When Eight Bells Toll
Dir: Etienne Perier
1971
**
When Eight Bells Toll has a great poster, full of promises of action packed...action etc. The truth is that this is more like James Bond on a shoestring. Philip Calvert certainly isn't James Bond anyway, he's more like Bergerac on a rainy day. If you don't understand what I mean by 'like Bergerac on a rainy day' then lucky you, although I did like a bit of John Nettles action on a Tuesday afternoon. He had a great leather jacket if I recall. I digress. When the film is serious it's too serious and when the film is camp and ridiculous it's too camp and ridiculous (if anything ever can be that is). Light relief comes from Robert Morley's pompous 'M' figure and Jack Hakins who plays a Greek art collector Sir Arthur Skouras who is a piano short from being a full blown Liberace tribute act. Everything else is laughable/forgettable/rubbish.