Il ritorno delle aquile

In some ways, this film is reminiscent of "North By Northwest" because it, too, is about an ordinary guy who is tossed into the middle of some sort of dangerous intrigue and he has no real idea who to trust or even what's going on during most of the film. I am NOT saying that the quality of this film even approaches the quality of the older Hitchcock film...just noting the parallel.

When the film begins, there is a black and white prologue which is shocking to watch. Three Nazis are making some sort of a pack...after which the leader of the three kills the other two and then himself!! What IS this all about anyway? It was a wonderful way to pull in the viewer.

Next, the film jumps to the 1980s. Some schmuck, Noel Holcroft (Michael Caine) is doing what any good 'ol American is doing-- working and enjoying life. However, he's soon approached by some weird folks who tell him a weird tale about Noel's Nazi father. It seems he and two other Nazis were disenchanted by the party and felt horrible about the war crimes. So, they siphoned off a few billion so that years later it could be used to pay for the damage done by the Nazis. It seems that Noel is now the executor of this agreement and the letter he's given indicates that he needs to find the sons of the other two dead men from the beginning of the movie in order to get to these funds which are locked in a Swiss bank account. But he needs to find them...and folks suddenly start dying all around them...and it seems highly unlikely Noel will live very long-- especially since he has no idea who to trust. He also has no idea if this convoluted story is even true.

Because the story is MEANT to be confusing, I cannot fault the film for leaving me baffled repeatedly. What I can fault the movie for is having Noel behave so strangely. You would think if you were told this weird tale and folks started dying all around you that you'd go to the police or FBI or the local embassy. Yet, inexplicably, Noel gets pulled deeper and deeper in and even kills someone...even though he's not 100% sure if he's killing the right person! His weird acceptance of what folks tell him is mighty strange and is a shortcoming in the plot though late in the film he FINALLY starts to think. Additionally, I was totally confused by the casting of Michael Caine. After all, he was supposedly born in Germany but came to America as a young child and yet speaks like a Brit! And finally, in 1984 we are to buy into the idea of a new Fourth Reich!! This is a bit preposterous to say the least.

So it sounds like I didn't love the film...and that certainly is the case. But did I like any of it or would I recommend you see it? Not really...but I didn't hate it either. I clearly see this as one of the great director John Frankenheimer's biggest disappointments and could say the same for Robert Ludlum since it's his story. Also while I love Michael Caine, he was wrong for this film. Watchable but nothing more...and you definitely would have expected more from this film.

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 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 .

I have not read the novel(though I'd like to, as well as other books by Ludlum), so I cannot draw comparisons, but I do understand that this adaptation does not stick that closely to the source material. And this continues my running tradition of me getting the lesser of the films that Frankenheimer directed. Seriously, Ronin, Reindeer Games, and now this... on the plus side, Ambush was awesome, and Path to War was excellent. This one is fine, not great. Editing and cinematography are reasonable, and this does have a couple of sophisticated moments. The plot is interesting enough. This is well-paced, and there are exciting and tense scenes. The music helps to ensure that the mood is established, and it arguably tries too hard at times, revealing itself to be manipulative. Caine is impeccable, as usual, and the acting in general is quite good. The dialog holds numerous well-delivered lines that are marvelous, memorable and worth quoting. There is moderate to strong language in this, a little disturbing content and some mild violence. I recommend this to the biggest fans of John and Michael. 6/10

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.