SnoopyStyle Otto Gerran (Richard Widmark) leads a NATO approved international UN scientific expedition on climate change to Bear Island in the remote Arctic. He receives an interrupted signal from the advance camp. Frank Lansing (Donald Sutherland) is rescued after falling into the sea from the helicopter arrival. His father was an U-Boat commander. Heddi Lindquist (Vanessa Redgrave) is medical. Lechinski (Christopher Lee) is Russian. Smithy (Lloyd Bridges), Judith Rubin, and Tommy (Bruce Greenwood) are some of the other members. Bear Island is a former U-Boat base and some are secretly looking for Nazi gold.The cast is amazing but this is an expensive Anglo-Canadian flop. I can see the producers thinking they have a great arctic adventure but it moves at a glacial pace. It's not like the action is anything to write home about. The obvious back and forth between the stuntmen and the actors don't help. If anything, the cast is too big. It's hard to keep track of everybody and their relationships. The veteran cast can't inject any life into the stiff dialog. With all the costs, somebody should have spent a few more bucks to write a better script.

fung0 Alistair MacLean was a writer of limited ability. His plots are repetitive, his characters pure cardboard. What he did well was choose great settings, and keep things moving at a brisk pace. Bear Island captures that essence perfectly, even if it may take some liberties with the details.I've always particularly liked MacLean's Arctic novels (especially Night Without End, for my money his best work). This movie version of Bear Island captures that setting perfectly, being shot essentially on location in the actual Arctic. Forget the tacky sets of Ice Station Zebra... Bear Island makes you FEEL the cold and the isolation. Another reviewer complained about the hoods obscuring the actors' faces. I'm sure that's because the actors were trying hard not to FREEZE their faces. It's a realistic detail that's lacking in most set-bound movies set in the far North, that have characters breezing around with suicidal disregard for the cold.The acting is exactly appropriate to the story. Sutherland is still in fine leading-man form, and the supporting cast is well chosen. The story is convoluted and preposterous, as befits a MacLean outing, but tackled with earnestness that makes it work.Until I caught up with it recently, I hadn't even known this film existed. Now, it's one of my favorite MacLean adaptations. It's a more intimate affair than Where Eagles Dare or the Guns of Navarone, but vastly superior to hollow Hollywood spectaculars like Ice Station Zebra. I'd put it on a par with Breakheart Pass: a fast-paced diversion, staffed by likable stars, and enhanced by a nice feeling of time and place.

TheLittleSongbird I had heard that Bear Island was not a good movie at all, but I wanted to see it anyway because I like the cast a lot. When I eventually saw it, I didn't find it great, but it was much better than I expected.Pros: Lovely photography and great sets and locations. Atmospheric score by Richard Farnon. Great performances from Richard Widmark and Christopher Lee, Vanessa Redgrave has her moments but has an inconsistent accent. Sharp and well paced direction.Cons: As much as I love Donald Sutherland, he does look bored and stiff here. The dialogue is uneven, having moments when it is decent but some of it is really quite bad. The story has great idea and starts and ends well, but the film is rather sluggish with some of the middle section feeling like filler.All in all, not great, not awful, just somewhere in between. 6/10 Bethany Cox

ma-cortes A team of weather scientific - Vanessa Redgrave , Richard Widmark, Barbara Parkins , Lloyd Bridges, Christopher Lee - who are actually secret agents intelligently posing as UN researchers gather together at a remote Arctic outpost and discover a criminal intrigue about a Nazi treasure .Shortly after they arrive begin dying in assumed accidents . They are wind up at the same base and realize that are being murdered one by one at the isolated location under mysterious circumstances . As continuous explosion , traps , avalanches , accidents and sabotages. The starring , Donald Sutherland, suspects on Nazi duo might be on the premises , because of belonging to ¨ Reich Kinder¨ . He discovers a strange organization ruled by ¨Celda¨ who want to destroy the world economy . The plot wavers between suspenseful and illogical , while everybody involves overacts in an apparent attempt to figure out what the heck's going on .This thrilling movie about a group of scientific find themselves embarking on a suspenseful investigation contains moving sequences , intrigue , tension and wonderful, coloured locations from Arctic . It displays sizzling scenes about snow-boat and snow-motorcycle on some overwhelming chase sequences that are the movie's best . Dark photography during the night scenes but marvelous cinematography when reflects spectacularly the breathtaking Arctic outdoors by cameraman Alan Hume . Beautifully filmed on location in Glacier Bay National Park, Gustavus, Alaska, USA ,Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK (studio),Stewart, and Tide Lake ,British Columbia, Canada, Tide Lake, British Columbia .Rousing and exciting musical score by Robert Farnon. The motion picture , well produced by Peter Snell, is regularly directed by Don Sharp. This Canadian adaptation based on the novel by Alistair McLean packs habitual combination included on his books , as foolish dialog , stirring action , impressive locations and colorful characters . Other films based on his novels are the following ¨Force 10 Navarone¨, ¨ Guns of Navarone ¨, ¨ Puppet on chain ¨, ¨ When the eagles dare ¨ and ¨ Breakheart pass ¨ among others . Rating : Acceptable and passable . The picture will appeal to whodunit/thriller buffs