The Holcroft Covenant
Tags: revenge, intrigue, murder, violence

Plot synopsis:
The novel concerns Noel Holcroft, New York City architect—and secretly the son of Heinrich Clausen, chief economic adviser to the Third Reich. At some point in the 1970s, Holcroft is contacted by the Grande Banque de Geneve, concerning his father's will and testament. The testament says that in the last half of the war, Clausen found out about the Holocaust. Horrified and desperate to make amends, he and his two friends stole vast amounts of money from thousands of individual sources throughout the Reich and funneled them into a secure account in Zurich, Switzerland. Now, if Holcroft will contact the children of the two friends, they can form a group to distribute the funds and alleviate some of the pain of the Holocaust.
Ranged against him in this noble endeavor is the last trace of the Third Reich: the children of Projekt Sonnenkinder. In the dying days of the war, a vast search went out throughout Germany. The children of Germany's finest, those without physical and psychological frailties, were sent to isolated hamlets and right-wing communities all over the world by airplane and U-boat. They were raised, provided for, and indoctrinated. Those who showed promise were inducted into the conspiracy by their elders; those that weren't were "removed." They have waited thirty years for the funds so as to finally take over the world. Their leader, the Tinamou, is the world's deadliest assassin.
As Holcroft attempts to carry out what he believes to be the noble, secret mission of his biological father, he is continuously blindsided as good guys turn out to be bad guys, bad guys turn out to be good guys, and Holcroft, who has no training whatsoever in intelligence, is forced to learn on the job.

Review: I've read a couple of his novels and they can be, if one is in the right sort of mood, exciting.The thing one has to remember is that Ludlum's novels is about conspiracies and complicated plots and not about characters.
Even the star of the movie Michael Caine, a seasoned heavyweight in the espionage genre, seems out of sync in this one.If you don't expect too much , you'll be moderately entertained.
But knowing that the film is made by veteran craftsmen like John Frankenheimer and George Axelrod, one tends to be a bit disappointed.All in all I gave The Holcroft Covenant 6 out 10
A low point in the career of Frankenheimer and Caine, and one of the worst spy films from its era too..
Michael Caine plays one of the inheritors, Noel Holcroft (hence the title), and he sets out to ensure that it is used for good causes, but he finds that various others will kill to keep him from getting his hands on his rightful share.The film is a terrible mess, and it's only too apparent that those involved were in it for the money.
Frankenheimer once made great movies like The Manchurian Cnadidate and The French Connection 2, but here he is guilty of directing a listless hodge-podge that bears no trace of originality or flair.
Average as well as confusing thriller by John Frankenheimer , based upon the complex Robert Ludlum novel.
The movie's opening title card read "Berlin 1945" , these opening scenes, set during the end of World War II, were shot in black-and-white, unlike the rest of the movie which was filmed in color ; the black-and-white opener reflected newsreels of the era .
The picture is set approximately exactly forty years after the end of the Second World War. It's second after the film's opener read "New York 1985".
There , the son named Noel Holcroft (Michael Caine replaced James Caan ; Caan walked off the production the day before filming started) of a German General becomes part of a mysterious conspiracy to gain hidden Nazi funds .
As the movie's MacGuffin was a World War II era large heavy metal case, embossed with Nazi insignia, and containing the The Holcroft Covenant .
The picture was the second of three 1980s features based on Ludlum novels, the decade ended with a tele-movie titled The Bourne Identity .
The cast is frankly excellent such as Michael Caine as Holcroft , and other heirs as Anthony Andrews playing Jonathan Tennyson and Victoria Tennant as his sister Helden Tennyson .
Furthermore , second and final of two movies that actor Richard Münch made with director John Frankenheimer , as the first film had been The Train (1964) .
And first of three movies that actor Michael Lonsdale made with director John Frankenheimer , the later films were Ronin (1998) and Riviera (1987).
He took another opportunity to change to the big screen , collaborating with Burt Lancaster in The Young Savages (1961) and Birdman of Alcatraz (62) ending up becoming a successful director well-known by his skills with actors and expressing on movies his views on important social deeds and philosophical events and film-making some classics as ¨The Manchurian candidate¨, ¨Seven days of May¨ and ¨The Train¨ and , in addition , ¨Grand Prix¨ including great car races .
As an avowed life-long fan of Mr. Caine, and a true fanatic for The Manchurian Candidate, I was willing to give this whole miserable mess a bit of slack, until I got about twenty minutes into another scene w/ Mr. Caine as Mr. Holcroft loudly reminding us of his character's seemingly endless stupidity.
Not even Michael Caine is that good of an actor.) The idea that life in a Nazi thriller unfolds like a Pink Panther sequel without punchlines is too difficult to swallow.
I think the whole awful eighties cocaine craze was rampant on this movie set, and that no-one could tell a terrible script from a silver spoon by the time the whole thing got into production.
This muddled movie offers another insight into what happens when rather good film makers overstay their talents.The well known director, writers, and actors, all disappoint in a film that's terrible from start to finish.
For a film from the mid eighties, it has the look of something made a decade earlier.Michael Cain playing Michael Cain, at times looks as if he's not sure if he is working on the right set (or understands the script).
The only notable performance comes from the always reliable Lilli Palmer, who's simply wasted in her role as Cains mother.
Based on Robert Ludlum's novel, this film features Michael Caine as Noel Holcroft, an architect living in New York who is contacted by a Swiss banker and told that his late father(who had been a financial adviser to Hitler, but diverted funds to a Swiss Bank) has made him the executor of a vast trust worth over 4 billion dollars to be used to make reparations to Holocaust survivors.
Noel accepts the position, but then finds himself the target of assassins who want that fortune for a different purpose altogether...a fourth Reich, and return of Nazi power.Intriguing and compelling thriller may be far-fetched at times, but is well acted by all, and features good direction by John Frankenheimer, who creates a whirlwind feel to this international conspiracy tale..
I find director John Frankenheimer to be a very capable action director, but here he's lost in a sea of murky conspiracies (involving a fourth Reich) and idle performances (Victoria Tennant and Anthony Andrews are unconvincing) in this very lukewarm, but drearily complicated political thriller.
For most part it's about globe trotting (some striking international scenery), Michael Caine looking like a fish out of water, meeting up with important figures, those involved reminding each other how much danger they are in and shady scheming being set in motion for this 4.5 billion dollar Nazi fund.
An outstanding director, John Frankenheimer, An excellent source author, Robert Ludlum and a great leading man for thrillers, Michael Caine.
There were plenty of the usual Ludlum plot twists and misdirections, but somehow the feel of this film was not up to the usual standards of Frankenheimer or Caine.
I always enjoy the acting of Michael Caine who played (Noel Holcroft),"Surrender",'87, who is an American working in NY on skycrapers and very successful and is drawn into the past horrors of Nazi rule in Europe.
They both run through the "RED LIGHT" district in Europe through a carnival of FREAKS, which keeps the audience wondering just where this film is going to lead us and will Noel eventually obtain the BILLIONS of Dollars he is responsible to handle?
This whole project is so desperately flawed that even Lilli Palmer cannot save it, though her performance as Caine's mother is the best in the film.
Later in life, Caine finally picked up the skills along the way, and dozens of movies were his RADA, so he ended up a good actor in the end.
The story follows Noel Holcroft (Michael Caine) - A New York real estate business man who has just found out he is going to inherit a huge amount of money that his Nazi father had stolen from Nazi Germany at the end of WW2 just before he died.
The story is full of twists and surprises and leading actor Michael Caine is great here.
This movie intrigued me right from the beginning, with unusual twists and turns with a surprise ending.Very well directed and written, and the music carries it well too.Being a big fan of Michael Cain, he did not disappoint and fit the role perfectly.
Picture this: Michael Caine in a spy movie involving a decades-old secret Nazi organization—and he doesn't even know how to shoot a gun!
Usually, in his Harry Palmer films, or other similar spy movies, he's a former or current British agent and expertly handles the bad guys.
In this one, he's caught unawares by everything and everyone; it's quite endearing.In The Holcroft Covenant, Michael has inherited $4.5 billion from his late father, a secret Nazi.
Along the way to receiving his inheritance and trying to do good with the money, he's advised by Victoria Tennant, Anthony Andrews, Lilli Palmer, and Mario Adorft, but who can he really trust?
The film is chalk full of exciting action sequences, and, as is sometimes unusual for action movies, there's some pretty good acting in it as well.
Michael Caine doesn't just run around and shoot people; he puts himself in the moment of the character and lets the audience know he's scared, hurt, nervous, or plotting.My favorite scene is when he's held at gunpoint in a room full of villains.
Everyone's silent for a while, looking at him expectantly, until finally one woman asks, "What do you want us to do?" "The usual stuff," he replies, showing that even though he's holding a gun, he's really not a bad guy at heart.DLM Warning: If you suffer from vertigo or dizzy spells, like my mom does, this movie might not your friend.
Michael Caine always could anchor a spy flick, and The Holcroft Covenant is no exception.
While the plot is a trifle flat, and a couple of the supporting actors (Victoria Tennent) stretch their abilities, the cinematographic techniques and direction by John Frankenheimer are superb, and Caine and Lilli Palmer are absolutely wonderful.
The elements of film, particularly outdoor angles from crowded streets and icy violin sound effects echo back to the great spy movies of the Cold War era and lend an almost Hitchcockesque eeriness.
Michael Caine wants to use the funds for victims of the Nazis but it is not clear whether anyone else wants this.
Good old Michael Caine.
It's to see Michael Caine, and in this case Victoria Tennant, and even Anthony Andrews.
What her character does in the movie,Lilli Palmer did it in real life:she fleed from nazi Germany in 1940;so Frankenheimer did a good choice by casting her as Caine's mother.But Caine himself was a questionable one:he's neither German nor American and I think that Klaus Maria Brandauer would have been more credible.Is it possible ,for instance ,that Caine never utters a German word whereas his mother probably talked to him in that language when he was a child?This is minor quibble:for once ,and for the first time in almost twenty years ,Frankenheimer had a very good start.Some kind of revenge beyond the grave,which gives the movie an eeerie flavor ,this fantasy touch which produced great works such as " Mandchurian candidate" and "seconds" in the sixties (I pass over in silence the horrible "prophecy").Good idea indeed ,but mediocre screenplay ,which the writers almost completely ruin.Plot holes by the dozen,hackneyed tricks (the dog!I have not mentioned the dog!),and a last scene which is only a pale copy of that of "the Mandchurian candidate"..
Some schmuck, Noel Holcroft (Michael Caine) is doing what any good 'ol American is doing-- working and enjoying life.
His weird acceptance of what folks tell him is mighty strange and is a shortcoming in the plot though late in the film he FINALLY starts to think.
So it sounds like I didn't love the film...and that certainly is the case.
I clearly see this as one of the great director John Frankenheimer's biggest disappointments and could say the same for Robert Ludlum since it's his story.
Also while I love Michael Caine, he was wrong for this film.
...because if I do, it will go way beyond spoilers."The Holcroft Covenant" is based on a Robert Ludlum book which went some 600 pages.
This was doomed to failure, although it is a John Frankenheimer film.The plot, for starters, is far-fetched even for those of us who don't mind suspending some reality.
Michael Caine stars as Noel Holcroft, an architect living in New York who is contacted by a Swiss banker.
One is Jonathan Tennyson (Anthony Andrews), whose sister Helden (Victoria Tennant) is also involved in bringing the covenant to fruition, and Erich Kessler, a conductor who changed his name from Jurgen Mass.Noel's mother (Lili Palmer) is against his involvement and begs him not to sign or even look into the matter.
The audience certainly doesn't know, which should keep the action exciting - instead, it's muddled and confusing.And why the officers made this covenant to accumulate for 40 years is beyond me - seems kind of a long time to wait for those reparations.
When you look at the fact that Anthony Andrews' film career did not take off, nor did Victoria Tennant's -it's a little sad for all of them, most especially the marvelous John Frankenheimer..
What to do with that kind of bread?That's what Michael Caine is wondering, he is one of the three sons of a German general.
What a lottery prize that even if we have to share it.Share it he does with Anthony Andrews, German born and British raised with his sister Victoria Tennant and Mario Adorf who is a famous symphony conductor.Someone's trying to kill Caine, but who and why?
The book by Robert Ludlum, on which this movie is supposed to be based is a brilliant book with lots of twists and turns that keep you guessing.In the book the intrigue is guessing what has gone on, in this movie you find yourself guessing what on earth IS going on but for all the wrong reasons.The characters are nothing like they appear in the book and in one notable instance, 2 women characters get merged into one.
Michael Caine is, as usual Michael Caine, (one of the most over rated actors of all time, he is always the same character in every film he has ever been in since Alfie) but no actor could have saved this movie with it's awful script and bad direction.I do hope that one day they make a decent movie of 'The Holcroft Covenant'.
Today repetitive spy movies, like James Bond, have easy and most of the time boring plots with a bad guy who wants to rule the world.
A must see for people who like real spy movies.
Got this movie as part of a job lot of Michael Caine 'freebies', from the Daily Mail.
By the time John Frankenhimer made "The Holcroft Covenant" his star had already waned.
It's another Nazi conspiracy thriller adapted from a Robert Ludlum novel by three of the best writers in the business, (George Axelrod, Edward Anhalt and John Hopkins), so what went wrong?
Michael Caine, (dreadful), is the lead and Anthony Andrews, Victoria Tennant, Michael Lonsdale and Lilli Palmer are among the others who are wasted in this rubbish.
I never read the book but it can't have been as bad or boring as this film makes it out to be.
I don't mind watching Michael Caine (and Anthony Andrews) stuck in stupid situations.
I can't stop laughing each time Michael Caine yells in his cockney accent that he's an American citizen.
Caine plays a foreign-born American (something that is repeated throughout in order to explain his accent!) architect who discovers that he has been placed in charge of a couple of billion dollars, set aside by his late Nazi father and two other officers, as a way of making latter day reparations to the Jewish family decimated by the Holocaust.
The Holcroft covenant is from a time when Robert Ludlum still wrote very readable thrillers.
THE HOLCROFT COVENANT is lesser-known Robert Ludlum adaptation that sees Michael Caine playing the unsuspecting heir of a Nazi fortune who finds himself mired in conspiracy and murder.
The film itself is rather episodic and has hardly any action and thus not much in the way of life, but the saving grace is the presence of director John Frankenheimer who directors with his customary skill and professionalism.
It's nice to see Caine playing a more ordinary hero than most while the supporting cast includes Anthony Andrews, who is very good playing against type, alongside Euro stalwarts like Mario Adorf and Michael Lonsdale.
Michael Caine's character travels all over the world.
I am sure that everyone involved in this movie would like to have their name removed from the credits, unfortunately, it's to late..
After reading all the previous reviews, I've come to the conclusion that "The Holcroft Covenant" is a movie that you either love or hate.Personally, I loved it, but I can understand that many people would argue that the film runs too long to sustain interest in what I will admit was a somewhat over-complicated and over populated plot.Frankly though, when it comes to detective heroes, I think it's surely hard to beat Michael Caine, who finds himself enmeshed here in The Holcroft Covenant (1985) – which is now available on another superior M-G-M DVD.
Combined with John Frankenheimer's driving direction, plus some superior support thesping from Lilli Palmer (always a woman to watch!), Anthony Andrews and Victoria Tennant, this thrilling which- side-are-you-playing-on thriller scripted by George Axelrod, Edward Anhalt and John Hopkins has been superbly produced on a really extravagant budget.
Not only is there stand-out location photography from Gerry Fisher – surely Britain's number one cameraman of the 1980s - and crisp direction, but the movie has been filmed on an admirably high budget.I know some people would argue that "The Holcroft Covenant" runs too long, but that doesn't worry me, so long as I find what is on the screen to be exciting, intriguing and suspenseful..
The script's blatant disregard for logic must have made him fall in love with it immediately.The other three Nazi kids had known about the covenant since their childhood, and yet Caine somehow didn't have a clue.
If for no other reason than to warn him about it, giving him sufficient time to prepare for ensuing hoopla – and of course to increase his chances of survival.Are we to believe that Palmer was part of the conspiracy to kill her own son, a plan that had been abandoned by the anti-Nazi organization "Wolfsschanze" after the first attempt at Caine's life at the dock?