'Where Eagles Dare' and 'Guns Of Navarone' have proved to be enduring benchmark hokum. Even today, you can't resist a watch. But what both of these Alistair MacLean derived movies have in common is a top-drawer cast, or at least A-list stars in the leading roles.
However, this isn't the only issue upon which 'Puppet On A Chain' fails. Apart from the much-vaunted speedboat chase, low budget seems to be written into every take. Nothing actually stands out in my mind, but I just seem to sense economy. With more money and a MacLean script, all manner of Hollywood heavyweights should have been tempted out to play. And let's face it; in 1971 there was no shortage.
Instead, the starring role was given to someone who was little more than a wooden-faced extra, with a name most ordinary movie buffs are unlikely to ever have heard. And the rest of the cast appear to have been drawn from the same pool. Only Patrick Allen stands out, but he hardly counts as a movie star. There are one or two unexpected little twists like the lynching of the femme-fatale, but otherwise it's a pretty humdrum affair with very limited and stagy action, an unexceptional script, and TV-movie standard acting and directing. There's also some very hokey sequences like the arch-villain leaving the agent to 'die slowly and nastily' and thereby allowing him a chance to escape in the classic style so eloquently spoofed by 'Dr Evil'. At another time, Patrick Allen shoots this same agent, apparently wounding him. But instead of walking over and putting a bullet through his head just to make sure, he busies himself with an electric loading-winch and chain allowing him time to recover. And if that isn't daft enough; he unwinds the chain all the way to the ground(he's on the 4th floor) and then attempts to clamber down it, instead of using its hook-end as a foot platform and letting the electric motor simply lower him effortlessly to the street. It's gaffs like these that leave you feeling seriously short-changed.
Most viewers remember the boat chase, and that is definitely a cinematic high-point. In fact it is so superior in its execution compared to the rest of the movie as to emphasise the other shortcomings. Not surprisingly; a different director handled it. Even so, it could have been a lot better. For example; when one boat crashes heavily into a lock-gate badly damaging the starboard bow, in a later sequence we see the vessel apparently unscathed. And just check-out the crowds of fans gathered along the canal banks and on the bridges. Didn't anybody think to keep them at bay?
However; although this sequence is well worth a watch, the rest simply fails to deliver in any regard, be it suspense, story, directing, lighting, or whatever.
Generally, not recommended.
However, this isn't the only issue upon which 'Puppet On A Chain' fails. Apart from the much-vaunted speedboat chase, low budget seems to be written into every take. Nothing actually stands out in my mind, but I just seem to sense economy. With more money and a MacLean script, all manner of Hollywood heavyweights should have been tempted out to play. And let's face it; in 1971 there was no shortage.
Instead, the starring role was given to someone who was little more than a wooden-faced extra, with a name most ordinary movie buffs are unlikely to ever have heard. And the rest of the cast appear to have been drawn from the same pool. Only Patrick Allen stands out, but he hardly counts as a movie star. There are one or two unexpected little twists like the lynching of the femme-fatale, but otherwise it's a pretty humdrum affair with very limited and stagy action, an unexceptional script, and TV-movie standard acting and directing. There's also some very hokey sequences like the arch-villain leaving the agent to 'die slowly and nastily' and thereby allowing him a chance to escape in the classic style so eloquently spoofed by 'Dr Evil'. At another time, Patrick Allen shoots this same agent, apparently wounding him. But instead of walking over and putting a bullet through his head just to make sure, he busies himself with an electric loading-winch and chain allowing him time to recover. And if that isn't daft enough; he unwinds the chain all the way to the ground(he's on the 4th floor) and then attempts to clamber down it, instead of using its hook-end as a foot platform and letting the electric motor simply lower him effortlessly to the street. It's gaffs like these that leave you feeling seriously short-changed.
Most viewers remember the boat chase, and that is definitely a cinematic high-point. In fact it is so superior in its execution compared to the rest of the movie as to emphasise the other shortcomings. Not surprisingly; a different director handled it. Even so, it could have been a lot better. For example; when one boat crashes heavily into a lock-gate badly damaging the starboard bow, in a later sequence we see the vessel apparently unscathed. And just check-out the crowds of fans gathered along the canal banks and on the bridges. Didn't anybody think to keep them at bay?
However; although this sequence is well worth a watch, the rest simply fails to deliver in any regard, be it suspense, story, directing, lighting, or whatever.
Generally, not recommended.