DB7

I capture the castle

Brian G Hutton's Where Eagles Dare (1968)

Andrew Pulver
Saturday September 3, 2005
The Guardian


Undercover operators: Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood in Where Eagles Dare



The author: Alistair Maclean (1922-1987) was the son of a minister in the Scottish Highlands, and saw active service in the second world war in the Royal Navy. He became a schoolteacher, but won a short story competition in 1954 that encouraged him to put his war experiences into a novel. HMS Ulysses (1955) was the result, and was an immediate success, allowing Maclean to become a full-time writer. More war novels followed, notably The Guns of Navarone (1957), and Maclean moved to Switzerland in 1957 to escape UK tax laws. In the 1960s, he turned to espionage, writing The Dark Crusader (1961) and The Satan Bug (1962) under the pseudonym Ian Stuart. With a string of successful film adaptations boosting his name, Maclean's sales flourished in the 1960s, though he briefly retired from writing in 1963 to become a hotelier. Where Eagles Dare (1967) marked a return to his favourite second world war territory. As he struggled with alcoholism in the 1970s, Maclean's popularity began to wane, and his novels began to recycle old ideas. He died after a stroke in Munich in 1987.



The story: A team of undercover operatives, under the command of Major John Smith, are parachuted into the German Alps to rescue an American general from whom the Gestapo hope to extract the Allied plans for the "second front", or D-Day. Smith knows there are traitors among his team, as one after another dies in mysterious circumstances. Aided by an American lieutenant, Schaffer, Smith infiltrates the general's prison, Schloss Adler ("Castle Eagle"), and confronts his Nazi captors, revealing that the general is in fact simply an actor. He also convinces the Germans that he is a double agent, working for Berlin - but Smith is really a triple agent, and manages to destroy the Schloss. The real traitor turns out to be Colonel Wyatt-Turner, one of the high command who sent Smith on his mission in the first place.


The film-makers: Elliott Kastner was one of the first American producers to exploit the financial advantages of filming in Europe, and asked Maclean to come up with an idea for a second world war story. A film was quickly set up, with Maclean also writing the screenplay. Kastner, however, felt Maclean's draft was too long, and the US director he had hired, Brian G Hutton (b1935), cut the running time significantly. Richard Burton, anxious for a hit film to restore his commercial credibility, was Maclean's choice for the lead; Clint Eastwood, a star after Sergio Leone's Fistful of Dollars trilogy (1964-66), took the support role.

How book and film compare: With Maclean heavily involved, and the screenplay already in his mind while he wrote the novel, the final film version conforms closely to the original. Only peripheral details are sacrificed, such as Schaffer's romance with undercover barmaid Heidi.

Inspirations and influences: The war years and the postwar aftermath provided action cinema with new material - firstly with re-creations of key battles and, subsequently, tales of true and fictional derring-do, such as an earlier Maclean adaptation, The Guns of Navarone (1961). The development of Bond films in the early 1960s brought a new dimension to espionage-oriented cinema. Where Eagles Dare brings these strands together - fusing the spy story with war action - and helped create a wave of patriotic cold war thrillers that arguably climaxed with The Spy Who Loved Me (1977).

Gibbie

I think this is my favourite war movie, though it is based upon a fictional event.

Quite a thriller. Catch this one in the winter months.

Here is a well done fansite for the movie:

Where Eagles Dare

mysteriesofedgarwallace

That's an interesting site Gibbie.

I too, love WED.
I'm not big on war films, but I like some of the 'Special Ops' ones like this.
An excellent performance by the always brilliant Derren Nesbitt, looking even more like a Super-Marionation puppet than usual.

Shadwell

Heh heh! Yes, I can see him in that part. However I feel I need to spring a little to Derren's defence. Okay he was a tad wooden in the part but there are far worse actors out there than him....

Time to keep your appointment with the Wicker Man...

Marky B

For years I was convinced that after Patrick Wymark (the traitor jumped from the aircraft,when either Clint or Richard went up to shut the door,they said "He could have shut the door behind him".
Ta Ta
MArky B

I am special. The heavens always open for me.

Stephen Pickard

I have some interesting memories I would like to share of working on the film at MGM.

I was working as a projectionist at the Odeon, Elephant and Castle and I got a call, in March/April 1968, from the NATKE projectionist's union to attend an interview with Tom Howard at the MGM British Studios in Borehamwood, Elstree, Herts. There was a vacancy for a trainee in the Process Projection Department which was part of MGM's Special Photographic Effects Department of which Tom Howard was in charge. As a lot of you know Tom Howard's career goes back to the days of Alexander Korda and he worked on many British-based MGM films in the forties, fifties and sixties. "Village of the Damned", "The Haunting", "Gorgo", "2001" to name just a few. (MGM moved into the lot after the war and remained there until 1969. Besides MGM, Fox and the Mirisch Corporation shot some British productions there. Before the war MGM used Denham Studios where they made such productions as "Goodbye Mr. Chips" and "The Citadel". They were known as the 'MGM Unit').
>>I got the job and re-located to Borehamwood. MGM was the first studio I worked for and it was overwhelming. At every opporunity, I walked around the studio. On the backlot there were the remains of exterior sets of "Quatermass and the Pit", and "The Dirty Dozen", and a satellite dish - which was part of the Discovery in "2001" - sat rotting away. I met many veterans of MGM who had worked there for many years. One person in particular was Reg a carpenter (they are knicknamed 'chippies') and he described to me how he achieved and executed the effect of the 'bending door' in "The Haunting". I also recall visitng the property department and sitting high on a shelf at the back was Gorgo's head! (I regret not claiming it when I left, as it probably finished up in the trash when the studio closed).

At this time there was little work for us, but within a week or two Tom Howard came to us with some news that we would be starting on a production in June, which was "Where Eagles Dare". During the slow times we would have to service the projection equipment. Unlike regular cinema projectors, which were equipped with an intermittent sprocket beneath the picture gate, they were installed with a 'Mitchell movement'. The 'Mitchell movement', as it was known, was probably the most successful method of moving film through the gate at an extremely steady rate. It was designed, by the Mitchell Corporation in the US, many years before for the 35mm motion picture camera and was the standard throughout the film industry for many years.

The film we used, which was known as 'plates', was specially photographed by a unit on the production, or from a library of moving backgrounds photographed at various angles, which were projected behind actors in various set-ups, boats, planes, cars etc. These 35mm standard four-perf plates were specially color graded and utilised the complete negative area.

When the main unit arrived from Switzerland and Austria they immediately started filming on existing sets that were constructed on the various large sound stages, of which MGM had many. From memory, Stage 10 housed the 'Gold Room' where Burton and Eastwood' confront the Germans during a meeting. On another stage there was the interior of the cable car station which was located at the top of the castle. The station itself was built high up on the stage as several feet were needed for an approach and departure for two 'practical' (which means working) cable cars. The cables themselves ran several feet to the bottom of the stage.

The scenes that we were to prepare for were backgrounds for the plane on it's approach and escape from the airfield, the bus, the motorcycle, the cable cars and for odd close ups of actors.

Our very first set up was a shot of Richard Burton in the cable car unscrewing a light bulb while instructing on the timing of the explosives. On the many occasions where we utilised actors, we would have to wait, sometimes hours, to become available from the main unit.

On the cable car scenes, we utilised a front projection rig. What I described previously, 'rear' projection, was a method that was used throughout the industry for years.

This front projection rig was specially designed for Stanley Kubrick on "2001". It consisted of a method of projecting a static 10x8 positive/negative plate which was projected through a special 50/50 transmission/reflection glass plate mounted at 45 degrees onto a large glass bead coated screen, developed by the 3M company (now widely used). The image on the screen was amplified in light level by many times, reflected straight back into the mirror and reflected at a right angle into the lens of the camera which was attached to the same rig as the projector. The main benefit of this process was to pour more light onto the background image resulting in a more realistic illusion of the foreground subject being in the same location as the background. A problem which has beset rear-projection set-ups for many years.

Kubrick was so sold on the idea, that 3M had developed, that he planned to use it extensively on his next project which was to be "Napoleon". On my many visits to Tom Howard's office, he showed be a rough plan of how he and Kubrick planned to apply this material.

Tom Howard was one of the 'old school' gentleman, and very much a father figure to me. (I was only 20 at the time). He knew I was genuinely interested in what he did and was always eager to share it with me. The last time I saw him was at ABPC around 1977, almost eight years after MGM closed, and he told me of his plan to write a book called "From Korda To Kubrick" which I don't believe was ever published.

The front projection rig was only used for background shots behind exteriors and interiors of the cable cars, when leading actors can be seen clearly, as I do not want to discredit the incredible work of the stuntmen headed by the legendary Yakima 'Yak' Canutt and his team. Unfortunately, I did not meet Canutt at the studio as I think he left after the location work was completed. However, I did befriend Alf Joint who doubled for Burton.

The rear projection work on the bus was utilised by a method called 'triple head' projection. Looking toward the rear and the front of the bus three simultaneous images were required, one facing at the rear and one on each side. Three interlocked projectors were used. The shutters had to be phased with each other as well as the camera and each image was projected onto individual translucent screens. The motorcycle, airplane and car-crash sequences utilised the traditional single projector set-up. With rear projection, being located on the other side of the translucent screen to the camera and actors and crew, you couldn't observe the action being filmed. All you could hear was the director shouting instructions to the actors and the actors performing their lines and sometimes firing weapons, which were often extremely loud.

As I had mentioned previously, we would set-up the equipment and then sometimes sit around for a long time for the main unit to come over to the stage. If the set-ups involved using main actors, the main first unit would come to the stage, and I had the opportunity to get to know most of the crew. Brian G. Hutton, the director, was very friendly toward me. His background was as a Hollywood actor. He played 'bad' roles in "Gunfight at the OK Corral" and "King Creole". I believe this was his second film, I think his first was "The Pad" (1966).

Where the rear projection set-ups only used a portion of the stage, the art department built several sets. I had the oppportunity to watch them being filmed. Among the scenes I recall was a brief scene shot between Ingrid Pitt and Mary Ure in her bedroom. The underside of the bridge was constructed for the scene of Eastwood and Burton rigging it with explosives. On this occasion Liz Taylor came to visit the set one early evening.

We did do a front projection set up with Richard Burton retrieving his parachute. I recall the camera operator requesting Burton's hood not to be pulled too far forward over his face, immediately Burton snapped back that audiences would know who it was!

There was a mock-up of the snow covered roof of the cable car station. This was used for an insert of two gloved hands, where Burton reaches out to prevent Eastwood from sliding off the roof. Obviously, the actors were not needed for this shot, just two stand-ins with jackets and gloves.

After watching the first hour or so of the film last night, I was reminded of the contribution of the matte artist, Douglas Adamson, an MGM employee. I visited his department on one occasion where he and his lovely assistant Anne were painting on glass a long shot of the 'Castle of the Eagle' with the surrounding mountains. A large miniature was also constructed on the back lot. The painting can be seen when Derren Nesbitt accompanies Mary Ure and Ingrid Pitt in the cable car at night. The scene is made up of location, (the cable car station - at the bottom - when the cable car leaves) the POV's of the Castle which are the matte painting and / or miniature and interior studio when they reach the cable car station. Similarly, the sequence where Eastwood and Burton travel on the roof of the cable car, is a mixture of location with stuntmen, studio with actors and front projection set-up.

When filming was completed on the cable car station, the set was struck with the exception of the cables and the two cable cars. This was left for the shot where Burton leaps from one cable car to another after rigging it with explosives. The jump was done by Alf Joint. On the morning, I managed to go down to the stage to watch. Alf did it in one take successfully, but in the process he landed on the cable car and his caught his mouth on the rail, which ran around the rim on top of the car, and cut himself badly.

During the filming of the interior of the plane sequences, the costume or props department asked if I would be willing to put on Mary Ure's parachute, as at that age I was approximately her height, so they could check to see how it would fit and make necessary adjustments before she arrived on the stage.

I also recall that day several actors, such as Patrick Wymark and Peter Barkworth who were relaxing and reading, sitting in special prop chairs. One of my supervisors was always grumbling and complaining and on that day he raised his voice to me and I will never forget Wymark's expression when he looked up and frowned at him!

One morning when the crew were walking toward Stage 10 to film on the 'Gold Room' set, I noticed Derren Nesbitt in costume and a bandage over his eye. I did not realize until that evening or the next day, in the newspaper, that Nesbitt's eye was injured. Apparently a squid effect of him being shot by the squid somehow misfired and part of it went into his eye.

In late July early August 1968 filming was completed and, with no immediate work in sight, I decided to take a projectionist's position at Pinewood Studios. It was just a year later after the completion of productions such as "Captain Nemo", "Goodye, Mr. Chips" and "Alfred the Great" that MGM Studios were closed permanently. MGM continued to be represented in England for a few years, by name only when they collaborated with the Associated British Picture Corporation and became MGM/Elstree Studios. One victim of the closure of MGM was Fred Zinnemann's production of "A Man's Fate", of which much money had been spent including extensive exterior set construction on the back-lot.

During the completion time of "Where Eagles Dare", the new James Bond film "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" was readying to go into production. The climax to the new Bond Adventure was a fight between Bond and Blofeld on the roof of a cable car. When the Bond Producers heard of the fights aboard the cable car in "WED", they rewrote the end of their screenplay to a fight on a toboggan run instead.

Stephen Pickard

Marky B

Now to think the unthinkable:in the event of a remake,who would play who?
Ta Ta
Marky B

I am special. The heavens always open for me.

samkydd

Personally I couldn't give a schloss!

The films downfall is that it's been repeated so many times on the telly that it's worn out its appeal! The Great Escape suffered in a similar way by over exposure. Both fantastic films but they're in danger of becoming the Only Fools and Horses of the war film genre ie. no one bothers to watch anymore!

When it was made, World War II films were still appealing to most, even as a 5 year old in the 60s I used to run about shooting Nazis with my stick shaped like a sten gun, and we always read loads of comics like Victor, Valiant, Hotspur etc which were full of war stories. We even used to get those little comic books Commando War Stories in Pictures regularly, and this was 20 odd years after the war had ended! I remember a neighbour's young son in the early 70s who when asked by his teacher "What do you want to be when you grow up? " he replied "A German!". Nowadays I don't suppose WW2 is relevant to many people, and the real horror of war has been driven home to everybody in great graphic detail by news crews from the Vietnam war to the present day!

If a remake of Where Eagles Dare did happen I doubt if it would have the same commercial appeal as the original, unless of course you filled it with trendy stars of today like George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Jennifer Lopez, Russell Crowe et al who would fill the cinema seats with the alcopop generation, 'phone texting, sportwear wearing, tattoed and eyebrow stud air heads who probably think that Winston Churchill plays keyboards with Eminem!

"...the chairman of Littlewoods stores made a Keynote speech!"

samkydd

RB WAS A VERY GOOD ACKTORRrrrrrrr BUT HE DID SHOUT A LOT IN HIS FILMS! HE HAD THE RICH TONES OF A WELSHMAN WITH A MUSICAL LILT TO HIS VOICE THAT LEFT PEOPLE MESMERISED! HIS NARRATIVE ON JEFF WAYNE'S WAR OF THE WORLDS WAS EXCELLENT, BUT LOUDER THAN THE MUSIC!

He wasn't a favourite of mine because the films he was in were not always my cup of tea, especially those SHOUTING film dramas with Liz Taylor that only film critics could understand! To give him credit I don't think that there is anyone around today half as good!

"...the chairman of Littlewoods stores made a Keynote speech!"

716Jones

I always felt that he played every part he took in exactly the same way. I know he was supposed to be a brilliant stage actor but he never did it for me on the screen.

Bobj

Really interesting Stephen.

This is my favourite war movie too. I remember it being a hot playground topic when it first came out in the cinema and I've enjoyed countless viewings since. However I couldn't help but notice a bit of a boo boo last time I watched.

You will recall to cover their getaway the team rig explosives to be set off as they pass certain points causing trees to fall and block the road for the pursuing vehicles. On one occasion when the tree falls the pursuing German vehicle attempts to move around the obstacle and it can be seen quite clearly that the tree has been cut down with a chain saw.

I'm not one of these people who goes looking for things like that but I did chuckle. Didn't spoil my enjoyment of this marvellous film though.

jacobean

Loved WED
At school, a friend I used to reinact the showdown scene with the Nazis in the big room with the same exaggerated death rattles. Still do after a few beers! Wish we had the exploding blood capsules with red paint in them as well.

Broadsword

I seem to remember the cable car fight got reenacted in our playground, usually by grabbing some poor sod and theatrically plunging an imaginary icepick into his am. Anyone know the year it was first on British tv? Great film anyway and I wholeheartedly agree with all the praise for it. One of my all time favourites. It stands up fantastically well and isn't it ironic how all those dreadfully self-important Burton/Taylor movies of the time have sunk into obscurity? But Where Eagles Dare - Burton's self-described 'meat and potatoes movie' - has not only endured but actually grown in popularity to the point where the music, the action and the actors have now become practically iconic.

Well deserved I say.

Roger Garrod

Hello Steven

Thought these would bring back some memories for you

MGM BRITISH STUDIOS

Wasn't it a fun place to work at MGM

Cheers

Roger

Hackett

Thanks Rodger. Thanks for the answer to a question that has been doing my head in for nearly 40 years. As a lad my mates and I used to climb over the fence behind the school/college into MGM and crawl all over those sets and the stable/farmyard area where they kept the livestock off set. The picture and article of the remains of the bridge, boathouse and garages from "THE DIRTY DOZEN" explain the mystery. As you say most of the chateau had been removed or remodled for another film. I remember it after your photo when most of the new set had been built. They had drained the boat pond but looked as if they were going to refill it. The ornate gardens had been removed and the ground had been bulldozed back to look like far off hills as they had facade's of buildings on them. Overlooking the pond was an oriental street with market stalls at one end and as the street turned it led into a similar street but this one was in the middle of being attacked. All broken windows, bomb damage and sand bags. The whole set had a 1920's feel to it. Have I tried to find that film or what. Now I click on to your site and all is revealed. It was an unmade film. Well unstarted or unfinished or unwhatever. An unmade or unfinished or unwhatever film by none other than Fred "HIGHNOON" Zinnerman. A oriental style picture to be called "A MANS FATE".
Thanks again Roger there will be a place for you at my table anytime.

I loved Stephens piece about "WHERE EAGLES DARE" as well. It's one of my all time favourites anyone who has been in our office could confirm as I have a framed original quad poster overlooking my desk. Stephen mentions befriending a real, in my mind anyway, unsung superstar the late great Alf Joint. I had the great pleasure of talking to him in 1982 when he was working at Pinewood on "THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME". What a very nice quietly spoken man he was. You would never believe what he did for a living listening to his voice. He definitely looked the part though, tall, all shoulders and no waist Then he would refer to you as "old dear" and kill the illusion. Eastwood calls it "WHERE DOUBLES DARE" which is very derogatory in my view. The director of photography gets credit for a film if it looks good he can even get an Oscar for his expertise. So for me should have Alf Joint and all the stunt crew of "WHERE EAGLES DARE".