I'm tempted to believe that Jack Higgins saw "Went the Day Well" (Alberto Cavalcanti, 1942) at some point during his formative years, and used its plot for his novel/screenplay to The Eagle Has Landed. "Eagle" elicits an average performance from Michael Caine and a laughable one from Donald Sutherland (whose "enigmatic Irish rebel" act just doesn't wash). Deadly boring performances from Jenny Agutter and Jean Marsh fail to illuminate on the distaff side. You could do better by tracking down a copy of Went The Day Well and watching that instead.
Review of The Eagle Has Landed
