Aside from that, there wasn’t much inspired about Bear Island, throwing in fist fights and grappling as if it had been sponsored by some wrestling group, and when that palled, adding explosions, swiftly becoming the ideal way of waking up a dozing audience who had been lulled into a soothing state of mind by the lack of any real drama in what was happening. Despite a better cast than most Alistair MacLean adaptations and an interesting Arctic story about Cold War struggles to dominate the globe by weather control, this fast becomes a dodo with such elements as a former U-Boat base, most of the cast's suspiciously Nazi pasts, and an array of Teutonic accents clearly destined to play a large part in the story.

Not sure why I wouldn’t have seen this when it was first released…it’s just the type of movie I would’ve checked out that year, when I started going to the walking-distance multiplex regularly and catching at least a movie a week. The crew's doctor, Marlowe, finds himself enmeshed in a violent, multi-layered plot in which very few of the persons aboard are whom they claim to be.The 'Morning Rose' is carrying a multinational expedition of United Nations scientists to the remote Bear Island to study " climate change". Lansing takes Lindquist to the U-boat where they find crates marked as containing explosives, but on opening one they discover it is full of gold. This movie was intended as the first in a series of Alistair MacLean adaptations, which would have included "El Dorado", "Athabasca", "Night Without End", and "The Way to Dusty Death". The film went a million dollars over budget, which Sharp says was the first time it had happened in his career.

Widmark too, as the German leader of the excursion, spoke in an obviously fake cadence that jarred every time he opened his mouth, and Christopher Lee was there demonstrating his Russian accent as heard when he played Rasputin a decade and a half ago, though you had to assume that was at least authentic-sounding. I don't think you can make films about film units," he later said adding "I think possibly we tried to put too much meaning and too much cast into an action adventure story. In 2020 HarperCollins Publishers decided to reprint MacLean with fine new covers and a uniform look. Later, Lansing finds an underwater entrance to the U-boat base, where he finds his father's submarine with his remains still inside it. Except for Cannon’s little-seen RIVER OF DEATH, released to a handful of theaters in 1989, BEAR ISLAND was the last adaptation of an Alistair MacLean novel to play on the big screen.I think if we cut some of the character interaction and just played it for speed and thrills it might have made more money. Vote up content that is on-topic, within the rules/guidelines, and will likely stay relevant long-term. My sister got into this film years ago as its one she would always sit down with our grandparents to watch and about the only "oldie" she would actually sit still during.

It doesn't take us long to discover that on board one of the abandoned U-boats is a the stuff to give "Goldfinger' a wet dream - and someone amongst them is determined to secure it. American biologist Frank Lansing joins the boat, where he is reunited with his friend Smithy and former colleague Rubin . A UN expedition of scientists from different countries come to barren arctic Bear Island, between Svalbard and northern Norway, to study climate change. That’s because his arrival by abseiling from a helicopter is very nearly a swift exit, but Lloyd Bridges as adventurer Smithy rescues him before real disaster can strike. I still have a copy of an article that appeared on Lee in our weekly TV Guide that came with the newspaper in my hometown.This censorship severely interferes with the plot, as it is crucial to the novel to understand the motives of captain Lansing.