Alistair Maclean wrote dozens of international bestsellers, and "When Eight Bells Toll" was one of several screenplays that the Scottish novelist penned. Oscar-winning actor Anthony Hopkins was slim and trim back in 1971 when producer Elliott Kastner cast him as Royal Navy scuba diving expert Commander Philip Calvert for this ocean-going opus about five hijacked British bullion ships in the Irish Sea. At one point, the grim but indestructible Calvert informs his peremptory superior that he doesn't have guests and friends, just enemies. Of course, that's an overstatement. He does have friends, but they seem to die at the hands of his enemies. Indeed, those enemies keep Calvert jumping through metaphorical flaming hoops in this straightforward saga. Calvert isn't a man to quibble when it comes to enemies, particularly if they have killed some of his friends. He rams two armed thugs in a boat with his yacht, knocking them overboard so they lose their assault rifles and then swim desperately to shore. Does this keep Calvert from shooting them as they swim away from him in the back? No, it doesn't, and you know that you're watching a gritty, above-average thriller when he guns those guys down without a qualm. Interestingly enough, "When Eight Bells Toll" was Hopkins' first role as the leading man. He knocks the bottom out of the role, and it would have been a recurring character for him to play, except this S 7-million Maclean thriller floundereed at the box office. Nevertheless, "The Day the Hot Line Got Hot" helmer Etienne Périer, who also directed "Zeppelin," maintains momentum throughout all the action and intrigue and never deviates from his destination. Maclean and he see to it that nothing Calvert does is without peril. Meaning, this don't give our hero a break. During one sequence, Calvert goes aloft courtesy of the Royal Navy to fly around the area in search of places where the villains might hide the bullion ships. Naturally, the trigger-happy villains complicate his life by shooting down the helicopter. The helicopter pilot, Lieutenant Williams (Maurice Roëves of "The Eagle Has Landed") takes enough bullets through the chest to die at the control stick, and the helicopter not only crashes but also sinks to the bottom of the bay near the coast. Calvert conceals himself with the help of a respirator just beneath the villains as they survey the waters for him. When they weren't shooting this item at Pinewood in England, the filmmakers were doing exteriors in Scotland in Fingal's Cave, Staffa, Argyll, and Bute. "Where Eagles Dare" lenser Arthur Ibbetson's widescreen cinematography captures all the grit and the beauty of the rugged Scots locations. As Sir Arthur Artford Jones ('Uncle Arthur'), Robert Morley is good as Calvert's supercilious superior. Uncle Arthur and Calvert don't immediately get off on the right foot, and Arthur considers Calvert both insolent and insubordinate. These two wind up working together to thwart the villains. "When Eight Bells Toll" contains all the ingredients of a sturdy Maclean thriller: mystery, surprises, a hero competent on land, sea, and beneath water, and a sterling cast that includes Jack Hawkins and Ferdy Mayne. This movie is worth watching!

Having trouble in engaging myself in the start of this movie, being a dramatization of the Alistair MacLean novel, it soon grew on me. The funny understatements back at the headquarters I immediately started loving.On the cover of this Norwegian edition DVD it's stated that MacLean has had18 of his novels made into films. I think this a successful adaption, though over shone by "The guns of Navarone" and "Where eagles dare". That said, it's a pity that his most exiting novel "Night without end" from 1959. Shurely it would be a great film to make even today.This is very like an 70'ies James Bond-film, where we meet Anthony Hopkins as an agent, not very unlike James Bond. There's even a Bond-girl. He is sent up to a rural part of coastal Scotland, MacLeans native country, to investigate why there are so many ships getting lost up there. He gets to find himself not very well welcome.I think Robert Morley is magnificent in his role as Uncle Arthur, and so is Anthony Hopkins as agent Philip Calvert, which have naturally bad manners, according to his boss, being born to a lesser class. Uncle Arthur's Lines are hilarious, and much wittier than his equals in James Bond-movies.Agent Calvert kills off bad guys like puppets on a chain (!), and the film keeps the mystery for a long time, making the ride an interesting one. This tells me Hopkins could have been a great Bond.The film is very time typical of early 70'ies, and it's a lovely coast and salty water film. You literary smell the salty sea water. It gets more entertaining and exciting as the film proceeds, and I think that it's a great period piece to watch.Recommended for those enjoying classics!

Recap: At the northern coast of Scotland ships transporting large amounts of gold start to disappear. The Royal Navy and send for men to investigate. They place two men aboard the ship, and the other two to follow the ship. When the two men aboard is murdered, along with the rest of the crew, Calvert, a military commando and Hunslett, naval intelligence, continues to investigate and find themselves continuously harassed by henchmen to a wealthy skipper, Sir Skouras. To Calvert, this is just incentive to intensify his search within or outside regulations. It all comes to a violent end when Calvert must storm a castle to rescue a hostage and stop Skouras. But in the middle of the operation he gets aware of that he has been set up, and gotten most wrong.Comments: A spy thriller based on the novel by Alistair Maclean, with the same title. Made in the early seventies it shares many elements with the Bond movies of the same era. Calvert is an agent not very concerned with rules or regulations, but highly efficient in undercover assignments. As such it got a good story with new developments all along, some more surprising twists than others, but some twists nonetheless.It good some action too, even though some fight scenes and shoot outs leave a little more to wish for. Special effects have developed a lot since, but even judged by its own standards a few scenes feel a little too low budget or lack of means or effort. Mostly it is quite OK, though. But sometimes it just get silly, for example when a wooden small boat explodes upon crashing on some rocks.Starring in this movie is Anthony Hopkins in a very early role. It is almost hard to recognize him but his characteristic voice gives him away. I'm not sure I could say his performance speaks of the great star he was about to become, but it was fun to see him in a role of action hero, a role I've never seen him play before.6/10

I saw this at the cinema when it was first released. I was nine at the time and I notice the DVD has now been released with a '15' certificate. Oh, well. I suppose there are some scenes (helpless men shot from a boat as 'payback' for a dead colleague, a very graphic harpooning) that are best not seen by children. In 1971 it just seemed very exciting (and had an 'A' certificate).I enjoyed the film when I first saw it and while it seems rather dated now, I think it's still worth viewing. It sets out to provide escapist entertainment and on that level it succeeds. My memories of seeing the film 34 years ago (help!) was of the waves crashing against huge black cliffs and *feeling* the cold dampness of North-West Scotland on the edge of the Atlantic. The locations are very well used indeed, the viewer gets a real sense of place. The cast perform their roles well, Anthony Hopkins and Robert Morley particularly playing mutual antagonism with some nice comic touches.One reviewer mentioned that Charles Gray's dubbing of Jack Hawkins's voice seemed a bit slapdash. When Charles Gray was interviewed about dubbing Hawkins (which he did quite regularly after the mid-60's) he said that Hawkins insisted on *speaking* his lines even after his voice was gone. The result was to make his delivery very erratic and therefore difficult to voice-over. Jack Hawkins was one of the best actors we've had (Cruel Sea, Bridge on the River Kwai, Ben-Hur, Lawrence of Arabia, etc., etc.) and these supporting roles made a rather sad postscript to his career.