To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

"Bear Island" contains a once-in-a-lifetime cast, is based on a popular action novel by Alistair MacLean, and had a considerable budget. So you might think that the end results would be at least of some interest. However, it's anything but. There are a lot of problems I could go on for some time describing, such as the unenthusiastic performances, some murky plot details, and some surprisingly cheap touches despite the large budget. But the biggest problem with the movie is that it's surprisingly boring. Most of the movie is devoted to dialogue, and the dialogue isn't particularly interesting. The few times that the action comes, under the direction of co-writer Don Sharp, at best it comes across as utterly routine, and at it's worst is downright boring. So it's easy to see why the movie got almost no theatrical release. Only for viewers who want to see Donald Sutherland resemble Richard Chamberlain.

This has an interesting cast but that does not unfortunately, make it a good film. 'Bear Island' is based on a novel by Alistair Maclean, a popular writer from the sixties whose novels were consistently on the bestseller lists. The story is set on a boat cruising around the Arctic Circle, and is a strange amalgam of stilted action juxtaposed with a lot of endless talk about whose side everybody is supposed to be on. The ships passengers include Russians, Germans and Norwegians. They're all talking as if World War II is still going on, when the film appears to be set in the present day. The purpose of all this talk is to find a secret stash on the North Pole previously hidden by some- very- nasty- people, so it becomes a chase between the good guys and bad guys to get the loot and there is a lot of talky moralising on the part of the good guys about the virtues of looking for it at all.The luminaries in the cast include Donald Sutherland looking vague and bored, Vanessa Redgrave talking very softly (the good guys), and Richard Widmark and Lloyd Bridges (the bad guys). The only other notable thing about this film is that it includes a very bruising bareknuckle fistfight between Sutherland and how shall we say it, - an Aryan, which has something to do with – well I just don't remember but I think that Donald wins the fight and the good guys have at last something to cheer about.There are a number of meaningless chases across the snow and ice and a couple of explosions where a few minor characters get killed off but it all turns out right in the end. Vanessa Redgrave looks attractive in her fur lined anorak but doesn't have much to do. The scenic background of icebergs and endless floes of ice is effective and the only remotely fun thing about watching this film. Unfortunately none of it amounts to anything much, and the story is too dreary, old-hat and repetitive to be of any interest whatsoever.

A team of weather scientific - Vanessa Redgrave , Richard Widmark, Barbara Parkins , Lloyd Bridges, Christopher Lee - who are actually secret agents intelligently posing as UN researchers gather together at a remote Arctic outpost and discover a criminal intrigue about a Nazi treasure .Shortly after they arrive begin dying in assumed accidents . They are wind up at the same base and realize that are being murdered one by one at the isolated location under mysterious circumstances . As continuous explosion , traps , avalanches , accidents and sabotages. The starring , Donald Sutherland, suspects on Nazi duo might be on the premises , because of belonging to ¨ Reich Kinder¨ . He discovers a strange organization ruled by ¨Celda¨ who want to destroy the world economy . The plot wavers between suspenseful and illogical , while everybody involves overacts in an apparent attempt to figure out what the heck's going on .This thrilling movie about a group of scientific find themselves embarking on a suspenseful investigation contains moving sequences , intrigue , tension and wonderful, coloured locations from Arctic . It displays sizzling scenes about snow-boat and snow-motorcycle on some overwhelming chase sequences that are the movie's best . Dark photography during the night scenes but marvelous cinematography when reflects spectacularly the breathtaking Arctic outdoors by cameraman Alan Hume . Beautifully filmed on location in Glacier Bay National Park, Gustavus, Alaska, USA ,Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK (studio),Stewart, and Tide Lake ,British Columbia, Canada, Tide Lake, British Columbia .Rousing and exciting musical score by Robert Farnon. The motion picture , well produced by Peter Snell, is regularly directed by Don Sharp. This Canadian adaptation based on the novel by Alistair McLean packs habitual combination included on his books , as foolish dialog , stirring action , impressive locations and colorful characters . Other films based on his novels are the following ¨Force 10 Navarone¨, ¨ Guns of Navarone ¨, ¨ Puppet on chain ¨, ¨ When the eagles dare ¨ and ¨ Breakheart pass ¨ among others . Rating : Acceptable and passable . The picture will appeal to whodunit/thriller buffs

I've been a movie geek since my childhood in the early 80's. This is one of the titles that for some reason stuck in my mind, even tho I never saw it because I was too young. Now was the first time I caught it on TV (scandinavian TCM). I'm surprised to see it's only available as a Spanish DVD and has an such a low score on IMDb (5.4/10).I must say it's one of the better films I've seen this year, although I'm easy to please when it comes to certain types of film and this really is one of them. The locations and set design are amazing. This kind of isolation, feel of cold bleak winter, snow storms are very rarely portrayed so well, it's up there with Carpenter's The Thing. Grab a warm cup of coffee on a rainy day or a whiskey on a darkening evening while watching this.I saw this without subtitling and had a bit of a trouble keeping up with the plot, even tho I'm pretty fluent in English. There are characters from USA, Germany, Denmark, Poland etc and a lot of exaggerated accents. It also doesn't make it much easier to follow the plot when the actors have similar clothing and are covered all the way, so you can't see their faces when outdoors.I'm not much into action, but the scenes here worked. They are quite few, but longish and build slowly. There is some noticeable trick cinematography and jump cuts, but they're easily forgiven.It's a fun detail that the expedition to Bear Island is initially about investigating the global warming. Judging by the original book synopsis, this wasn't the case on Maclean's book, but added to the movie. The movie is already over 30 years old so it's a nice eye opener for those who think global warming is something Al Gore invented.It's far from perfect movie (from a relatively unknown Hammer horror director!), but the arctic scenery, some enjoyable performances (Sutherland) make up for it. Catch it if you can (TCM shows the widescreen version). It's a true nostalgia trip to a movie land that doesn't seem to exist anymore.