Puppet on a Chain (1971)

User Rating:

5.6/10   

Director:

Geoffrey Reeve

Writers:

Alistair MacLean (novel)
Alistair MacLean (screenplay)

Release Date:

31 January 1972 (Sweden)

Genre:

Thriller

Tagline:

It will keep you hanging on the edge of your seat!

Plot:

Following a triple professional hit a U.S. agent arrives in Amsterdam to investigate a heroin smuggling ring...

Plot Keywords:

Heroin | Police | CIA | Red Light District | Netherlands

Cast

Sven-Bertil Taube	...	Paul Sherman
Barbara Parkins	...	Maggie
Alexander Knox	...	Col. De Graaf
Patrick Allen	...	Insp. Van Gelder
Vladek Sheybal	...	Meegeren
Ania Marson	...	Astrid Lemay
Penny Casdagli	...	Trudi
Peter Hutchins	...	The Assassin
Drewe Henley	...	Jimmy Duclos
Henni Orri	...	Herta
Stewart Lane	...	George Lemay
Mark Malicz	...	Morgenstern
Michael Mellinger	...	Hotel Manager

Also Known As:

Alistair Maclean's Puppet on a Chain (UK) (complete title)

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:15 (1999) | UK:AA (1970) (cut) | Iceland:12 | Netherlands:16 | Finland:K-16 | Norway:15 | Norway:16 (1972) | Sweden:15 | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands

Company:

Big City

Trivia:

In her memoirs Suzanna Leigh mentions that she had a role in this film as a villain but, although her character is mentioned, her scenes were deleted from the final print.

Goofs:

Continuity: At one point during the Amsterdam boat chase, the white boat hits a bridge and sustains fairly severe damage to the prow (which is acknowledged in the sound effects). In the next shot, the boat is unblemished again.

Breath-taking seventies action flick!

Based on the famous novel by Alistair McLean, "Puppet on a String" brings secret agent Paul Sherman, played by Swedish actor and singer Sven-Bertil Taube, to the Dutch metropolis of Amsterdam. It's his turn to hunt a drug-smuggling gang and a corrupt policeman, and it takes some victims and actions until he faces the main villain on a dark harbor site in a last fatal fight.

The dark streets and canals of Amsterdam are a perfect setting for this seventies' thriller, and the action and suspense work pretty well. There is an incredibly breath-taking motor boat chase through the canals which looks takes the car chasing action of "Bullitt", "Vanishing Point" and "French Connection" a bit further and has been copied by Dick Maas in his Dutch 1987 psycho thriller "Amsterdamned". There are some really scary and psychedelic scenes in the movie, and Piero Piccionis great sound track adds much weight to the picture (and has been reissued two years ago on CD). A great forgotten action movie!