I first saw this on TV back in the mid 70's and it was definitely a story of the time, when WW2 was still in the forefront of many peoples minds. Maybe not to the more modern taste, I've always enjoyed this film. It has a feel of the Thirty Nine Steps about it.Just before the outbreak of WW2, Peter O'Tooles character fails in his revenge assassination attempt on Hitler. With the help of a sympathetic German, and English sailors, he escapes back to Britain and has to go on the run from the British and Nazi authorities who are both after him to return to Germany to answer for his "crime". He goes into hiding in the country, drawing on his hunting experience, and waits to the outbreak of war when his assassination attempt is looked on in a completely different light by the British, who now see him as a potential asset.

Peter O'Toole is perfectly cast as the Hannay-esquire Thorndyke (any relation to Thornhill? - Geddit?) in a claustrophobic, chill bitten English winterscape. It was broadcast in the mid seventies when I was a teenager - just the right age to watch this kind of hokum - so I can't actually remember much about it except it reeked of tweed, bracken and shotguns.. Alistair Sim was in it, again, perfectly cast. Seemed to mix a sense of ennui with slight disdain. O'Toole slots in there with Donat and Grant in a classic of its time.Top notch stuff, eh biffer!

Unlike his protagonist, director Clive Donner's masterful tale hits its mark on all levels. In adapting the over 50 year-old novel (which I have not read), Donner takes Peter O'Toole through one of his most charming and ruthless roles. The views are taken on a journey into the depths of man's obsession with security and vengeance.Inspired by the death of his lover Rebecca, O'Toole hunts down the man he considers most responsible for her execution: Adolph Hitler. With World War II not yet reaching the shores of England, Hitler finds himself in the sights of O'Toole rifle. With a masterful shot of dark coffee flowing over a white tablecloth, the viewer realized that O'Toole has missed his shot, and his physical torture begins.In crafting a made-for-TV film, Donner was limited somewhat in the graphic nature of the presentation. But, he overcomes this by portraying the most shocking scenes (the extraction of O'Toole's fingernails and the death Major Quive-Smith) with a morbid sense of humor.The same humor is present in the short (but delightful) exchange between O'Toole and the great Alistair Sims. While Sims makes nothing more certain than he is turning his back on O'Toole, the manner in which he does this is exceptional to watch.Indeed, it is the sense of humor throughout the film that helps to propel the story. Rather that feel any emotional attachment for O'Toole, I was more interested in his manner of survival and escape. This emotional dis-attachment is the only reason I scored this film an 8. While I can accept the reason for his revenge, I think that in today's world, such a person would likely be labeled insane and hated by the general public.

I found this film lurking in the BBC Archives with dust on it.Last viewed the year it came out.It is an immensely atmospheric film shot in that typical seventies film which has aged - slightly murky and blurred with low and dark colour range, a bit like Bergerac or outside scenes of Fawlty Towers! I think Peter O'Toole does a great job in this and is so suited to the role and is really the only real acting presence apart from perhaps the chap he shoots at the end.There are a couple of nice quirky characters though who he meets on the , like the couple who sell him a tandem in a quaint village in Dorset and his plump uncle who we only ever see in a Turkish steam room.This a a good bit of greyish British seventies TV.