The Key to Rebecca

I have returned to the book a few times. It's a gripping yarn with three ingredients I like... spies, WW2 and The Middle East. This is, however, an appalling adaptation.

Made in the 80's but feels like it has the production values of the 50's. The secondary characters are so badly portrayed. As for the two male and two female leads... really these performances are unprintable... though likely not their fault... it's just such a bad production.

If ever a film needed a remake by someone good with good directing and production... this is it. It's a super story.

If you're a David Soul fan then you should love this movie. He is HOT HOT HOT and that's all I have to say about it!

I somehow missed this when it was on tv in the 1980s. This is exactly the sort of thing I love a spy/war story.

But this production is very poor. It looks like the worst 1980s tv production and while Cliff Robertson and David Soul are adequate in the lead roles the smaller parts are badly played and the script in poor.

People are critical of The Winds Of War and its sequel but it is so much better than this.

It annoys me that I can buy this on dvd but things worth seeing like Inside The Third Reich are not available.

If you have seen Eye of the Needle (1981), Then you will probably like this movie. However, this one was a mini-series on TV so there was not as much thought put into it as if it were a made for theater movie. Interestingly, the film was made in Tunisia.

David Soul is cast as Alex Wolff, which matches the book (ISBN: 0451163494) pretty well. Robert Culp is stretching it as General Rommel. You will have to look really hard at the credits to see that Season Hubley plays Elene Fontana. My favorite surprise was seeing Richard Gibson playing a British officer Captain Newman and speaks with a British accent. However, I remember him as Otto Flick (the Gestapo) in 'Allo 'Allo (1982).

I can see the "R" rating, as there are plenty of risqué shots of men and women, and women and men, and women and women.

There are enough plot twists to keep your attention.

This is pretty good movie if you are willing to accept: the fact that David Soul is German and a Nazi; A lesbian scene in which a heterosexual woman accepts a lesbian with a simple "don't worry" comment after which she gets in the scene; Robertson has an English (Queen's English) speaking son; No-one seems to find anyone, even though they are in-front of them. People die for no reason.

Even with all of that, it is suspensful, sexy, and rather exciting.

Well worth spending a few hours watching on video or on TV (however, only on encrypted channels....)