Roger Ebert amongst others expressed their disappointment at THE BLACK WINDMILL on its release . Much of this disappointment is down to the director being Don Siegel who directed many famous thrillers including INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS , DIRTY HARRY and CHARLEY VARRICK . He is a director well suited to high concept American thrillers but there's something so very stiff upper lip and British about the mis-en- scene of THE BLACK WINDMILL . Someone's son gets kidnapped and his parents discuss it like one of their goldfish has died . You'd think such things as guilt and recriminations would feature heavily but apparently Brits are even less emotional than the pod people in INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS
There's also a few very , very large plot holes throughout the movie one of the largest of which takes place in the opening sequence . Two young boys go to an airfield to fly their model plane . How earth did the villains know that the children would be appearing at that location ? Probably because if they didn't the film would have started in a completely different way or may not have started at all . When you've got a big name director it's interesting how many people pay no attention to the narrative
There's also a few very , very large plot holes throughout the movie one of the largest of which takes place in the opening sequence . Two young boys go to an airfield to fly their model plane . How earth did the villains know that the children would be appearing at that location ? Probably because if they didn't the film would have started in a completely different way or may not have started at all . When you've got a big name director it's interesting how many people pay no attention to the narrative