The Eagle Has Landed is a 1976 film version of the novel The Eagle Has Landed by Jack Higgins.

It
was directed by John Sturges and starred Michael Caine, Donald Sutherland and Robert Duvall. It is
Sturges' final film, and despite tension between Caine and Sturges, the film was quite successful
upon its release and retained a cult following.

Contents
1 Plot summary
2 Differences from the novel
3 Deleted scenes
4 Cast
5 Filming locations
6 External links

Plot summary
Inspired by the rescue of Hitler's ally Benito Mussolini by Otto Skorzeny, a similar idea is considered
by Hitler, with the support of Himmler (Donald Pleasence). Admiral Canaris (Anthony Quayle), head
of the Abwehr (German military intelligence), is ordered to make a feasibility study of the seemingly
impossible task of capturing the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and bringing him to
Germany.
Canaris considers the idea a joke, but realizes that although Hitler will soon forget the matter,
Himmler will not. Fearing Himmler may try to discredit him, Canaris orders one of his officers, Oberst
Radl (Robert Duvall) to undertake the study, despite feeling that it is a waste of time.
An Unteroffizier on Radl's staff finds that one of their spies, code named Starling, has provided
tantalizing intelligence - Winston Churchill is to visit an airfield near the village of Studley Constable
in Norfolk, where Joanna Grey (Jean Marsh), a German sleeper agent lives. Radl comes up with a
scheme that could work. Himmler summons Radl and unofficially tells him to proceed, without
notifying Canaris. Radl recruits Liam Devlin (Donald Sutherland), a member of the IRA lecturing at a
Berlin university, to the mission.
Radl looks for a suitable officer to lead the mission and chances upon the highly decorated and
experienced, but conflicted and anti-Nazi, Fallschirmjger officer Oberst Kurt Steiner (Michael
Caine). While returning from the Eastern Front, Steiner intervened when SS soldiers rounded up
Jews at a railway station in Poland, and attempted to save the life of a teenage girl who was shot
while trying to escape. For this, he was court-martialled, along with a platoon of his men. Rather
than face the firing squad, the men were allowed to transfer to a penal unit on the Channel Island of
Alderney, where they made high risk attacks with torpedo boats against British channel convoys.
Radl travels to Alderney and, with the help of Devlin, recruits Steiner and his surviving men. The
team will parachute into the UK from a captured C-47 with Allied markings. The commandos outfit
themselves as Polish paratroopers, as few of them speak English. The plan is to infiltrate Studley
Constable, complete their mission, rendezvous with an E-boat on the nearby coast and escape.
The plan is foiled when a German paratrooper rescues a local girl from certain death by a water
wheel. He instead is killed in the process and his German uniform (worn under the Polish uniforms as
protection against being executed as spies) is revealed to the onlooking villagers. The locals are
rounded up but Pamela Vereker (Judy Geeson), the sister of the village priest Father Vereker (John
Standing), escapes to alert a unit of the United States Army Rangers stationed nearby.
Inexperienced, glory-seeking Colonel Pitt (Larry Hagman) tries to foil the German plan almost singlehanded but is killed by Joanna Grey in her house, while his poorly-planned assault on the church fails
with heavy casualties. Pitt's young deputy, Captain Clark (Treat Williams) then organizes a second,
successful attack.
Steiner's men sacrifice themselves to delay the Americans while Devlin, Steiner and his wounded
second-in-command Neustadt (Sven-Bertil Taube) escape, with the aid of local girl Molly Prior (Jenny
Agutter) who was romantically involved with Devlin. Instead of boarding the boat, Steiner makes one
last attempt at Churchill. Steiner infiltrates the country house and apparently succeeds in shooting
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Churchill before being shot himself. However, when Captain Clark appears on the scene, he is
informed that "Churchill" was actually an impersonator - the real Prime Minister is at the Tehran
Conference.
With the failure of the operation, Radl is executed by firing squad under the pretext that he was
"Giving orders beyond his control to a point of treason". In this way Himmler distances himself from
the failed mission.

Differences from the novel

The film lacks many details and side plots of the novel, including the detention of Kurt Steiner's
father, General Steiner, by the Gestapo as an additional incentive for Steiner to undertake the
mission, and the attempted double-crossing of Devlin by Birmingham black marketeers which
resulted in him being tracked down by Scotland Yard's Special Branch. In the novel, Steiner and Radl
are both of the rank of Oberstleutnant - Lieutenant Colonel - where in the film they are both
referred to throughout (including the credits) as Oberst - Colonel - the next higher rank. Some minor
details such as names are changed; for example in the novel, Steiner's cover name is Carter and in
the film it is Miller. Steiner's paratrooper uniform in the novel is more like those of his men, wearing
a Luftwaffe Fliegerbluse and Schiffchen sidecap, while in the film he looks more like a pilot than a
soldier, sporting a leather jacket and peaked cap. Some new events and explanatory dialogue are
inserted - in the novel Molly does not shoot the mentally unstable villager Arthur Seymour. Also, a
member of a British SS unit British Free Corps is featured in the novel, but absent from the film. In
the novel, Steiner hesitates before shooting Churchill and is shot and supposedly killed. However,
Steiner reappears alive in The Eagle Has Flown, a sequel to the novel. Radl is not executed; instead,
he has a heart attack after discovering Devlin has escaped from England and is convalescing in the
same hospital and dies soon after the war at home with his family. The book commences with
author Higgins stumbling upon evidence for the event and concludes with him supposedly meeting
the various surviving characters as he gathers information for the story, the final revelation coming
from an aged Father Vereker that "Churchill" had been an impersonator and even if the mission had
succeeded, it would not have mattered.

Deleted scenes
The original running time for the film was just over 135 minutes, but nearly 6 minutes were cut by
the producers before the film was generally released. Some, if not most, of those scenes were
restored for the special edition dvd, these scenes are:
An alternative opening, originally the film started with Heinrich Himmler (Donald Pleasence) arriving
at a medieval castle for a conference with Hitler, Canaris, Bormann and Goebbels. This deleted
opening would have followed the scenes under the opening credits which are a long aerial shot of a
staff car approaching Schloss Hohenschwangau, which would have been the castle in question. The
deleted scene explains why Schloss Hohenschwangau appears in the credits but does not appear in
the film.
Extended scene when Radl arrives at Abwehr headquarters, he discusses his health with a German
Army doctor (played by Ferdy Mayne).
Scene at a Berlin University where Liam Devlin is a teacher.
Scene in Landsvoort where Steiner and von Neustadt discuss the mission and its merits and
consequences.
Devlin's arrival at Studley Constable is now extended where he and Joanna Grey discuss their part in
the mission.
Devlin drives his motorbike through the centre of the village and on to the cottage, where he
inspects the barn before returning to the village.
Scene where Devlin reads poetry to Molly Prior.
Extended scene in which Molly interrupts Devlin shortly after he receives the army vehicles.
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Scene on the boat at the end that shows the fate of von Neustadt. (This scene is visible in one of the
special edition DVDs extras, in the action photo gallery)

Cast
Michael Caine as Oberst Kurt Steiner
Donald Sutherland as Liam Devlin
Robert Duvall as Oberst Max Radl
Jenny Agutter as Molly Prior
Donald Pleasence as Heinrich Himmler
Anthony Quayle as Adm. Wilhelm Canaris
Jean Marsh as Joanna Grey
Sven-Bertil Taube as Hauptmann Ritter (Hans) von Neustadt
Siegfried Rauch as Sergeant Major Otto Brandt
John Standing as Father Philip Verecker
Judy Geeson as Pamela Verecker
Treat Williams as Capt. Harry Clark
Kent Williams as Mallory (uncredited)
Roy Marsden as Sturmbannfhrer Toberg, SS (uncredited)
Wolf Kahler as Hauptsturmfhrer Fleischer (uncredited)
Larry Hagman as Col. Clarence E. Pitts
Ferdy Mayne as Radl's doctor (uncredited)
Harry Fielder as Motorbike outrider (uncredited)
Michael Byrne as Karl
Joachim Hansen as SS-Obergruppenfhrer
Terry Plummer as Arthur Seymour
Denis Lill
Jack McCulloch
Tim Barlow as George Wilde (Publican)
Maurice Roves as Maj. Corcoran (as Maurice Roeves)
Keith Buckley
Jeff Conaway as Frazier
Siegfried Rauch as Sgt. Brandt
Richard Wren as Sgt. Hans Altmann
Alexei Jawdokinov as Cpl. Werner Briegel
Steve Ubels as a German paratrooper
Leonie Thelen as the Jewish girl
Leigh Dilley as Winston Churchill / George Fowler (uncredited)

Filming locations
The majority of the film, set in the fictional village of Studley Constable, was filmed at Mapledurham
in Oxfordshire and features the village church, Mapledurham Watermill and Mapledurham House.
Mock buildings such as shops and a pub were constructed on site in Mapledurham while interiors
were filmed at Twickenham Studios.
The sequence set in Alderney was filmed in Charlestown, near St Austell in Cornwall. Some of the
filming took place at RAF St. Mawgan, near Newquay, and at Rock, both in Cornwall. The railway
station sequence where Steiner and his men make their first appearance was filmed in Rovaniemi,
Finland.
The parachuting scenes were carried out by members of the REME (Royal Electrical and Mechanical
Engineers) Parachute Display Team.

Directed by

John Sturges

Produced by

David Niven, Jr.

Jack Wiener

Written by

Jack Higgins (novel)

Tom Mankiewicz

Narrated by

Patrick Allen

Starring

Michael Caine
Donald Sutherland
Robert Duvall
Jenny Agutter
Donald Pleasence
Anthony Quayle
Judy Geeson
Sven-Bertil Taube
Treat Williams
Larry Hagman

Music by

Lalo Schifrin

Cinematography Anthony B. Richmond

Editing by

Anne V. Coates

Studio

ITC Entertainment

Distributed by

Columbia Pictures

Release date(s)

December 1976

Running time

135 m (UK)
123 m (U.S.)
145 m (25 fps PAL)(Extended R2
DVD version)

Country

United States

Language

English

Budget

$6,000,000