Spitfrnd
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Eagles Over London is a spaghetti war version of the Battle of Britain directed by Endo Castellari of the original Inglorious Bastards fame. It was recently released in the US and Blu-ray, likely due to the notoriety of the Tarantino recent adaptation of Castellari's better known IB. The plot is based on the supposed infiltration of the British Army retreating from Dunkirk by a squad of English speaking SS troopers in captured uniforms. The agents are tasked with disabling the British secret weapon radar system to facilitate the German invasion. The scheme is discovered by an Italian British Army captain who leads a special unit to try and thwart their mission. It includes one named actor, Van Johnson on the downside of his career, cast as a fighting Air Marshall.
Interestingly, the film was released a just two months prior to the Battle of Britain.
This is not a film that worries much about historical accuracy. In fact, it has so many historical blunders that they are more amusing that annoying and it romps along with fine B movie fashion through all measure of implausible action sequences and plot twists. To cite just one example, on the way into the heavily guarded RAF command center, the German raiders manage to shoot a legion of British guards with near impunity and on the way out they find themselves dispatched with same ease by the special British Army unit that has been assigned to find them. It is always nice to have the director on your side. That said, it is a rather enjoyable effort, especially for its low budget and if you park the left side of your brain you can derive a fair measure of mindless entertainment from it. Be warned though that its video quality is at the bottom of Blu-ray standards.
What amazed me most about the release was the sometimes lavish praise for the technical genius of the film and the outrageous complimentary comparisons between it and the Battle of Britain, a film in a complete different class that it has gotten from some reviewers. Watching the talking head so called film expert interview of Castellari in a special Hollywood screening of the new release was particularly amusing with constant obsequious claims of superiority to the much better BoB. It is a not unpleasant diversion but hardly a classic. I would give it 2.5 stars. So if you rent (this is not one to buy IMHO) this release be sure to view the Eagles over Hollywood special feature. And they wonder why the world hates film critics.
Interestingly, the film was released a just two months prior to the Battle of Britain. This is not a film that worries much about historical accuracy. In fact, it has so many historical blunders that they are more amusing that annoying and it romps along with fine B movie fashion through all measure of implausible action sequences and plot twists. To cite just one example, on the way into the heavily guarded RAF command center, the German raiders manage to shoot a legion of British guards with near impunity and on the way out they find themselves dispatched with same ease by the special British Army unit that has been assigned to find them. It is always nice to have the director on your side.
That said, it is a rather enjoyable effort, especially for its low budget and if you park the left side of your brain you can derive a fair measure of mindless entertainment from it. Be warned though that its video quality is at the bottom of Blu-ray standards.What amazed me most about the release was the sometimes lavish praise for the technical genius of the film and the outrageous complimentary comparisons between it and the Battle of Britain, a film in a complete different class that it has gotten from some reviewers. Watching the talking head so called film expert interview of Castellari in a special Hollywood screening of the new release was particularly amusing with constant obsequious claims of superiority to the much better BoB.
It is a not unpleasant diversion but hardly a classic. I would give it 2.5 stars. So if you rent (this is not one to buy IMHO) this release be sure to view the Eagles over Hollywood special feature. And they wonder why the world hates film critics.
