When Eight Bells Toll (1971) on Netflix
GP19711h 34mActionAdventureCrime
British Treasury agent Philip Calvert and his partner Hunslett reach the Scottish port of Torbay, posing as marine biologists. Five cargo ships have been hijacked at sea.
- Netflix4.3/5
- IMDb6.0/103,262 votes
- Rotten TomatoesNot available
Trailer
Plot summary
Five cargo ships have been hijacked in the Irish Sea, and the most recent, the Nantesville, was carrying eight million pounds in gold bullion. Philip Calvert, a British Treasury secret agent, is sent to investigate. The trail leads him to Torbay, a small port in the Scottish Highlands, where he and his partner, Hunslett, pose as marine biologists. The locals are suspicious and hostile, and boats and people have gone missing from the area. Offshore rides the luxury yacht Shangri-La, owned by the Cypriot shipping magnate Sir Anthony Skouras, who may hold answers. Lord Kirkside and his daughter, at a nearby castle, behave strangely too.
Cast
- Leon Collinsas Tim Hutchinson
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about When Eight Bells Toll (1971)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Jack Hawkins had lost his larynx to throat cancer in 1966, so the uncredited Charles Gray dubbed his voice in the film, an arrangement Hawkins approved.
- Producer Elliott Kastner says he raised the film's budget by cold-calling a man he had read about in Fortune magazine, asking him for $1.8 million and getting a cheque on the spot; Anthony Hopkins was paid £8,000 for the role.
- Alistair MacLean wrote the screenplay himself and kept it close to his novel, but some twists in the ending were changed and his Agatha Christie-style summation was replaced by a shootout.
- Bond stunt arranger Bob Simmons helped Anthony Hopkins slim down for the part so he would be convincing as a Royal Naval officer trained as a commando and frogman.
