By the time John Frankenhimer made "The
Holcroft Covenant" his star had already waned. It's a terrible picture
and it's hard to believe it was directed by the same man who made "The
Manchurian Candidate". It's another Nazi conspiracy thriller adapted
from a Robert Ludlum novel by three of the best writers in the business,
(George Axelrod, Edward Anhalt and John Hopkins), so what went wrong?
Well for starters it could be a case of too many cooks for there isn't a
believable line of dialogue in the entire film which zooms all over the
place at great speed but goes absolutely nowhere; the budget obviously
allowed for some nifty location shooting and Gerry Fisher's
cinematography is one of the film's few saving graces.
It's also preposterously plotted and atrociously acted. Michael Caine, (dreadful), is the lead and Anthony Andrews, Victoria Tennant, Michael Lonsdale and Lilli Palmer are among the others who are wasted in this rubbish. That fine British character actor Bernard Hepton manages to come out of it smelling of roses which is really something of a miracle. Of course, perhaps it was meant to be a comedy but if it was it isn't a particularly funny one.
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