Eric Ambler fans will find this a fascinating antecedent. Davies himself is the standout, rounded out by numerous quirks, including a craving for throwing items overboard from his small vessel. Childers (1870–1922) couples his patiently developed plot with richly imagined lead characters. With nothing else on his horizon, Carruthers accepts, and ends up enmeshed in intrigue centering on Davies's concern that Germany's growing sea-power poses a threat to England. Davies's request to join him on a yacht in Schleswig-Holstein includes an eccentric laundry-list of items that Davies wants his friend to bring. However, the film is beautifully shot, with striking locations, interesting fashions and exquisite photography. It is quite slow in places and the actor playing Kaiser is very wooden. While not quite succeeding, Riddle of the Sands is a very solid film. At the dawn of the 20th century, Carruthers, a young Foreign Office functionary, is lamenting being stuck in London with little to do when he receives a surprising communiqué from Oxford classmate Arthur Davies. The book is an absolute classic, but it is not a very easy one to adapt at all. An insightful introduction by the author's great-grandson distinguishes this reissue of a seminal work of spy fiction first published in 1903.
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