In some ways, I think the rather cold reception "Bear Island" had when it debuted was because author Alistair MacLean set the bar so high with previous film adaptations of his novels. This is the same guy who brought us "The Guns of Navarone", "The Satan Bug" and "Where Eagles Dare"...so I really think people expected a bit too much from "Bear Island". After all, it's a pretty good film but not nearly in the same class as these other movies.
The story is set, naturally, on Bear Island...a speck of land about midway between the top of Norway and Svalbard in the upper Arctic Circle. To say it's remote is a definite understatement. On this actual island are some fictitious features...such as a NATO base, an international research station and an old bombed out Nazi U-boat base.
The research station is the setting for most of the film. Among the multinational cast are some folks who aren't particularly nice. It seems that in the old Nazi base was a shipment of Nazi gold...and these niceness impaired folks want the gold...even if it means killing everyone else there. Lansing (Donald Sutherland) is intent on unraveling the conspiracy.
The cast is generally very good...with some nice veteran actors like Sutherland, Lloyd Bridges, Vanessa Redgrave, Christopher Lee and Richard Widmark. Most are welcome though I think Widmark was horribly cast, as he was supposed to be a German but sounded, well, like he was trying in vain to effect some sort of Nordic accent...maybe.
So is the film good? Well, it's decent...with some nice action and an engaging, albeit farfetched story. Worth seeing...if only to get a load of Widmark's accent!
The story is set, naturally, on Bear Island...a speck of land about midway between the top of Norway and Svalbard in the upper Arctic Circle. To say it's remote is a definite understatement. On this actual island are some fictitious features...such as a NATO base, an international research station and an old bombed out Nazi U-boat base.
The research station is the setting for most of the film. Among the multinational cast are some folks who aren't particularly nice. It seems that in the old Nazi base was a shipment of Nazi gold...and these niceness impaired folks want the gold...even if it means killing everyone else there. Lansing (Donald Sutherland) is intent on unraveling the conspiracy.
The cast is generally very good...with some nice veteran actors like Sutherland, Lloyd Bridges, Vanessa Redgrave, Christopher Lee and Richard Widmark. Most are welcome though I think Widmark was horribly cast, as he was supposed to be a German but sounded, well, like he was trying in vain to effect some sort of Nordic accent...maybe.
So is the film good? Well, it's decent...with some nice action and an engaging, albeit farfetched story. Worth seeing...if only to get a load of Widmark's accent!