AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!

AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Cheese Hoven This film has very little to recommend it. Its basic premise, a potential German invasion of Britain in the early twentieth century, may have been electrifyingly relevant at the time of the original novel's publication, but is somewhat dated now. What little action there is is of Boy's Own variety: the heroes turn up just in time to overhear the spies divulge their secret plans in a "rhubarb rhubarb, invasion, rhubarb rhubarb, weapons, rhubarb, England," sort of way.Apart from that, the script and cinematography are not great. The script is rather clunky, even beyond its source matter, and seeks to over-explain what's happening. For instance, when the crew walks out on deck one will say "its foggy again" even though the fog is obvious. The occasional voice-over narration (by Michael York)adds little to the story but rather detracts from it. Seeking to explain in words what we should be seeing on screen is antithetical to cinema, and is particularly irritating when the end is told rather than shown to us.Much of this narration seems to be caused by budgetary restraints rather than artistic choice. Certainly a lack of money, especially during the very few action scenes, makes them even more underwhelming than they might have been. The crashes between boats (which is most of the 'action') looks as exciting as seeing two toy boats have a slight hit on a puddle.The film in general has the look and feel of a 70s TV movie. Nice enough to watch, but certainly no classic. The theme music, however, is rather good and deserved a better movie.

Robert J. Maxwell It's 1901 and Simon MacCorkindale is a young British gentleman taking a sailing holiday alone off the Frisian Islands, near Germany's northern coast. He stumbles into a situation that arouses vague suspicions that something is up, and he sends for his college friend, Michael York, to visit him and bunk on his sailboat. To be brief about the whole thing, the two men uncover a plot by Kaiser Wilhelm to launch an invasion of England's defenseless east coast, using 100,000 German troops covered by the entire German fleet. The two Oxford men spoil it all after many suspenseful incidents.It's obviously not an expensive movie but it's not bad. A great deal of attention seems to have gone into period detail. The boats we see look like the boats we'd expect to see in 1901. This was pre-fiberglass and pre-epoxy. Every boat looks made of heavy wood that's become soggy with time and weighs a ton, including the dinghy. It must have been work to row one of those monsters.The filming was evidently done not in the Frisian Islands but off the coast of Holland, which is too bad. I wanted to get a look at the Frisian Islands. The Frisian language is well-known to linguists as being as close as it's possible to get to ordinary English. One sentence is practically identical in both languages, something to do with bread and cheese. The location shooting is impressive and evocative. The sea recedes and leaves vast areas of mud flats. Why anyone would vacation there is as much of a mystery as why the Kaiser would want to invade England in 1901. The espionage story is fantastic, resembling John Buchan. Nice shots of boats at sea though.The acting is of professional caliber for the most part, although the English actors playing Germans aren't too convincing. Jenny Agutter is wasted in a small part. I kept hoping that instead of the weather's being cold and damp all the time it would suddenly turn sunny and blazing hot so that she could take a dip but my wistful wish was, as usual, unrealized.But -- what's the matter with the film? It didn't quite click. Maybe it's partly my fault. The four or five German agents are all bundled up in big black overcoats and bowlers and I was confused at time about who was who, and why it was important to follow one of them and not another. Wolf Kahler was always recognizable but a bit young for Kaiser Willie.The narration, by York, sounds stilted to modern ears, over-correct in its grammar and too formal in its description of relationships and events that are decidedly informal in their nature. The direction doesn't help much. The mano a mano fights are clumsy. And there is a scene in which Michael York trails a couple of Germans into a complicated old barn with straw on the floor, a crooked staircase, and a loft above. York darts around from one hiding place to another in the background while the camera focuses on the German agents -- in the same shot, like kids playing hide and seek. All I could think of was the windmill scene in Hitchcock's "Foreign Correspondent." The scene I found most impressive? Michael York arrives at the station, in response to MacCorkindale's invitation. The two old friends stand staring at each other, using ritual forms of greeting. They don't embrace. They don't shake hands. York is impeccably dressed; MacCorkindale is in sloppy boating kit. Once aboard the sailboat, nothing has changed. The conversation is scant. The host doesn't offer the guest a drink or anything, and when York asks if it's possible to get anything to eat -- since he's been on the train for twelve hours at his host's request -- MacCorkindale answers nervously but eagerly that he thinks he has some cold tongue. The entire scene lasts about five minutes and is an almost perfect embodiment of the concept of "awkwardness." Two old friends who hardly know each other.

badajoz-1 Have not read the novel about two Brits trying to uncover Imperial German skullduggery in 1901 around the Wadden Sea and Frisian islands in NW Germany, so cannot comment whether it captures its essence. What you get is a slow paced, tribute to messing about in small boats, kind of detective tale that does not really convince. Some holes here and there, some rush at exposition at vital moments, prevent the piece from fully working. There's a lot of good humour between York and McCorkindale as two ill assorted Oxford men, but when the action hots up, the film is a little unconvincing and a trifle rushed. While Hitler from Indy and the Last Crusade appears as a German spy at the turn of the century - yes, the Germans are a bit clichéd in portrayal yet again. A pity we do not find out why Dollman is a traitor! The film needed perhaps a Hitchcock to make it a classic like '39 Steps' which is set very similarly in theme and time. Must read the book or get to see the German TV version - German actors playing Edwardian Brits!!!!

ianlouisiana Mr McCorkindale - wearing the mother of all moustaches - is a keen yachtsman exploring the sands off the Friesian Islands.An archetypal Edwardian Gentleman with all the vices and virtues of his class. No apparent means of support unlike his fellow Oxford Man Mr York who is Something in the Foreign Office and rushes to his aid when he receives a telegram about some Germans not being quite "The Thing".Together they uncover a dastardly Hun plot to invade England,led by Queen Victoria's nephew. Clearly a precursor of the better known "The 39 Steps","The riddle of the sands" is as eerie as the creeping fog that regularly envelopes the Friesians,luring ships to their doom.The movie is a mixture of pastels and greys,the dockside buildings,churches,bars,a rare splash of muted colour. Mr McCorkindale's yacht is a thing of beauty indeed in this age of carbon fibre,the train clean and shiny,the waiting rooms reassuringly fugged with smoke.It is a fine evocation of an era when it was indeed the first prize in the lottery of life to be born an Englishman. Elegant and beautifully paced,one of the last of the Rank productions, "The riddle of the sands" deserves to be far better known. From the slough of despond that was 1970s British Cinema it rises and shines.