Michael Caine on the set of The Eagle Has Landed

Michael Caine completes mission as Oberst Kurt Steiner.

The Eagle Has Landed is a book written by Jack Higgins set during World War Two first published in 1975 and made into a 1976 film starring Michael Caine and Donald Sutherland. The reference is from when astronaut Neil Armstrong landed his craft The Eagle on the moon and means mission complete. TV reporter Lawrie Quayle visits the set at RAF St Mawgan in Cornwall to talk to Michael Caine. The director John Sturges, Robert Duvall, Michael Byrne and Treat Williams appear on set.

Nazi officer Max Radl played by Robert Duvall devises a plan to kidnap Winston Churchill at the height of the Second World War. Oberst Kurt Steiner played by Michael Caine is a German parachute unit commander sent to England with his troops to carry out the mission. After the success of the film and book The Eagle Has Landed, Higgins wrote a sequel entitled The Eagle Has Flown in which Michael Caine’s character is revealed to be alive.