film rating:
disc rating:
company: Fida Cinematografica
year: 1969
runtime: 112′
director: Enzo G. Castellari
cast: Frederick Stafford, Van Johnson,
Francisco Rabal, Ida Galli, Luigi Pistilli
disc company: Severin Films
retail price: $34.95
release date: October 13, 2009
disc details: Region A / Single Layer BD25
video: 1080p HD
audio: Dolby Digital 2.0 English
subtitles: none
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reviewed from a screener provided
by Severin Films LLC
In 1940 the Nazi army attempts an insidious plot (can a Nazi plot ever be anything other than insidious?). A command of German soldiers, dressed as Englishmen with papers stolen from the recently dead, are to infiltrate England and sabotage a cutting-edge radar system that has been put into operation there. It’s up to the suspicious Captain Stevens (Frederick Stafford, Werewolf Woman) and his unwilling ally Air Marshall Thompson (the very American Van Johnson, Brigadoon), with whose mistress Stevens is having an affair, to foil the plot before it’s too late, and the full force of the Luftwaffe is amassed against them.
From the moment the leader of the German saboteurs (Luigi Pistilli, The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly) angrily demands that his comrades speak English, not German, audiences know just what sort of war film they’re in for. Pistilli’s order even makes it to the Nazi high command, where the generals inexplicably speak English as well! The Longest Day this certainly isn’t, but Enzo G. Castellari’s (The Inglorious Bastards) war-epic-cum-pulp-espionage-thriller is no less fun for its brainlessness.
Eagles Over London is a mish-mash of epic war action, traditional spy nonsense, and imaginatively conceived mid-air showdowns set around the Battle of Britain during World War II. While the majority of the film’s 112 minutes are taken up by that middle thing, Castellari does manage a few genuinely impressive combat sequences – namely the massive evacuation of Dunkirk seen early on, accomplished with some clever matte work and a mass of extras. There’s nothing so big as this to be seen in his later and better known The Inglorious Bastards, and its obvious that there was at least some heft to Eagle‘s budget. In traditional Castellari style, the action is staged for maximum coverage and effectively cut into much larger scenes, this time with the added benefit of split-screen. The frequent explosions long predate the now cliche Bruckheimer and Bay, and are often repeated a handful of times just for the hell of it.
The aerial battles that crop up from time to time are less believable than the rest, accomplished through crafty forced-perspective studio shooting, some minor miniature work, and the split-screen addition of tinted library footage. If I’m not mistaken there are also a few miniature shots from the Errol Flynn and Ronald Reagan war picture Desperate Journey to be found here! It all works better than one might expect, and certainly better than it sounds on paper, but pales in comparison to the earlier Dunkirk scene.
Dramatically speaking Eagles is rather inert, though the pace is kept swift enough that the two-dimensionality of the (many) characters is rarely an issue. Faring best among them is Francisco Rabal as Martin, who is about as sympathetic as I imagine a murderous Nazi spy could ever be. Renzo Palmer (The Eroticist) is likeable enough in the thankless role of Sgt. Mulligan, the film’s dubious comic relief. His claim to fame is an immensely entertaining sequence in which he starts a fist-fight between ferociously patriotic French and English forces. Van Johnson is inarguably miscast but takes his role as an English Air Marshall in stride, American accent and all.
Castellari’s direction is solid if hilariously camp. When it is revealed that the the double agent Martin is in love with must be sacrificed for the good of the Nazi cause, the film cuts to her through a series of three zooms accompanied by a perfectly timed “dun dun dun!” musical stinger. Castellari also crafts one of the most audacious moments in the long history of war cinema – an extended love scene set during an explosive blitz attack! All of it plays as good clean fun with a minimum of stage blood expended, leaving Eagles Over London an immensely entertaining if utterly improbable World War II adventure.
Severin Films has done a fine job in releasing this lesser known Castellari picture to Blu-Ray (and simultaneously on DVD), and while the results aren’t quite so satisfying as on their loaded The Inglorious Bastards disc it’s still a strong presentation. It’s important to note that the back of the box lists the running time as 104 minutes – the actual on-disc runtime is just a few seconds shy of 112 minutes.
The 1080p HD transfer is in pretty good shape all told, presenting Eagles Over London in its original 2.39:1 Techniscope aspect ratio for the first time on domestic home video. The unrestored image is mastered from a relatively clean source, with minor damage visible throughout (speckling, dirt) but no major imperfections of note. Detail isn’t at the high end for the format, a bi-product of the original photography (Techniscope shooting halves the 35mm frame, leaving what is ostensibly a 16mm image), but there are impressive moments, especially in close-ups. Colors are variable but healthy for the most part, particularly reds, with the studio-bound segments appearing stronger than the frequent, grittier location photography. All in all this looks to be a fair representation of how the film would have looked theatrically, and the image is blessedly free of undue digital manipulation. As with The Inglorious Bastards, no uncompressed audio option is made available, but the Dolby Digital 2.0 English track does more than well enough by the original mastering. There are no subtitles.
Supplements are limited but fun, and are all presented in HD. First up is a conversation between Enzo G. Castellari and Quentin Tarantino (14 minutes), which is more or less a continuation of a similar piece found on The Inglorious Bastards. Next up is footage of a recent theatrical presentation of the film in Los Angeles (16 minutes). A very brief deleted scene (32 seconds) and trailers for Eagles Over London and The Inglorious Bastards round out the extras.
This was a fun flick of the sort that studios just aren’t producing anymore, with plenty of appeal for cult movie aficionados. It’s a hoot to see Rabal, Pistilli and Johnson having so much fun with roles so obviously beneath their range of talent, and Castellari’s direction is at its most audacious. There’s nothing at all wrong with Severin’s Blu-ray treatment, and fans will want to indulge. Recommended!
