"The Eagle Has Landed" - EXTENDED version

This was a suprise when I saw it for sale in HMV the other day - and I'm watching it now as I'm working...

Wow. Always thought the editing was a bit disjointed, but THIS version plugs the gaps and changes the perception of certain things in the original version.

For instance....Radl's comment that he "...was measured for his coffin months ago." NOW - he's terminally ill

Little details like that, as well as the Bavarian Alpine setting for the very start of the film.

Anyone else seen it?

 

Some interesting info here:

The Eagle Has Landed - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Radl travels to Alderney and recruits the disgraced Colonel and his surviving men. Steiner's father, General Steiner, who is being tortured by the Gestapo for his ties to the German Resistance, serves as an additional incentive for the Colonel to accept the mission.


Seems a sequel was written too.

 

Yep, "The Eagle Has Flown" came out a few years ago, but I haven't read it.

The new version of the film has at least three more....um..."long meetings" with Jenny Agutter's character, puts a lot more depth into their relationship.

 

Any idea how much longer it runs for ?

 

The extended version is 145 mins - two hours 25 minutes long.

Wiki says the original UK cinema version was "135mins"....but the version that was on over Xmas was certainly shorter than that, edited for "less violence" like not seeing Larry Hagman getting it in the forehead (pity! ) and extra chops here and there to make up the seconds for commercial channel ad breaks.

It ALSO says the US cinema version was 123 mins, that's another 12 mins cut out even compared to the UK version....and thus the extended version is 22 mins longer than IT!

 

One of my all time favourite flicks but I often wondered if Donald Sutherland's "Irish" would pass muster with you guys in the U.K.?

 

The extended version is 145 mins - two hours 25 minutes long.

Wiki says the original UK cinema version was "135mins"....but the version that was on over Xmas was certainly shorter than that, edited for "less violence" like not seeing Larry Hagman getting it in the forehead (pity! ) and extra chops here and there to make up the seconds for commercial channel ad breaks.

It ALSO says the US cinema version was 123 mins, that's another 12 mins cut out even compared to the UK version....and thus the extended version is 22 mins longer than IT!

An interesting fact about movie running times... Movies traditionally have been shot at 24 frames per second.

PAL TV format used in Britain is 25 frames per second (50 fields). Often movies when transferred from cine to PAL video were copied frame by frame.

Ergo PAL video versions often run a little bit faster than the original movie. About 4% faster in fact. So a cinema release of 135 mins, would run for 130 mins on British TV without any cuts.

Lee

 

This was a suprise when I saw it for sale in HMV the other day - and I'm watching it now as I'm working...

Wow. Always thought the editing was a bit disjointed, but THIS version plugs the gaps and changes the perception of certain things in the original version.

For instance....Radl's comment that he "...was measured for his coffin months ago." NOW - he's terminally ill

Little details like that, as well as the Bavarian Alpine setting for the very start of the film.

Anyone else seen it?

Got the dvd last year & it worth every penny , I found the talk about the film with Michael Cain very interesting to + I don't live five miles away from where the film was made

 

Great film I wil have to get the extended version, one of Cains best films and Sutherlands portrayal of Devlin was a cracker!

 

Great film indeed. Moved me a lot. I did read the book and considering the obvious need to make an abridged version for the screen, the book is not so mutilated, nice work. I found the book sequel to be inferior, though, as it happens so often. I'll try to find this director's cut

Another great film for me was Peckinpah's Cross of Iron. But of course nothing beats "Broadsword calling Dannyboy!"

 

Have to admit, I never really "liked" The Eagle Has Landed until now...but the extended version simply hangs together far better.

 

But of course nothing beats "Broadsword calling Dannyboy!"

Simply the best film ever made!

 

Hi Canuck,
My dad was from Sydney NS.
When in UK people often thought he was Irish,so Donald Southerland was a "shoe in" for English ears

 

"Pass me another of those Bolshevik firecrackers , I think I fell asleep in the snow".

The book does read a lot better than the film tells it although some of the scenes in the film are quite good.
Steiner is portrayed as a "decent German" - his encounter with the "General SS" and his line about the "S.bannfuhrer" at the railway station sets them up well.

There was a traitor Legion of St.George "Harvey Preston" in Higgins book also some interplay between Devlin and local gangland characters in London which added to the plot - all lost in the film and the relationship between Mrs Grey and the local land owner is brought into it more ....it is a pity the movie did not start as the book did , the overgrown burial stone in the graveyard.....

1976 when I read it - long time ago .....where did I leave that bloody zimmer frame !!!!

 

Hi Canuck,
My dad was from Sydney NS.
When in UK people often thought he was Irish,so Donald Southerland was a "shoe in" for English ears

Thanks for that. I was always curious. I loved Sutherland as Devlin but then again I liked him in just about any role. His part in The Dirty Dozen and as Oddball in Kelly's Heroes were classic.

 

I was lucky (old) enough to see it when it first came out. The only let down was that the film's Norfolk didn't look much like the one we lived in. I think the coastal scenes were actually filmed in the right place.

 

Not surprising, Idler, as the village of 'Studley Constable' is actually Mapledurham in Berkshire. Coincidentally I found this out from an article in this month's BBC 'Country File' magazine about walks featuring film and tv locations. The mill where one of Caine's men sacrifices his life to save a child and accidentally reveals his real identity also helped inspire 'The Wind in the Willows'. Do any places in Norfolk actually have old Roman Catholic parish churches?
Anyone who sees 'The Eagle..' should also seek out the amazing wartime propaganda film 'Went the Day Well' which is an obvious inspiration for it.

 

"Pass me another of those Bolshevik firecrackers , I think I fell asleep in the snow".

The book does read a lot better than the film tells it although some of the scenes in the film are quite good.
Steiner is portrayed as a "decent German" - his encounter with the "General SS" and his line about the "S.bannfuhrer" at the railway station sets them up well.

There was a traitor Legion of St.George "Harvey Preston" in Higgins book also some interplay between Devlin and local gangland characters in London which added to the plot - all lost in the film and the relationship between Mrs Grey and the local land owner is brought into it more ....it is a pity the movie did not start as the book did , the overgrown burial stone in the graveyard.....

1976 when I read it - long time ago .....where did I leave that bloody zimmer frame !!!!

It is one of the disapointing bits that the film does not cover all aspects in the book,

but back in the late 70's, the existance of the British Frei Korps wasnt a politacally welcome thing to portray in the cinema

 

I did enjoy the film when I saw it first and as I hadnt read the book I didnt realise that there were gaps in the story. So I enjoyed it for what it is. Now having read the book, I can say I'm glad I saw the film first. The Book is better (as all books are).

 

Great film I wil have to get the extended version, one of Cains best films and Sutherlands portrayal of Devlin was a cracker!

I like the scene where Devlin is thrown through the pub window.

Regards
Tom