It's May 1940. France has surrendered to Nazi Germany and the battle scarred British are retreating from Dunkirk. However, in the midst of this chaos a crack Nazi spy unit made up of English speaking Germans wearing British uniforms is worming its way into the ranks of the British army. These imposters make their way to England with the rest of the evacuation fleet. They have one objective, destroy all radar installations along the English coast prior to a planned invasion by Germany. As the battle of Britain commences, it is up to Captain Stevens to root out and stop the saboteurs before Britain is crippled at the mercy of the Luftwaffe! I thoroughly enjoyed this Macaroni combat flick from one of Italy's finest, Enzo G. Castellari. Those of you who are familiar with the spaghetti western and Eurocrime genres will know that Castellari is a master of the action movie and it is evident that much of today's action filmmakers have learnt a lot from him. Eagles Over London gets off to an enthralling start with the explosive ambush of a German tank column, the murder of British troops and the strafing of the Dunkirk beaches by German planes. After this there is a lull in the action and the middle of the movie is very hollow to say the least before we get an exciting firefight as one of the radar stations is partly destroyed. Towards the climax there are a couple of suspenseful dogfights and another exciting attack on a radar base in which the bogus troops are thwarted. As per usual I was thrilled by the special effects and stunts throughout the film and there is a sturdy number of kills. The stuntmen flail, flip and hit the ground in a way that is rarely seen outside of Italian cinema. Then we have the typical European cinematography(the quick zooms and dizzying pans)which always add a special touch to these movies. Castellari uses the split screen technique to fantastic effect during the air battles. This provides the film with a kind of novelty value. I was taken aback by how professionally Castellari utilised the split screen method and I also thought that the inclusion of stock footage from the real battle of Britain was a fine touch. On one side of the screen we have stock footage and on the other you see the Spitfires and Messerschmitts firing at each other, it's pretty impressive. There is also a scene which is a blatant rip-off of the kissing sequence between Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway in The Thomas Crown Affair. A male and female character embrace as the camera performs a repeated 360 degree pan around them.The film is given a rousing score by Francesco Di Masi and the acting was also satisfactory. Frederick Stafford made a great hero in Captain Stevens and an excellently villainous Luigi Pistilli was a robust adversary. Hollywood star Van Johnson, complete with American accent, seemed happy to collect a paycheck as an RAF commander. Look out for a cameo from spaghetti western bad guy Eduardo Fajardo as a German officer and a decent turn by Jacques Berthier as Colonel Smith.Eagles Over London is a cracking yarn directed with skill by Enzo G. Castellari. The middle section is rather dull but the film is bookended by a series of riveting and well executed action scenes. 8/10.

See it – Like the many spaghetti westerns that were made during the 70's, there were also a slew of Italian-made WWII movies. The only reason to see this film is that it is possibly the best spaghetti war movie ever made. That being said, this is far from a great movie. It has a fictitious plot (although it takes place during historic events), it is poorly dubbed, and there's no Clint Eastwood. But the action scenes are pretty decent, including exciting opening and ending combat sequences. It's the story of German spies who disguise themselves as British soldiers during the evacuation from Dunkirk in order to destroy radar installations during the Battle of Britain. The only actor you're likely to recognize is Van Johnson, who, although a great actor, is pretty badly miscast in a limited role as a British air marshal. 3 out of 5 action rating

WWII Italian/Spanish epic , this time about British airmen who prevented threatened Nazi invasion. Action,suspense and entertainment with an unit of Nazis (Francisco Rabal , Luigi Pistilli , among others) infiltrated on England . It commences at Dunkirk when a German band infiltrates British lines and unites the evacuation to Great Britain for the aim of conducting covert missions . As the Battle of Britain starts the Germans focus on attempting the sabotage new Allied Radar installations .A British Captain (Frederick Stafford ) tries to track down the Germans aided by a sergeant (Renzo Palmer) and under direct orders of a British Air Marshal (Van Johnson). It is 1940, and the diabolical mind of Adolf Hitler is planning to bomb England into submission to his warped dreams of a 'Fortress Europe'. Standing between Britain's freedom and Hitler's terrifying plans is the R.A.F - dedicated pilots who took to the skies in the face of overwhelming odds. The German Luftwaffe's planes outnumber the R.A.F's by more than 2 to 1 - 650 planes of the R.A.F. vs. 2,500 of the Luftwaffe! These odds , however, do not deplete the determination of the R.A.F. to stop Hitler, and as the Luftwaffe launches wave after wave of Heinkel 111 bombers against British cities, the R.A.F. responds, under the political leadership of Winton Churchill . Squadron Leaders lead the newest pilots of the R.A.F. into dogfighting with the Luftwaffe's experienced veterans, with the aim of driving Hitler's forces away from Dover's white cliffs for good .This European co-production between Italy/Spain/France contains noisy action , wartime intrigue, explosions, shootouts, bombing and is quite amusing . But it's also a historical reenactment of the air war in the early days of WWII for control of the skies over Britain as a subject matter that deals with a vital period of world history as the new Luftwaffe and the Royal Air Force determine whether or not an invasion can take place . Well-made war-action/thriller/adventure/ Eurotrash film , is a standout in its genre : The Spaghetti-Italian warlike. This exciting movie gets lots of action, spectacular scenes , displays several extras and tanks, in fact, the production wishes thanks the British Ministry of defense and the Army general staff for their collaboration in making this film. Relentless plot twists ,in spite of some flaws ,the warlike action keep you breathless , thanks to suspense and acceptable widescreen aerial sequences , which will suffer on small television. Great aerial photography with nice special effects aerial unit by Emilio Ruiz Del Rio. Fine cinematography by Alejandro Ulloa of ¨Horror Express¨ and atmospheric score by Francesco De Massi. Rough,elegant Francisco Rabal is good as the group leader of the motley pack ,he along with Luigi Pistilli leads the misfit group of Nazis from behind enemy lines . Remainder casting has such a terrific plethora formed by several European actors , as French : Frederick Stafford ,Jacques Berthier ; Spanish : Teresa Gimpera , Luis Davila ,Eduardo Fajardo ; Italian : Luigi Pistilli , Ida Galli and Renzo Palmer , furthermore special appearance by Van Johnson as Air Marshall Taylor. The film takes part from American classic movies referred to Commandos genre ,just like :¨ Dirty dozen¨, ¨Kelly's heroes¨ and ¨Where the eagles dare¨ but especially of ¨ Battle of England¨ by Guy Hamilton . The picture is professionally directed by Enzo Girolami Castellari who made another good war film: ¨Inglorious bastards¨. He had a lot of hit-smash in the action cinema and Spaghetti as ¨Keoma¨ and ¨Go kill and come back¨, in fact the film is an Italian Western developed on the WWII. The pic will appeal to Eurocult fans and Italian-Spaniard production enthusiasts.

Using the chaos of the Dunkirk evacuation as a cover, several German agents take on the identities of English soldiers in order to gain access to England and take out the radar installations. One Captain aware of the ruse has to track the men down and stop them before the Germans can bomb England into surrendering.Good, if a bit long, spy story set in London. there are several action set pieces that are quite good, though they suffer a great deal in pan and scan because of the use of multiple images. (Oh how this film cries out for a good letterbox edition.) This is the sort of film that grabs you from the first couple of moments and then drags you along at its conclusion. I really liked this and probably should have rated it higher than 6 but I think the viewing experience was really hindered by a lack of widescreen.Worth searching out, especially if you can find a wide screen copy.