Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Hayden Kane There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Kaelan Mccaffrey Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Francene Odetta It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

navygrogg40 The way movies should be made. No loud obnoxious music to where you can't think. Enjoyable characters. Nice plot.

Leofwine_draca BEAR ISLAND is one of those tough '70s thrillers with an all-star Hollywood cast and a novel behind it (this time by the then-popular thriller writer, Alistair MacLean). It's a virtual reprise of Agatha Christie's AND THEN THERE WERE NONE, with a group of characters assembled on a remote island and whittled down one by one by a mystery villain.Of course, with such productions half of the fun comes from seeing all of the familiar faces and there are plenty here. Lloyd Bridges and Richard Widmark head up the older generation, while Donald Sutherland and Vanessa Redgrave are the fresher faces. Christopher Lee has a minor role as a character whose sole purpose for existing in the film is as a red herring, and Barbara Parkins looks lovely.Unfortunately, BEAR ISLAND turns out to be a rather dull and stodgy production, despite the cast and the suspense inherent in the premise. In essence, there's a stash of Nazi gold hidden somewhere on the same island as the characters, and some of the group members are secret Nazis out to get their hands on it. What it all boils down to is a lot of talking, a lot of walking, and one of the dullest ski chases ever put on film. Director Don Sharp cut his teeth in the Hammer stable with the likes of KISS OF THE VAMPIRE, but unfortunately this is one of his weakest productions; the crisp Arctic photography is about the best thing in it.

JasparLamarCrabb An action pic starring Donald Sutherland and Vanessa Redgrave. Who thought this was going to be a good idea? Based on the (presumably better) book by Alistair MacLean and directly by Don Sharp, this film is really just a series of badly choreographed fights & way too long chases over the frozen wastelands. Sutherland & Redgrave are part of an expedition to an uninhabited island. Their leader, Richard Widmark, may or may not be a Nazi. Others in their party clearly are. As this is based on a McLean novel, you know that there's hidden Nazi treasure somewhere. Widmark, playing a Norwegian, is shrill, while Sutherland & Redgrave do journeyman work, clearly collecting a paycheck for their time in the snow. Sharp, who managed to direct a few decent Hammer films in the 1960s, shows little flair for this type of action yarn. Things lumber along at such a snail's pace, it's sleep inducing rather than riveting. The music by Robert Farnon is so hyper it only manages to promise thrills that do not come. The unlucky supporting cast includes Christopher Lee, Lloyd Bridges and Barbara Parkins.

Paul Andrews Bear Island starts as various scientists of differing nationalities head towards the icy NATO owned Bear Island, a small island in the Artic, where they intend to study the effects of climate change on the melting glaciers. Among them is interested American Frank Lnsing (Donald Sutherland) whose father Captained a German World War II U-Boat & since Bear Island was the last recorded position of his father's boat he wants to see if he can find it, however all is not well as various other parties in the expedition have more sinister motives. Why did team leader Otto Gerran (Richard Widmark) designate certain areas as avalanche risks when they were not? What is he trying to keep people away from? Who sabotaged the radio mast? Who deliberately started an avalanche that killed one scientist & almost killed Lansing? Just what watery cold secrets does Bear Island hide & why does it appear certain people will kill for them & just who is the mysterious Zelda?This British Canadian co-production was co-written & directed by Don Sharp & was based on the novel of the same name published in 1971 by Alistair MacLean although I have not read it so cannot compare the two but this film adaption differs greatly from it's source novel in many ways, as a film I quite liked Bear island & thought it was a fairly watchable espionage thriller with hints of James Bond style action all set on an isolated cold Artic island cut off from civilisation which adds tremendous atmosphere to the film. The set-up is quite good & there's definite intrigue here but it shoots it's load a little too early on although the actual identity of Zelda is kept secret until the end the reasons behind everything is a little predictable. The action adventure scenes are good if a little understated with a lengthy snow mobile/hover-boat chase at the end & two skiers trying to out run a huge avalanche the two main action set-piece highlights. At almost two hours long some may lose patience with it but I thought the time flew by which is always a good sign & I was fairly gripped by it even if things turn out a little underwhelming at the end. The character's are alright although I would have liked more motive for some of the lesser ones to have been the villain & a few more red herrings, basically I would have liked some slightly stronger mystery elements but I still liked it overall.Bear Island seems to be fairly obscure with few user comments & no external reviews on IMDb, it has certainly never been released on DVD anywhere & only issued once on VHS here in the UK during the mid 80's although it does occasionally turn up on telly every so often. The film is well made & has a really icy isolated atmosphere, I almost felt the Artic chill while watching this at home although the version I saw was horribly pan and scanned & you could hardly tell what was going on in certain zoomed in grainy as hell shots that surely would have looked so much better in it's proper aspect ratio. The action scenes & fights are nice enough & there's a few decent explosions as well.Filmed on location in Alaska, Canada & in the studio in London, England this looks good with good production values although it apparently bombed big time at the box-office which is probably why it's not more well known or more widely released. There's a good solid cast of pros here including Donald Sutherland, Vanessa Redgrave, Richard Widmark, Christopher Lee, Lloyd Bridges & Lawrence Dane although some of the accents are a bit poor.Bear Island doesn't have much in common with it's source novel but as an action adventure with a sprinkling of mystery you could do worse & I did like it, worth a watch at lest if you can find a copy or catch it on telly.