In my opinion, a previous reviewer, Charles Joe Agnes, submitted a splendid account of this movie. I agree with his conclusions entirely and have little to add.
Based on an excellent thriller by Jon Cleary, his detective, Scobie Malone, was most engagingly brought to the screen by Rod Taylor in "The High Commissioner" (1968).
Also known as "Nobody Runs Forever", the movie failed to impress the traditional press and magazine reviewers. In fact, the film earned an unwarranted but almost universal thumbs down from critics on both sides of the Atlantic and even in Australia itself on first release.
But in my opinion, the film actually stands up rather well on the M- G-M DVD. Admittedly, I think the movie is even better than the book, thanks to a number of factors, but particularly its superior support cast led by Christopher Plummer, Clive Revill and Lilli Palmer.
Director Ralph Thomas also contributes to what I regard as the film's success. Thomas keeps the action moving fast enough to keep interest alive through all the plot's unlikely twists and turns. They come so fast, only professional critics would have the time and audacity to suggest that they lacked verisimilitude!
Also contributing - at least in my view - to the film's success as a tense thriller are a number of other factors, including Ernest Steward's bright-as-night color cinematography, Tony Woollard's dripping-with-opulence sets and Yvonne Caffin's glorious costumes. These factors reinforce each other and, in my opinion, they give the movie not only just the right over-luxurious setting but contribute to its wholly engaging atmosphere.
Based on an excellent thriller by Jon Cleary, his detective, Scobie Malone, was most engagingly brought to the screen by Rod Taylor in "The High Commissioner" (1968).
Also known as "Nobody Runs Forever", the movie failed to impress the traditional press and magazine reviewers. In fact, the film earned an unwarranted but almost universal thumbs down from critics on both sides of the Atlantic and even in Australia itself on first release.
But in my opinion, the film actually stands up rather well on the M- G-M DVD. Admittedly, I think the movie is even better than the book, thanks to a number of factors, but particularly its superior support cast led by Christopher Plummer, Clive Revill and Lilli Palmer.
Director Ralph Thomas also contributes to what I regard as the film's success. Thomas keeps the action moving fast enough to keep interest alive through all the plot's unlikely twists and turns. They come so fast, only professional critics would have the time and audacity to suggest that they lacked verisimilitude!
Also contributing - at least in my view - to the film's success as a tense thriller are a number of other factors, including Ernest Steward's bright-as-night color cinematography, Tony Woollard's dripping-with-opulence sets and Yvonne Caffin's glorious costumes. These factors reinforce each other and, in my opinion, they give the movie not only just the right over-luxurious setting but contribute to its wholly engaging atmosphere.