Nice effects though.

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

I enjoyed watching this film as I am a big fan of film moire. It is what in a book I would call a page turner. The actors are good their craft, the setting in beautiful. It contains sailing and captains, I am a sailor. My father grew up in Holland and I have visited there just love the country. I like the number of twists in the plot, it kept me wanting to see what's next, then what's next and the double of a role of one of the character was a good technique. The only slightly negative thing I noticed about the film was the plot seemed to be a bit of a veiled cover of "The Maltese Falcon". That movie came out in 1946, and this one in 1959. I don't why that was. Since it is set "across the pond" perhaps the author sold the rights twice. Or the movie producers used their rights twice. Or it is just a remake. Otherwise, bottom line, I enjoyed it and would recommend checking it out.

The House of the Seven Hawks is an adaptation of Victor Canning's novel, The House of the Seven Flies. Richard Thorpe directs and it stars Robert Taylor, Nicole Maurey, Linda Christian, Donald Wolfit, David Kossoff and Eric Pohlmann. Music is by Clifton Parker and cinematography by Edward Scaife.It's a film that looks tired and cheap, the plot for what it's worth pitches Taylor as a sea dog type captain involved with criminals, the law, pretty ladies and hidden treasure. Those elements should have made for a riveting mystery, sadly that is not the case. Taylor looks bored but still manages to give off a presence and a nice line in wry humour, while the Dutch locations deserve a better film. But ultimately there's a reason why this is a little known Taylor movie, it's poor and just one for us Taylor completists to tick off of our list. 5/10

"The House of Seven Hawks" would have been much better had it been produced by Robert Taylor's old employer, MGM. Instead, the film turned out to be quite a disappointment for Taylor, a man who had been a major star for two decades. I will say this; the opening is quite intriguing. Taylor's character agrees to transport a man from England to the Continent by boat, and does so. After arrival, however, he soon discovers that this simple business deal is quite a bit more complicated than what he expected.Sadly, the film does not take advantage of this clever opening. From that point on, it is rather routine.As others have suggested, this ends up being a rather lackluster B effort not close to the level of the films Taylor made for MGM. In that regard, this movie is similar to the 1959 efforts of Alan Ladd, a man whose great success in the 1940s and early 1950s was followed by some very mediocre productions. (In Ladd's case, the actor himself was largely to blame due to very poor judgment regarding choice of film projects.)My admiration for Robert Taylor has grown over time. He was a better actor than many gave him credit for. (I recommend his performances in "Bataan" and "Johnny Eager.") Sadly, this particular movie, though watchable, did nothing to enhance his reputation.

This movie just doesn't have the most exciting or best mystery-elements around. It's a rather dull movie that lacks most of the required genre elements. Although it tries in parts- this is no film-noir but even for a 'standard' thriller type of movie this one just isn't good enough.The story isn't the most interesting one around but it's even worse how the story is told. Some of the sequences go on for far too long, without anything interesting happening in it. Problem is that the story felt the need to put in way too much (redundant) dialog. Guess that they just desperately tried to make the movie longer, since it's a quite short one (92 minutes). The movie really isn't build up well and in the beginning it's too unclear were the movie is trying to head to.The movie picks some weird and unbelievable plot-lines. Besides that, the movie also doesn't offer any real surprises. It's pretty clear from the beginning on who are going to be the good and bad guys and gals of the movie. It's true that the movie gets better toward the end but it's all too late to still fully save the movie. In its build up the movie simply lacks all the things needed to make a good and tense genre movie with. For a thriller this movie is just too dull and totally not interesting enough to follow. The characters all remain too flat and the only established actor in this movie is Robert Taylor, who does his very best but just can't carry this movie on his own. I mean this movie is not even good or really interesting to watch for the most hardened Robert Taylor fans.For me it was a big plus that the movie is set and actually filmed- and almost entirely set in The Netherlands. It was all very recognizable. It's locations and atmosphere works well for the movie, although it's too bad that they didn't made the trouble to cast Dutch actors in the roles of Dutch, not even for the bit parts, which was a bit distracting but obviously only should be so when you're Dutch yourself.By no means the worst genre movie I've ever seen but just not among one of the best or most refreshingly original ones either. Somewhat watchable but not really recommendable to anyone.5/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/