That the actual explanation and bad guys were such a cliché by that stage did little to endear the film to viewers in 1979, but now they come across as staples of the sort of thriller that you can waste time with on the small screen, only with perhaps more novelty thanks to it being a more relatively modern project, and in colour to boot. Amazingly, despite MacLean’s enormous popularity during the 1960s and 1970s, he seems to be a forgotten author today. American scientist Frank Lansing (Donald Sutherland) has come because his father was a U-boat commander who died there, and as accidents start to decimate the expedition he begins to realise that some of his colleagues are after a shipment of gold aboard the U-boat that his father commanded. Vote up content that is on-topic, within the rules/guidelines, and will likely stay relevant long-term. While not as iconic as Ice Station Zebra, Bear Island is one of the last good MacLean adaptations and the top-notch cast keep things watchable to the bitter end.

This movie was intended as the first in a series of Alistair MacLean adaptations, which would have included "El Dorado", "Athabasca", "Night Without End", and "The Way to Dusty Death". Bear Island, on loosely based on the great pulp authors work, is a tremendous mix of an action disaster film and a murder mystery. And a member of the expedition is quickly killed, but it's way over an hour into it before we even know the cause of the mystery, let alone who is behind the naughty goings on.However, the island was also home to a German U-boat base during World War II, and as accidents begin to accumulate amongst the party, scientist Frank Lansing (Donald Sutherland) realises that some of his colleagues are after a shipment of gold aboard a U-boat. A UN expedition of scientists from different countries come to barren arctic Bear Island, between Svalbard and northern Norway, to study climate change. There’s a decent choice of suspects; Christopher Lee, Lloyd Bridges, Vanessa Redgrave, Barbara Parkins, Bruce Greenwood and more are all along for the ride, even if the snowsuits often conceal the identity of the potential culprits. The expedition arrives at Bear Island, location of a NATO base and the site of a former U-boat station, and, from his German colleagues Jungbeck and Heyter, they learn that Larsen is missing. During the movie their pistols passes to another hands including Frank Lansing ( Donald Sutherland) and Paul Hartman ( Lawrence Dane).

Not that you had much of a chance to hear it, as his character wound up vanishing early on, before even establishing himself as a possible suspect for the evildoers behind the apparent sabotage of the scientists’ investigation.I hadn’t seen this film since it came out at the theater and maybe a network debut the following year and upon this revisit, time hasn’t marred my judgement. I don't think you can make films about film units," he later said adding "I think possibly we tried to put too much meaning and too much cast into an action adventure story. The team is led by the German scientists Gerran and his deputy Hartman , and includes Norwegian psychiatrist Lindquist and the laconic Pole Lechinski .

If nothing else you get bang for your buck; avalanches, explosions, and all kinds of vehicular action; Swedish Larven “Caterpillar” snow scooters and amphibious aircraft-propelled catamarans, also known as hydrocopters. The film went a million dollars over budget, which Sharp says was the first time it had happened in his career. Radio masts collapse, explosives are used to create deadly avalanches, a generator blows up, but who is the saboteur who seeks the elusive gold?Bear Island turned out to be Goodnight Vienna in terms of big screen evocations of MacLean’s work, but his books, bigger than Bond back in the day, would still work as highly recognisable IP for reboots, remakes and re-workings, and the bar isn’t set particularly high here. It stars Donald Sutherland, Vanessa Redgrave, Richard Widmark, Christopher Lee, Lloyd Bridges, Bruce Greenwood, Candace O'Connor and was distributed by United Artists. On the remote Norwegian Bear Island, used as a submarine base by the Germans during World War II, U. Gewiss nicht der spannenste Thriller, dennoch schön in Kälte eingewattet und auf Rätselsuche (U-Boot, zweiter Weltkrieg) sogar etwas Adventure-Feeling ausstrahlend.