WHEN EIGHT BELLS TOLL is one of the lesser-known Alistair Maclean novel adaptations out there, and that's purely because it looks and feels rather insignificant when compared to the real classics of the genre like WHERE EAGLES DARE or THE GUNS OF NAVARONE. A cast-against-type Anthony Hopkins plays a gruff special agent on the track of a criminal mastermind who's been bumping off British agents, and the setting is a watery one with lots of diving and action on and beneath the waves. It's lively stuff and provides a neat contrast to Bond by emphasising realism over style. Hopkins is good value but his thunder is stolen a little by a pitch-perfect Robert Morley who is a hoot as the comedy relief.
Review of When Eight Bells Toll
