Plot spoilt in adaptation for the screen

Press, 10 November 1986, Page 15

Plot spoilt in adaptation for the screen

at the cinema

hans petrovic

THE HOLCROFT COVENANT Directed by John Frankenheimer Screenplay by George Axelrod, Edward Anhalt and John Hopkins It comes as quite a shock to a rather gormless New York architect that he may be handed a $4.5 billion Nazi heritage to dispose of as he wishes in “The Holcroft Covenant” (Regent). What is even more discomfiting is the number of bodies piling up in his wake as he flits between New York, Geneva and London, trying to nail down the ramifications of this dubious grant. Michael Caine plays Holcroft, the architect, who is informed that his long-deceased father was a penitent Nazi general whose dying wish was the eventual distribution of

vast amounts of ill-gotten gains to help World War II victims. Holcroft is instructed that the money will be released when he and the off-spring of two other Nazis sign a covenant of authorisation.

Obviously, other people know about the covenant, and will do anything to stop Holcroft becoming its chairman and spokesman.

It also seems that the money was not really intended for such altruistic purposes as helping the Jews in Israel, or establishing universities in Africa.

This potentially promising plot is based on Robert Ludlum’s convoluted, sometimes turgid novel by the same name.

Ludlum is known for his prosaic, over-extended plotting, which made “The Osterman Weekend” such a disappointment in its screen adaptation. The same applies to “The Holcroft Covenant,” in which the desperate attempt of using three screenplay writers to bring the book to cinematically manageable proportions has spoilt the plot.

The cliches of a con-spiracy-espionage movie come thick and fast. People have secret meetings in parks, churches and country homes, where a body might even be found. But lines like, “He’s dead. We gotta get out of here,” belong to a longdead presentation of this genre, which may have reached its over-glorified hiatus with Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Man Who Knew Too Much.”

In 1986, we see repeats of “The Sandbaggers” on TV, and expect an equally hard-hitting, straightfaced presentation of the nonsensical world of international high-stakes subterfuge on the big screen.

John Frankenheimer, the director of “The Manchurian Candidate” and “Seven Days in May,” has

done much better, and I am just as surprised about his association with this production as I am with that of Michael Caine. Caine has not made a worth-while film since “Educating Rita,” yet he keeps on churning out little disasters like “Blame it on Rio,” “The Honorary Consul” and “Water.” He was just as badly miscast wandering through Woody Allen’s “Hannah and Her Sisters” as he is in “The Holcroft Covenant.” I still cannot figure out how a man of German birth, and an American up-bringing, ends up with a Cockney accent in this film. Then again, I could never see why the girls got the hots for Alfie, or how Harry Palmer managed to survive his movies.

The leading role in “The Holcroft Covenant” was originally meant for James Caan, but when Michael Caine took on the part, he automatically bestowed on himself the notorious James-Garner-Klutz-of-the-Year award.

Caine is not complaining, however, and must be making a considerable fortune out of roles left open since the passing from the Hollywood scene of British actors for second-rate roles, formerly filled by the likes of the late David Niven.

The ending of “The Holcroft Covenant” is melodramatic, but not startling. What surprised me was that I quite enjoyed this silly film, wondering what its makers would throw at me next.