Reviews

Broadsword Calling Danny Boy': On Where Eagles Dare by Geoff Dyer

mazza57's review against another edition

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3.0

This is almost a plotting of the plot of the film "Where Eagles Dare". I see it as a "what is my motivation" in this film / how should i play it? There are moments where i really did catch the satire that is loaded throughout the book. It was a short, witty read and I enjoyed it although I can see the style and content being a bit "Marmite" for the reading public who will love and hate it in equal numbers.

mwx1010's review against another edition

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3.0

This is a very strange little book.

I picked it up on the back of Zona, Dyer’s earlier book on Tarkovsky’s Stalker, but this is a very different proposition. This is not really a huge surprise as on the face of it there’s very little to link Stalker, rated as a masterpiece of Russian cinema and one of the greatest films of all time with this book’s subject - Where Eagles Dare, a by the numbers piece of studio film-making not likely to appear on a list of the masterpieces of any kind of cinema.

This is not really so much a work of film criticism as a scene-by-scene retelling of the entire film with asides and observations - Dyer’s book works as something of a written commentary track.

It’s all very slight but Dyer does have an engaging turn of phrase and this is an enjoyable way to waste an hour or two, particularly for British readers of a certain age who were raised on endless TV reruns of the film.

reverenddave's review against another edition

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3.0

I have no idea why a book such as this exists, but I enjoyed it.

chemistcraig's review against another edition

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lighthearted medium-paced

2.0

I bought this book because I really like the film too, and was curious what the book would be about. It reads like it's been written by a film critic who *really* likes the sound of his own (writing) voice. Very disappointed.

kebabinamm's review

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funny medium-paced

3.5

janey's review

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4.0

Oh Geoff Dyer, you always make strange obsessions seem completely normal!

Now I'm going to watch the movie and later this week I'm going to see him give a presentation based on the book, including scenes from the movie, and as far as I'm concerned this is heaven.

raehink's review

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3.0

Dyer examines his favorite childhood war movie scene by scene. Snarky British humor.
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