Richard Burton doing his best against extremely troublesome odds

Rating: 10/10 (6 March 2020)

This is not only perhaps the best Alistair MacLean film together with "The Guns of Navarone" but also one of the best war films ever made, for its constantly increasing density of action and tension and outstanding palacting by all the actors, especially Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood of course, who actually are each other's opposites but match each other more thasn well anyway. Also the story is one of MacLean's best in its muddled up confusion of treason and double dealings, espionage on the wrong level and booby traps costantly sabotaging the mission, indeed a mission impossible, but surprisingly they carry it through anyway thanks to the inofficial assistance of Mary Ure and even disobeying orders from above. Patrick Wymark is as he always is, he can never play any other character than his own, while the Germans are given too little space to act properly. I saw it 50 years ago, but to watch it again after 50 years was more than rewarding, as I was quite astonished to find it so astoundingly excellent. This is definitely a classic for all times, as it is entirely without any weak spots anywhere in its constantly throbbingly vibrant life and suspense, mainly kept up by superb acting..