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.