Eyewitness (1970)

Wissenswertes

• Gedreht in: Malta

Eyewitness is a 1970 British thriller film directed by John Hough and starring Mark Lester, Susan George and Lionel Jeffries. Its plot follows a young English boy who, while staying with his grandfather and adult sister in Malta, witnesses a political assassination, and is subsequently pursued by the killers—however, due to his habitual lying, those around him are hesitant to believe his claims. It is an adaptation of the novel by Mark Hebden, the pen name for John Harris, and bears similarity to Cornell Woolrich's novelette "The Boy Cried Murder", originally adapted for film as The Window.

Production

The film is based on a 1966 novel Eyewitness by Mark Hebden (a pen name for John Harris). The novel was set in France (Siggy had a French mother and American father) and concerned an assassination attempt on the French president. The New York Times called it "simple and predictable... but a good deal of charm and spirit in the storyline". The Spectator called it "a colourful, busy and suspenseful affair".

The final film was a co-production between EMI Films, then under Bryan Forbes, and ITC Entertainment.

John Hough, who had made the film Wolfshead: The Legend of Robin Hood, learned that Bryan Forbes had taken over EMI Films and was interested in young filmmakers. He called Forbes and showed him his film at Forbes's office in Elstree. (This was filmed by a BBC documentary on Forbes called Man Alive.) Forbes thought Wolfshead was "outstanding".

The film was shot entirely in Malta (mainly Valletta), although in the movie the name of the nation is not given, and the flag (a modified cross with red and white colours) and coat of arms shown are different from Malta's.

Jonathan Demme was working as a rock journalist in London during filming and was hired by Irving Allen to be a musical co-ordinator on the film.

Auf Wikipedia weiterlesen · Text aus Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Daten aus Wikidata.