I have copies of all the Alistair Maclean film adaptations. I was addicted to his books as a boy. I'd heard this was a bad film but a fan likes to make his own mind up. It didn't take long. This is undoubtedly the most poorly executed film I have ever seen. An earlier reviewer wonders whether Director Geoffrey Reeve undertook it as a tax dodge. That made me smile. It certainly feels as though no-one was particularly bothered with the outcome. Reeve was not an experienced film director as it was. The best sequence in his version of Puppet On A Chain - the boat chase sequence - was inserted to give the film the climax it lacked and was written and directed by Don Sharp, who also rescued other sections. Reeve's Caravan To Vaccares was an eccentric piece of direction at best. In Dusty Death he is completely exposed. The production values are laughable. The racing sequences mentioned by other reviewers, appear to be loosely inserted amateur footage. These cut to racetrack conversations between characters who appear to be standing against a studio blue screen. These production decisions aren't even funny in the way that Plan 9 is! The couple of reviewers who thought the film was watchable and that the actors performances were competent clearly have no critical judgment. The performances and everything about it are awful. Criticism may well be subjective, but a plot less, plodding, humourless and incoherent narrative combined with indolent production values and performances cannot be bigged-up, however generous you'd like to be and be seen to be. Actually, I would love to hear from the cast and find out WHY it was so bad. Now that WOULD be interesting!
