646f9e108c American Neil Bowman is traveling through France when he meets British photographer Lila. They are hired by French land owner Duc de Croyter to escort a Hungarian scientist to New York. But they soon realize that the job is not a cushy number, and have to deal with a gang of kidnappers who will stop at nothing to get their hands on the scientist. It&#39;s a shame that such a lame plot should be hung on such picturesque locations, with some documentary style reportage shoved in for extra length. A shorter film may have held the tension a little more, and a more charismatic lead may not have mangled his lines so much. The female lead also, was not allowed to do enough resulting in a pretty but boring affair. It builds towards the end but the lead actor&#39;s own redemption is too little too late and should have been revealed earlier in the film. Not awful, just a pity. Unexciting but nice enough to grace TV schedules of the early hours. So I was 8 or 9 years old when this was released and even younger when I spent three weeks on-set with my parents and siblings. On-set because my dad was a film lighting technician workingpart of the production team. I&#39;m now 52, and watching it again brings back some vivid memories of those days, for example my brother and I taking turns steering an 8-tonne generator lorry around the marshes (sitting on the drivers knee in my case), or staying up late in our rented villa near Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer listening to the tales and jokes of the film crew and sitting on benches enjoying the food provided by the mobile catering (not to mention the end of production feast - where I even tasted and liked frogs legs).<br/><br/>Several of the scenes in the film I remember vividly, for example the VW beetle driving through the burning cabin, waiting in a building outside the bull-ring in Arles (it was a real bull-fight, so rightly I wasn&#39;t allowed in) and especially the circus bull-ring at the end where I was sat with my brother and sister on the fence watchingthey were filming.<br/><br/>To the film itself, I&#39;d agree it&#39;s not the best Alistair Maclean film, the action stilted, the dialog disjointed and the story has gaps (no worse than a tacky Roger Moore Bond film). But, for when it was made, the camerawork is simply excellent and the acting was by and large ok for a 70&#39;s film (I have seen much worse). I also like the fact that it&#39;s unashamedly bilingual with both French and English dialogue.<br/><br/>So all in all, I think this is an underrated film for the reasons I mention and for me personally, is forever part of my life. Unfortunately this site doesn&#39;t allow you to post photos or else I&#39;d post some production photosmy dad took his camera on many of his jobs.
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370 weeks ago