Bear Island (1979)

PG  |   |  Action, Adventure, Mystery  |  August 1980 (USA)
5.8
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Ratings: 5.8/10 from 1,264 users  
Reviews: 28 user | 4 critic

On the remote Norwegian Bear Island, used as a submarine base by the Germans during WW2, U.N. scientist Larsen sends a distress signal using an emergency NATO frequency and is received by scientific vessel Morning Rose.

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Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
...
Frank Lansing
...
Heddi Lindquist
...
Otto Gerran
...
Lechinski
...
Judith Rubin
...
Smithy
...
Paul Hartman
Patricia Collins ...
Inge Van Zipper
...
Heyter
Nicholas Cortland ...
Jungbeck
...
Marine Technician
Candace O'Connor ...
Laboratory Assistant
Joseph Golland ...
Meteorological Assistant
...
Technician (Tommy)
Richard Wren ...
Radio Operator
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Storyline

A group of people converge on a barren Arctic island. They have their reasons for being there but when a series of mysterious accidents and murders take place, a whole lot of darker motives become apparent. Could the fortune in buried Nazi gold be the key to the mystery? Donald Sutherland and Vanessa Redgrave investigate. Written by Jonathon Dabell <J.D.@pixie.ntu.ac.uk>

Plot Summary | Add Synopsis

Taglines:

Below freezing and beyond fear... Will anyone survive its terror?


Certificate:

PG | See all certifications »
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Details

Country:

|

Language:

Release Date:

August 1980 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

Alistair MacLean's Bear Island  »

Box Office

Budget:

CAD 12,100,000 (estimated)

Gross:

SEK 5,261,704 (Sweden)
 »

Company Credits

Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

Color:

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1
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Did You Know?

Trivia

One of a number of espionage films directed by Don Sharp. The films include Callan (1974); Bang! Bang! You're Dead! (1966); Bear Island (1979); Hennessy (1975) and The Thirty-Nine Steps (1978). See more »

Goofs

When everyone is outside after the generator explosion it is blowing a blizzard, but the flames are rising vertically with minimal wind disturbance rather than being virtually horizontal, revealing that wind machines are being used just on the area where the actors are. See more »

Crazy Credits

"Coming soon: Alistair MacLean's Goodbye California" See more »

Connections

Referenced in From Stereo to Video (2014) See more »

Frequently Asked Questions

See more (Spoiler Alert!) »

User Reviews

Miserable film version of MacLean's excellent novel
18 November 2002 | by (Todmorden, England) – See all my reviews

I wish the people who keep butchering excellent Alistair MacLean books would clear off and stop ruining this great author's works by transforming them into crummy movies. This is a truly dire version of one of his best books ever. It sticks to the plot in loose terms, but alters the characters beyond recognition and even substitues a gold hunting element to the plot to explain why they're all on this desolate island in the first place, when in the book there was a perfectly good explanation for it anyway. Donald Sutherland looks bored, Vanessa Redgrave looks miscast, Christopher Lee gets killed in the middle and looks glad to get out of it early, and Lloyd Bridges wears a smirk that suggests his agent told him it was a comedy. Even the other actors, such as the talented Barbara Parkins, seem unenthused by the whole project. What they needed to do here was to stick more rigidly to the story in the actual book and to get a cast who were actually interested in what they were doing. This is a travesty. Only River of Death beats it as the worst ever film version of a MacLean book.


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