheritors are evil people and intend to use the money for nefarious purposes. Michael Caine plays one of the inheritors, Noel Holcroft (hence the title), and he sets out to ensure that it is used for good causes, but he finds that various others will kill to keep him from getting his hands on his rightful share.

The film is a terrible mess, and it's only too apparent that those involved were in it for the money. Every single performance is lazy. Frankenheimer once made great movies like The Manchurian Cnadidate and The French Connection 2, but here he is guilty of directing a listless hodge-podge that bears no trace of originality or flair. Caine has made too many bad movies, but this ranks amongst the very worst. No questions about it: this is a surefire low point for just about everyone involved.