''The Last Frontier'' is a 1959 novel written by Scottish author

Alistair MacLean Alistair Stuart MacLean ( gd, Alasdair MacGill-Eain; 21 April 1922 – 2 February 1987) was a 20th-century Scottish novelist who wrote popular thrillers and adventure stories. Many of his novels have been adapted to film, most notably '' The G ...

. It was released in the United States under the title ''The Secret Ways''. This novel marks MacLean's first foray into the espionage thriller genre, and was inspired by the events surrounding the

Hungarian Revolution of 1956 The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 10 November 1956; hu, 1956-os forradalom), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was a countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the Hunga ...

. Writing in the

third person narrative Narration is the use of a written or spoken commentary to convey a story to an audience. Narration is conveyed by a narrator: a specific person, or unspecified literary voice, developed by the creator of the story to deliver information to the a ...

, MacLean described the physical and political surroundings with more attention than he has in previous novels, and there are moments when MacLean purposely slows the action down to build character development.

Plot

Michael Reynolds, MacLean's protagonist, is a British secret agent on a wintertime mission inside

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

at the height of the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

. Reynolds must rescue Professor Jennings, an elderly British scientist who is held by the communist government against his will. Reynolds is no

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

and does not have any fancy gadgets but he is highly resourceful. His biggest advantages against the sometimes cruel and highly efficient Hungarian Secret Police are an ability to make commonsense on-the-spot decisions and the heroic help of friends in the Hungarian underground. Reynolds hooks up with the mysterious Jansci and his friend “the Count” and they strive to transport the professor over the border and back to England. The plot has the twists, turns, and betrayals in which MacLean specialized, and Reynolds realizes that he has only one chance to escape with Jennings before he is captured and killed by the Hungarian secret police.

Film adaptation

''The Last Frontier'' appeared in film under its alternative title of ''

The Secret Ways ''The Secret Ways'' is a 1961 American neo noir mystery thriller film based on Alistair MacLean's 1959 novel '' The Last Frontier''. It was directed by Phil Karlson and stars Richard Widmark. Plot In 1960 Vienna, after Soviet tanks crush the Hu ...

'' in an April 1961 release directed by

Phil Karlson Phil Karlson (born Philip N. Karlstein; July 2, 1908 – December 12, 1982) was an American film director. Karlson directed '' 99 River Street'', ''Kansas City Confidential'' and ''Hell's Island'', all with actor John Payne, in the early 1950s ...

. Reynolds was played by

Richard Widmark Richard Weedt Widmark (December 26, 1914March 24, 2008) was an American film, stage, and television actor and producer. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his role as the villainous Tommy Udo in his debut film, '' Kiss of Death'' (1947) ...

. The movie was filmed in Zurich and

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. It was the first of MacLean's works to appear as a movie, as '' The Guns of Navarone'' was not released until June 1961. According to an interview with

Euan Lloyd Euan Lloyd (6 December 1923 – 2 July 2016) was a British film producer. Biography He began his career directing short travelogue documentaries, starting with '' April in Portugal'' in 1954 (not released until 1956). He worked in publicity ...

in ''

Cinema Retro ''Cinema Retro'' is an English magazine devoted to "celebrating films of the 1960s & 1970s". Founded in 2005 by Lee Pfeiffer and Dave Worrall, it is subtitled "the Essential Guide to Cult and Classic Movies". The 64-page full-colour magazine is p ...

'' magazine, producer and star Widmark had disagreements with Karlson, who felt he should use a

tongue-in-cheek The idiom tongue-in-cheek refers to a humorous or sarcastic statement expressed in a serious manner. History The phrase originally expressed contempt, but by 1842 had acquired its modern meaning. Early users of the phrase include Sir Walter Scott ...

approach for the story. Perhaps because one of the screenwriters was Widmark's wife, Jean Hazelwood, Widmark took over directing the film.

Influence

Lee Child James Dover Grant (born 29 October 1954), primarily known by his pen name Lee Child, is a British author who writes thriller novels, and is best known for his ''Jack Reacher'' novel series. The books follow the adventures of a former American ...

thought the novel was MacLean's best and said it was influential on Child's own writing, saying "Looking back on it, it was a rather hysterical Cold War novel, but it had some of the best-drawn characters I had read in the genre... Even today I can sense MacLean's influence. I learnt a valuable lesson in how to write a hero who is totally full-blooded without going over the top."Lee Child; THE BOOKS THAT CHANGED ME BOOKS: ate EditionInterview by Robyn Doreian. Sun Herald 15 May 2005: 73.

External links

Book review at AlistairMacLean.com

References

1959 British novels Novels by Alistair MacLean British spy novels Novels set in Hungary British novels adapted into films William Collins, Sons books {{1950s-spy-novel-stub