Review of The Riddle of the Sands (1979) by Rob L — 12 Jan 2010

The beautiful north sea coast of Germany is the star of this moderately compelling film, based on a corking yarn of a book by Erskine Childers. Very faithful to the novel, it depicts the difficulties faced by two upper class Englishman on a boating holiday and how they tangle with the fearful Hun in the year leading up to the First World War - not, on the face of it, the best period in the history of Anglo-German relations.

Although no expense appears to have been spared on first glance, the fact that an inordinate amount of the action takes place on dry land is telling. The cost of filming in watery surrounds was clearly too debilitating and although the Frisian fishing villages are pleasing on the eye, the dramatic tension of the books' waterborne scenes is not retained.