Cinema Retro was proud to recently assist in the commemorative documentary about the making of The Eagle Has Landed for the new UK DVD special edition of the classic WWII film. In this article, Matthew Field, producer of the DVD special edition, relates how the project came together.
Helping the "Eagle" Take Flight
By Matthew Field
What do you do when you are faced with the challenge of creating value added material on a classic title, when the director is dead, the stars are too busy and very little archive material exists?
This was the challenge we faced at Picture Production Company (PPC) when we began working on a special edition DVD of John Sturges’ The Eagle Has Landed for Granada Ventures.
PPC wanted to create value added materials beyond the ‘standard’ package of trailers and cast biographies and produce something which would take audiences on a journey behind the making of the movie, but with an original spin, that didn’t rely on the stars of the picture.
I knew one person who would have all the answers - my good friend Dave Worrall, co-founder of Cinema Retro magazine. He immediately came to our rescue with dozens of stills, archive material, posters from every international territory imaginable and a knowledge of The Eagle Has Landed like no other.
I first met Dave way back in 1993 aged 12, when I arrived on his doorstep with a pocket full of paper-round money, wanting a signed copy of his book The Most Famous Car In The World (A history of James Bond's Aston Martin DB5). Dave and his business partner Lee Pfeiffer (who co-authored the highly successful book The Essential James Bond with Dave) have encouraged my career ever since – whether they felt sorry for me or thought I really did have some talent worth nurturing - is another story. Anyway, here I was 14 years later about to employ their services!
What caught PPC’s eye as we watched the film, was the picturesque village used as the fictional location Studley Constable. After watching an original 1976 featurette on the making of the movie, we soon discovered the production designer Peter Murton did a lot of work re-building the village of Mapledurham to accommodate the production – building a pub and shops, re-constructing a water mill, and preparing the little village church for an explosive gun fight. We decided if we could find Peter Murton, PPC could use him as the basis for a documentary - which would explore how Mapledurham was transformed for the movie and what it’s like today. Amazingly, not only did we find Peter Murton (now 83) fit and well, Dave had visited Mapledurham some years before and knew exactly where almost every shot had been filmed.
Dave and I spent two days in the village – once to recce the locations and once to shoot. In another fateful stroke of luck, Dave discovered that his next door neighbour – actor David Gilliam - had appeared in the movie as an American ranger and had spent six weeks on location in Mapledurham back in 1976! PPC shot interviews with Murton at various spots around the village as he explained how he utilised Mapledurham’s amenities to fit the requirements of the script. He also brought with him, his original production drawings of the mill and shops which he talked us through on camera.
Dave revealed to us where Michael Caine’s autograph is discreetly etched amongst hundreds of initials and signatures on a brick wall next to the watermill, as well as introducing us to a display board inside the church created by the locals in tribute to the film. We were also able film Joanna Grey’s cottage at the top of the village where Larry Hagman meets his fateful end.
We re-created exact frames from the feature and faded them together in the final edit to illustrate to audiences how the filmmakers cleverly used the locations. For example the shot in which the jeep is blown up as it enters the church yard was in fact shot in a tiny gateway! It’s amazing to see how they achieved this in such a confined space.
Finally the owner of the Mapledurham Estate - John Eyston – was able to show us some of the props he salvaged once the production had left, as well as regaling us with his memories of when his small village was invaded by a major Hollywood production.
Cinema Retro’s help was invaluable in creating the documentary and various other pieces featured on the disc. Considering we didn’t have the director or the stars, PPC was able to produce for Granada Ventures, a fascinating piece of value added materials that showcase what can be created by production houses – if the title is researched properly.
THE EAGLE HAS LANDED SPECIAL DVD EDITION FROM GRANADA IS CURRENTLY ONLY AVAILABLE IN THE UK. YOU MUST HAVE A REGION 2 OR MUTLI REGION DVD PLAYER IN ORDER TO WATCH THIS TITLE.
CLICK HERE TO ORDER THE EAGLE HAS LANDED DISCOUNTED FROM AMAZON U.K.
Here is information from the official press release:
Michael Caine, Robert Duvall, Donald Sutherland and Jenny Agutter head the star-studded cast of THE EAGLE HAS LANDED, the 1976 World War II movie classic set for release as a Special Edition DVD by ITV DVD on 11th June 2007 – just in time for Father’s Day. THE EAGLE HAS LANDED SPECIAL EDITION includes a number of fascinating extras amongst which are The Eagle Has landed Revisited: a present day 10 minute documentary filmed on location; an interview with screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz; Film Night Location Report: a documentary on location made during the filming of The Eagle Has Landed as well as the Theatrical Trailer, Stills Gallery and Cast Biographies.
Based on the best-selling novel by Jack Higgins, THE EAGLE HAS LANDED tells the fictional story of Hitler’s attempted capture of Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Inspired by the real life rescue of Hitler’s ally Benito Mussolini by Otto Skorzeny, THE EAGLE HAS LANDED sees a Nazi strike force headed by Colonel Kurt Steiner (Michael Caine) land in England on a covert mission to kidnap Prime Minister Winston Churchill and bring him to Berlin. What starts as a seemingly impossible assignment, becomes soon more feasible, with Steiner and his men arriving in England to face the very real possibility of success.