This thriller starts conventionally enough as protagonist, Norwegian scientist, Dr. Nils Ahlen leaves his wife Helga and assistant Sven Nystrom to speak at a lecture. He is giving a talk about his new method of storing electricity. When he gets back he finds the place has been ransacked and Helga and Nystrom missing along with the key to his lab. When he goes to the lab he finds key components of his invention are missing; he can only assume that somebody has kidnapped them and forced them to help get the valuable parts. He reports this to the police but is initially unimpressed with Inspector Peterson's handling of the case so sets out to find them on his own. He has one clue that leads him to believe they have been taken into Lapland in an attempt to leave the country. Travelling with the inspector they follow a lead but it becomes difficult when they find the ferry is out of commission; it is at this point that he learns there is no mysterious third party: Helga and Nystrom stole the parts. The next day a blizzard covers the area in snow; to follow they join a party of Lapp reindeer herders for a perilous journey where the environment will provide the greatest danger to them.
This is a very unconventional thriller; it started out typically but it wasn't long before the antagonists were all but forgotten as the protagonists, their Lapp guides and a female school inspector with two children to look after struggled in the frozen wilderness. In many ways it felt more like a western than a thriller as animals provided the only viable transport and they had no modern conveniences to help them. The camera-work in these scenes brilliantly captured the frigid beauty of the place as well as its dangers; the scene where much of the herd stampedes into a snow-filled ravine in particular captured the danger of the area. The eagles that give the film its title were equally impressive as they swoop from their owners' poles onto a pack of wolves. By the end when they finally catch up with Helga and Nystrom it is almost anticlimactic as they'd almost been forgotten about! The cast did a decent job; it may seem a little wooden to modern eyes but was the expected delivery for the time. While this is by no means a classic it is different enough to make it worth watching if it is on television.
This is a very unconventional thriller; it started out typically but it wasn't long before the antagonists were all but forgotten as the protagonists, their Lapp guides and a female school inspector with two children to look after struggled in the frozen wilderness. In many ways it felt more like a western than a thriller as animals provided the only viable transport and they had no modern conveniences to help them. The camera-work in these scenes brilliantly captured the frigid beauty of the place as well as its dangers; the scene where much of the herd stampedes into a snow-filled ravine in particular captured the danger of the area. The eagles that give the film its title were equally impressive as they swoop from their owners' poles onto a pack of wolves. By the end when they finally catch up with Helga and Nystrom it is almost anticlimactic as they'd almost been forgotten about! The cast did a decent job; it may seem a little wooden to modern eyes but was the expected delivery for the time. While this is by no means a classic it is different enough to make it worth watching if it is on television.