Guinness yes, Holden no

Rating: 8/10 (30 July 1999)

Unlike the other reviews here, I see this as 2 very separate movies. First are the scenes with Alec Guinness which deserve every bit of the praise given here. Second are the scenes with William Holden which, in my opinion, are an almost complete waste. Unfortunately, we are left with only 2/3 of a movie.
I don't know if it's Holden's fault or the fact that his character and all the others in his scenes are banal stereotypical cliches. Holden as the brash, individualistic, pragmatic American seems to have been added as an afterthought purely for box office appeal. How else in the world could he possibly have gotten top billing over Guinness?. How else could his scenes be so badly dated that they are almost camp while the Guinness scenes seem like they could have been filmed yesterday? If this movie were whole, it truly would be one of the very finest.