Eye of the Needle (1981)
Great Britain, 1944, during World War II. Relentlessly pursued by several MI5 agents, Henry Faber the Needle, a ruthless German spy in possession of vital information about D-Day, takes refuge on Storm Island, an inhospitable, sparsely inhabited island off the coast of northern Scotland.
- Richard Marquand
- Roger Simons
- Anthony Squire
- Valerie Booth
- Angela Allen
- Stanley Mann
- Ken Follett
Rating: 6.7/10 by 224 users
Alternative Title:
La isla de las tormentas - MX
Neulansilmä - FI
針の眼 - JP
Nålen - NO
以牙还牙 - CN
Country:
United Kingdom
United States of America
Language:
English
Deutsch
Runtime: 01 hour 48 minutes
Budget: $0
Revenue: $18,000,000
Plot Keyword: husband wife relationship, based on novel or book, submarine, world war ii, d-day, nazi spy, cold blooded killer, 1940s, isolated island
**_To kill and love during WW2 with Donald Sutherland and Kate Nelligan_** A German spy in Britain (Sutherland) has strategic info on the D-Day landing in 1944. As he tries to elude the authorities, he stumbles on a couple living remotely near the coast (Nelligan and Christopher Cazenove). Will he make it out? Who will live and who will die? "Eye of the Needle” (1981) is a war drama/thriller, but not a conventional war movie. The plot has similarities to “The Eagle Has Landed” (1976) with the same actor as the spy (Sutherland). It’s almost as if they’re the same character. The difference is that “Eagle” features military combat whereas this one is decidedly a spy-on-the-run flick with the thrills thereof. Like “Eagle,” this is easily one of Sutherland’s top movies. The British scenery is awesome, the palette is colorful, the adventure is compelling, the drama/romance is good and the suspense is off-the-charts in the final act. There are elements of “The Eagle Has Landed,” “The Heroes of Telemark” (1965) and the later “The House on Carroll Street” (1988). If you like these flicks, this is a must; it’s as good or better than any of ’em. The film runs 1 hour, 52 minutes, and was shot in Argyll and Bute, Scotland, which is located in southwest Scotland, including Oban, nearby Connel Bridge and the Isle of Mull. Studio stuff was done in England in the greater London area, as well as the airport scene filmed at Blackbushe Airport. GRADE: A-
