It might be possible 50 years on, to make the casting choices work that James Clavell tried to do with this. Back in 1971, however, casting Omar Sharif as the teutonic "Vogel" opposite Michael Caine's only marginally more convincing "Captain" really does stretch the imagination a little too much. Add arch-Englishmen Nigel Davenport ("Gruber") and Brian Blessed ("Korski") and you have a recipe for characterisation disaster. Though well produced, with plenty of attention to detail and a typically strong score from John Barry, that is what we get! It is set amidst the bitter and rancorous 30 year...