Alistair Maclean

[mallee59]

I enjoyed the novel too and thought he had a very good 'feel' for the story and was obviously drawing on personal experience, IMO



Fear is the key must have one of the best car chases too

[mrs_emma_peel]

name='batman']Fear Is The Key is very good IMHO

I agree Fear is the Key is an excellent thriller … with two very good leads in Barry Newman and the lovely Suzy Kendall, a deviously clever plot and a particularly good car chase.



I’ve been a fan of Alistair MacLean’s novels and film adaptations for many years.

My favourite novels are Night Without End, The Golden Rendezvous (read on audio book by Francis Matthews), The Golden Gate, Where Eagles Dare, Fear is the Key, Puppet on a Chain, Breakheart Pass and The Dark Crusader.



The Golden Gate plot could make an excellent film adaptation …



‘The Golden Gate is tense and nerve-shattering classic novel from Alistair MacLean - the highly acclaimed master of action and suspense. A rolling Fort Knox is how the journalists describe the Presidential motorcade as it enters San Francisco across the Golden Gate. The FBI believe the motorcade is impregnable – as it needs to be … with the President and two Arab potentates aboard. But halfway across the bridge the unthinkable happens … before the eyes of the world a master criminal pulls off the most spectacular kidnapping in modern times.’



My favourite Alistair MacLean films are Where Eagles Dare (1968), The Guns of Navarone (1961), Fear is the Key (1972), Puppet on a Chain (1970), The Golden Rendezvous (1977) and Breakheart Pass (1975). The Golden Rendezvous is a superb book … but the film adaptation, although quite entertaining, should and could have been much better. Puppet on a Chain has always been a favourite … many years ago I visited the Amsterdam and Volendam locations of the movie.



Where Eagles Dare … main theme ... Ron Goodwin

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XKGhG0W0LQ]YouTube - Where Eagles Dare - Main Theme[/ame]



Fear is the Key … car chase …

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLmk0x94wNU]YouTube - Fear is the key (1972) car chase part 1 of 2[/ame]



Breakheart Pass … theatrical trailer

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvDrSCTUtAs&feature=related]YouTube - Breakheart Pass Trailer[/ame]

I would like to see a film adaptation of one my favourite Alistair MacLean thrillers – set in freezing Arctic – the brilliantly atmospheric Night Without End …



Night Without End is an absolutely superb Alistair MacLean thriller first published in 1959 and is generally considered one of MacLean's very best. The reader can almost feel the incredible freezing cold conditions … so brilliant are the graphic descriptions of the bitter, icy, terrible chilling cold of the extraordinarily low, sub-zero, freezing temperatures of the Arctic environment and snowscape. The Times Literary Supplement gave the book a superb review on publication.



‘An airplane crash lands on the Greenland ice cap far from its usual route after flying in a seemingly erratic fashion. A scientific research team based near the crash site rescues the surviving passengers and takes them to their station.

On the Polar ice-cap, 640 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle, the deadly, icy winds can freeze a man to death in minutes. But the survivors of the crashed airliner are lucky - they are rescued by three scientists from a nearby weather station.



But why did the airliner crash in the first place? Who smashed the radio to pieces? And why does the dead pilot have a bullet hole in his back? The rescue quickly turns into a nightmare: a race through the endless Arctic night, a race against time, cold, hunger - and a killer with a gun.’



Additional sources: Wikipedia/Oxford University Press/Amazon/YouTube

[Santonix]

The opening of Where Eagles Dare still sends a tingle down my spine, classic stuff and IMHO a great film.

[batman]

Quote by Mrs Emma Peel ... "Puppet on a Chain has always been a favourite … many years ago I visited the Amsterdam and Volendam locations of the movie."



I am glad I am not the only one who likes this film. It takes a lot of stick but is great fun IMHO.

[mallee59]

I like it too Bats

one of the first real finds in a cheap bin of DVD;s as well

[Moor Larkin]

I really ought to get around to reading Ice Station Zebra sometime. A correspondent who had read it told me that the book plot does not include the bit in the movie where a weather balloon is used in the attempt to spirit away the global surveillance film.



I don't suppose there's any record of who happened to suggest that little twist to the movie plot.......