A Casa dos Sete Gaviões

This movie has twists, in fact the twists have twists, which meant that occassionally I lost the thread a little. But this movie has merit, it is very well characterised throughout and has fascinating Dutch locations.

I wasn't expecting anything when I came across this film late one night, but it hooked me from the get-go and I thoroughly enjoyed discovering a new movie that I thought had wit, suspense and intrigue aplenty.

As other positive reviews have noted, it's not a cinematic masterpiece, just a well-written little bit of mystery and adventure-- with quite a good performance from Robert Taylor in a kind of Bogart-esque role as a boat captain based in England whose vessel is chartered by a mysterious man. Before long, our man Nordley (Taylor) has to deal with corpses and plot twists galore, taking him to Holland, where a lot of the film takes place.

The supporting cast includes two beautiful European ladies, Nicole Maurey and Linda Christian, and a fine group of character actors (Donald Wolfit, Eric Pohlmann, David Kossoff, and others).

I really enjoy films like this, set and filmed in European countries, in the 1950s and '60s, that have to do with the still fairly recent World War.

The plot will keep you guessing, and there's drama and a surprising amount of comedy to keep the film entertaining during its roughly 90 minute running time. Richard Thorpe was one of MGM's reliable directors, who had directed Taylor before, and the star seems very comfortable in his role.

I don't know if you'll enjoy it, but I did.

"The House of Seven Hawks" would have been much better had it been produced by Robert Taylor's old employer, MGM.

Instead, the film turned out to be quite a disappointment for Taylor, a man who had been a major star for two decades. I will say this; the opening is quite intriguing. Taylor's character agrees to transport a man from England to the Continent by boat, and does so. After arrival, however, he soon discovers that this simple business deal is quite a bit more complicated than what he expected.

Sadly, the film does not take advantage of this clever opening. From that point on, it is rather routine.

As others have suggested, this ends up being a rather lackluster B effort not close to the level of the films Taylor made for MGM. In that regard, this movie is similar to the 1959 efforts of Alan Ladd, a man whose great success in the 1940s and early 1950s was followed by some very mediocre productions. (In Ladd's case, the actor himself was largely to blame due to very poor judgment regarding choice of film projects.)

My admiration for Robert Taylor has grown over time. He was a better actor than many gave him credit for. (I recommend his performances in "Bataan" and "Johnny Eager.") Sadly, this particular movie, though watchable, did nothing to enhance his reputation.

An entertaining movie, not great, but OK. At one point, I felt like the screenplay was written with a cast of Humphrey Bogart, Sidney Greenstreet, and Peter Lorre in mind, but instead, they got Robert Taylor, Eric Pohlmann, and David Kossoff. That point was when the characters Rohner and Dekker were explaining the situation to Nordley. It reminded me of The Maltese Falcon hotel room scene where Greenstreet likes "talking to a man who likes to talk".

A somewhat muddled affair , but its numerous sudden new developments , and the filming on location in the Netherlands make up for it .Aging Robert Taylor had still plenty of go ,and the lines ,sometimes tongue in chick ,doesn't lack in humor : his passenger's famous last words for instance ! The rapport he has with his pal (or is he ?) Charlie is much fun to watch ;the line about the revolver on the boat is irresistible .Towards the end ,with the appearance of the old couple,who lived through WW2 (like the principal) ,the screenplay displays a more human side , when they talk about the wounded soldiers ; the clock is a good trick and justifies the title (one expects the action to take place in this strange place whereas it only appears in the last fifteen minutes )

French Nicole Maurey never became a big star in her native land ;her comings and goings between Paris and Hollywood may explain it.