The Black Windmill

(UK)

Universal. Director Don Siegel; Producer Don Siegel; Screenplay Leigh Vance; Camera Ousama Rawi; Editor Antony Gibbs; Music Roy Budd; Art Director Peter Murton

Michael Caine
Donald Pleasence
Delphine Seyrig
Clive Revill
John Vernon
Joss Ackland

Don Siegel's filmmaking takes a dip in The Black Windmill, a British espionage drama with Michael Caine as an agent whose son has been kidnapped by one of his own spy colleagues. All principal players are well cast, but the production fizzles in its final half-hour because the story premise gets clobbered by clumsy and ineffective resolution and execution.

Clive Egleton's novel, Seven Days to a Killing, has been adapted by Leigh Vance. Script sets Caine up well: his superior (Donald Pleasence) hates him anyway, so the kidnapping and later circumstantial evidence suggests Caine himself has arranged the snatch. Janet Suzman, estranged from Caine because of his work, returns to his side. John Vernon and Delphine Seyrig are key figures in the kidnap and concurrent entrapment of Caine.

(Color) Widescreen. Available on VHS. Extract of a review from 1974. Running time: 106 MIN.

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