Bear Island (film)

Bear Island is a 1979 British-Canadian thriller film loosely based on the novel Bear Island by Alistair MacLean. It was directed by Don Sharp and starred Donald Sutherland, Vanessa Redgrave, Richard Widmark, Christopher Lee and Lloyd Bridges.

Plot

A UN expedition of scientists from different countries come to barren arctic Bear Island, between Svalbard and northern Norway, to study climate change. However, several of them turn out to be more interested in the fact that (according to the film) there was a German U-boat base on the island during World War II. American scientist Frank Lansing (Donald Sutherland) has come because his father was a U-boat commander who died there, and as accidents start to decimate the expedition he begins to realize that some of his colleagues are after a shipment of gold aboard the U-boat that his father commanded.

Cast

• Donald Sutherland – Frank Lansing
• Vanessa Redgrave – Heddi Lindquist
• Richard Widmark – Otto Gerran
• Christopher Lee – Lechinski
• Lloyd Bridges – Smithy
• Bruce Greenwood – Technician Tommy
• Barbara Parkins – Judith Rubin
• Patricia Collins – Inge Van Zipper
• Mark Jones – Cook
• August Schellenberg – Marine Technician
• Candace O'Connor – Laboratory Assistant
• Michael Collins – Ship's Captain
• Michael J. Reynolds – Heyter
• Lawrence Dane – Paul Hartman
• Nicholas Cortland – Jungbeck
• Joseph Golland – Meteorological Assistant
• Richard Wren – Radio Operator
• Hagan Beggs – Larsen
• Robert Stelmach – Ship's Radio Operator
• Terry Waterhouse – Helicopter Crewman

Production notes

While the interiors were shot in Pinewood Studios outside London, the outdoor scenes were shot at Stewart, British Columbia and at Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska, depicting a much more dramatic landscape than the real Bear Island offers.

According to the book, The Hollywood Hall of Shame, it was the most expensive film ever made in Canada up till then. Of the budget, $3.3 million came from the British arm of Columbia Pictures, $3 million from Selkirk Film Holdings, $1.8 million from the Toronto Dominion Bank, $1.2 million from the Bank of Montreal, and $100,000 from the Canadian Film Development Corporation.

The Swedish invention called Larven (The Caterpillar) by Lennart Nilsson is used in the chases around the island.

The film is rated R13 in New Zealand as it contains violence.

External links

• Bear Island at IMDb
• Bear Island at the TCM Movie Database
• Review at AlistairMacLean.com
• Review at Time Out London
• Review at TV Guide
• Review at New York Times