User Reviews

My friend Dave Sindelar, who has viewed and reviewed something like 2,300 fantasy and science fiction films by this point, calls this kind of movie a "Gizmo McGuffin". That is, the plot device is an invention that sets the events in motion, and then is hardly ever seen again, except as an excuse to move onto the next bit.

The "gizmo", in this case, is a "barium record" which can convert converted/recorded sounds into electricity, but once the device is introduced and demonstrated, it is stolen by the wife (and assistant) of the scientist who invented it, and the rest of the movie is essentially a chase to get it back.

"Valley of the Eagles" has a very odd feel to it. Filmed in black and white and set in Sweden (or Norway - the opening exposition seems to conflict a little with the geography - call it "Scandanavia" for the sake of discussion), the movie starts out as a noir crime story featuring a science fiction element and the most stoic, wooden acting from the principals you could possibly imagine. The scientist (played by John McCallum) never exhibits any emotion stronger than mild irritation in the first 15 minutes, and the police detective in charge of the investigation barely registers more than bemusement.

Then the screenplay takes a unexpected turn as the fleeing thieves take to a cross country flight for the USSR border, and the "heroes" join a band of Lapplanders who guide them across the Northern wildernesss. And the next hour is essentially a "safari" film, with Lapplanders and elk (or reindeer?) standing in for the native tribes and elephants, wolves standing in for crocodiles and lions, and the Arctic circle standing in for Africa. The scientist and the policeman remain stoic, unruffled and unemotional in the face of difficulty and disaster, although it seems to me that McCallum allows himself to play a little looser near the end of the trip when he finally confronts his wife and admits that he seems to have forgotten why he was so worked up about the theft of the device in the first place. (The screenplay implies that the journey has changed him, but the change is mostly in the dialog, not McCallum's delivery.)

All of us who were watching this for the first time agreed that all the ingredients were there to make this movie suck, and we really should have hated it. Instead, we found it, well, mildly enjoyable. The scenery was spectacular and it was obvious that the director and cinematographer knew how to shoot and compose a scene (even with the blurry print, "broadcast quality" taped copy we had). Even though the lead actors were not especially demonstrative, this actually served to make the heroes seem unflappabl, uncomplaining and admirable. There were actually some witty lines; two of the supporting character actors steal most of the scenes they appear in. There's a bit of pathos, and an even handed treatment of the price the nomads paid for the way they choose to live. And whoever wrangled and trained the animals must have been a genius; the "payoff scene" where the attacking wolf pack is driven off by trained eagles (!) is unlike any animal stunt scene I've ever watched.

There are problems, of course, and they keep me from rating it higher than a "6". The first 15 minutes are deadly slow and dull - even a small walk-on part by Christopher Lee can't punch up the interest factor. The screenplay makes the odd choice to cut back and forth between the pursuers and the pursued for the first part of the chase, and then remains with the chasers for nearly 50 minutes, as if it had lost interest in the wife and the assistant scientist once they got the actual chase started. And the ending made no sense; in spite of the fact that McCallum's confrontation with his wife in the valley of Eagles ends amiably enough, (and he gets his device back), the next morning she is "fleeing" once again with guides from the village across the mountain face of the potential avalanche. Why is she running? And what native guide would be stupid enough to endanger his life by trekking across the snow-face that has threatened his village with extinction for decades (if not centuries)? Just way too irritating and contrived for me to swallow; I wouldn't buy it in a "Tarzan" movie and I can't buy it here.

But still, it's worth seeing once if some classic movies channel decides to revive it. The director went on to make "Dr. No", and "From Russia With Love", two of the all time classic James Bond films, and in spite of the problems and odd choices, it's nice to see talent shining through archaic plotting and old school film devices.

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 the one where the scientific formula/piece of new technology/vital ingredient that could win the war/prevent the war/save the planet perm any two from three is stolen in the first reel and paves the way for a 'quest' movie. In a half decent movie we actually care about more than the chase, in a movie like this we don't even care about the chase. The acting is as wooden as the Christmas trees the Norwegian government sends to London every year. Jack Warner once chased John McCallum all over the East End in It Always Rains On Sunday now they're comrades in arms chasing after McCallum's wife and assistant who are on their way to Russia with the end product of McCallum's research. Eventually they stumble onto a valley where the residents shun guns as hunting weapons lest they cause an avalanche; instead they breed eagles and train them to kill wolves. It's different, I'll grant you, but not enough to rescue this inept, ineffectual film that I doubt if anyone involved would wish to flaunt on their CVs.