Erskine Childers' 1903 novel The Riddle of the Sands may have given birth to the spy story, but cinematically it's a non-starter and was filmed at least forty years too late. Much of what made the novel so thrilling and controversial is either uncinematic (navigating hidden sandbanks and crosscurrents just doesn't photograph) or old hat (gee, the Germans were planning a war?), and so it proves in Tony Maylam's handsome adaptation. Michael York (reunited with his Logan's Run co-star Jenny Agutter in one of her few 70s films not to require nudity) and Simon MacCorkindale may be ideally cast as turn of the century Oxford chaps messing about in the river in the Frisian Islands, but they're not exactly oozing screen chemistry even if they can almost get away with lines like "Chuck it Carruthers" or "People just don't behave like that – not even Germans!" Worse, there's absolutely no sense of threat or momentum, with much of the action recounted in flashback or, in the final collision, apparently missed by the camera.<br /><br />On the plus side, Christopher Challis' scope photography is lovely and Howard Blake's score is hauntingly beautiful, but it's all too cosy to hold the interest for an hour and three quarters. One of the Rank's last pictures, it's hard to dislike but equally hard to find engaging. This is one that really needed to have been made in 1939, not 1979.<br /><br />The UK DVD release has no extras but does at least boast a 2.35:1 transfer.