Rating: PG-13
Length: 134 minutes

Widescreen 2.35:1 Color (Anamorphic)

ENGLISH: Dolby Digital 2.0

English

Hitler has come up with the ridiculous idea to kidnap Winston Churchill. While doing the feasibility study, circumstances align themselves in such a way that it looks like this plot could actually be successfully carried out. This is a fictional account based on the novel by Jack Higgins (a novel that I happened to have read almost 30 years ago and since it has been so long, I'm in no position to remember if this movies strays from the book in any minor ways).

First off look no further than the quality of the cast; Caine, Duvall, Pleasence & Sutherland. The story is well developed story and incorporates everything from suspense, politics, betrayal, a little side romance and humor.

The picture and sound quality. Sometimes the picture is clear, other times it's not. I do hope the the powers to be will release a remastered special edition of the dvd soon. Five of the six major actors in this film are still alive and could provide a very entertaining commentary track or documentary/featurette (Donald Pleasence passed away in 1995; Caine, Duvall, Sutherland, Agutter and Marsh are all still alive at the time of this writing as is the author Jack Higgins).

• Cast and Crew Information
• Winston Churchill Biography

I do not understand why this movie is not recognized more than it is but here are my theories:

1. The German soldiers are shown as regular people fighting for their country as opposed to racist Nazis running around foaming at the mouth. I guess people would rather see the latter even though that was not the norm.
2. The American Commander (Hagman) is pretty much portrayed as an idiot as opposed to someone like Patton. After spending twenty years in the military myself, I recognize the fact that this is completely feasible.
3. No large battle scenes; everyone loves large bloody battles. Ok, guys like large bloody battle scenes.
4. Since the person the German's are going after is Winston Churchill, we all know he was not kidnapped in WWII. I do like how this movie ended and won't give that away, but I guess there wasn't any real suspense even though this is a work of fiction.

John Sturges   [The Great Escape, Ice Station Zebra, Joe Kidd, The Magnificent Seven, Never So Few]

Jenny Agutter - Molly Prior

[An American Werewolf in London, Child's Play 2, Logan's Run]

Michael Byrne - Karl

[Battlefield Earth, Force 10 from Navarone, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, The Mists of Avalon, The Musketeer, The Saint]

Michael Caine - Col. Kurt Steiner

[A Bridge Too Far, Batman Begins, Battle of Britain, The Dark Knight, Dressed to Kill, The Prestige, The Quiet American, Secondhand Lions, Zulu]

Robert Duvall - Col. Max Radl

[Apocalypse Now, Bullitt, Days of Thunder, Deep Impact, The Godfather I/II, Gods and Generals, Gone in 60 Seconds, Joe Kidd, MASH, Network, Open Range, Phenomenon, Secondhand Lions, Slingblade, To Kill a Mockingbird, True Grit]

Judy Geeson - Pamela

Larry Hagman - Col. Pitts

[Primary Colors]

Alexei Jawdokimov - Corpral Kuniski

Jean Marsh - Joanna Grey

[The Changeling, Willow]

Donald Pleasence - Heinrich Himmler

[Escape From New York, The Great Escape, Halloween I/II/IV/V, THX 1138, You Only Live Twice]

Anthony Quayle - Adm. Canaris

[The Fall of the Roman Empire, The Guns of Navarone, Lawrence of Arabia]

John Standing - Father Verecker

[The Elephant Man, V For Vendetta]

Donald Sutherland - Liam Devlin

[Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Dirty Dozen, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Italian Job (2003), Kelly's Heroes, MASH, Panic, The Puppet Masters, Space Cowboys, Virus]

Sven-Bertil Taube - Capt. von Neustadt

Treat Williams - Capt. Clark

[1941, Mulholland Falls, Once Upon a Time in America, Venomous]