The Flight of the Eagle ( Ingenjör Andrées luftfärd ) [ Blu-Ray, Reg.A/B/C Import - Sweden ]

This has been a long time waiting for this to be available. It is a good transfer, the soundtrack is Swedish, there are both English and Swedish subtitles available on the Blu-Ray (subtitles are not "burned" into the image, the movie can be watched without subtitles.). The listing for this item says it is region A/B/C. It played on my region A Blu-Ray player as easily as any other region A Blu-Ray disc does. I believe it is region free (though I don't have a region B or C player to confirm).. If you look at the back cover of the packaging (like I did) you may get a "scare" because there it's identified as a region B disc.. I saw that and went "What?", but I tried it in my region A player and it works without any problems.

The synopsis of "The Flight of the Eagle" sounded interesting and the movie exceeded my expectations. This is a cinematic recreation of a failed arctic exploration by hot air balloon. The intention was to be the first the reach the North Pole and claim it as the property of Sweden. The film begins with the mandatory introduction of the three explorers, the process of developing their idea and the ignaugeration of their flight. Now, we probably know that it wasn't the Swedes who first reached the North Pole so we can guess that the expedition didn't succeed. Its' failure led to the real adventure of the movie. There is a great deal of magnificent arctic scenery and a sort of "man in the frozen wilderness" story that takes this movie a notch above most of the rest. In addition, the acting is very good as well as the directing and editting.My only negative comment on this VHS version is common with most older, foreign-language VHS films; they're dubbed in English. I much prefer the original dialogue in the native language (in this case Swedish) with English subtitles. However, I must admit that the quality of the dubbing was far better than most movies. Max Von Sydow obviously dubbed his own voice and perhaps the others did as well.This was a failed expedition I had not heard of. I'm glad I watched "The Flight of the Eagle" to find out about it.

The year was 1896 and the airplane had not yet been invented. Nothing at all was known of the unexplored arctic regions. A fearless explorer had developed a method of sailing a hydrogen balloon which permitted it to be steered at an angle to the wind, just like a sailboat. With the endorsement of the king of Sweden, three explorers prepared a balloon at the northernmost accessible island. However, as they launched the balloon, the steering draglines dropped away, leaving the explorers powerless to control the direction of the balloon. Undeterred, they drifted North along with the wind and into the unknown. For the first few days, passenger pigeons returned with messages. Then for the next three years, buoys with messages were found at sea. And then, nothing for the next 35 years. The airplane and radio were invented and a world war intervened. Then fishermen found remains of the explorers and their gear on a remote island, along with their complete journals and over 1000 undeveloped photographic plates documenting their voyage as they tried to make their way home over the sea ice, until they landed upon a deserted island and died there. The plates were developed and several books written about this epic adventure, which is still well known to all Swedish people. The movie depicting the adventure was nominated for an academy award. A DVD of the film is not available, but you can purchase the VHS video tape in English and in American video format to relive this amazing adventure. I searched for this video for more than ten years and finally found it on Amazon. I rate it as five stars!

great movie, beatifully produced about the THREE BIGGEST FOOLS that ever lived when they tried to reach the north pole by air balloon. their bodies were found thirty years later ripped apart by polar bears. but the movie is well worth watching.

Alas, this is not a review, but an appeal for the release of Jan Troell's movies in DVD. Discerning film critics rate Jan Troell with Ingmar Bergman. I saw The Emigrants, his epic, long ago and have never forgottem it, but it is not available, nor is Flight of the Eagle. This is outrageous. They should receive the full Criterion treatment.