The Quiller Memorandum 1966, directed by Michael Anderson | Film review The Quiller Memorandum Film Time Out says The thinking man's spy thriller, in as much as Harold Pinter wrote the script. Summaries In the West Berlin of the 1960s, two British agents are killed by a Nazi group, prompting British Intelligence to dispatch agent Quiller to investigate. Widescreen viewing is a must, if possible, if for no other reason than to fully glimpse the extraordinary stadium built by Hitler for the 1936 Olympic games. His Oktober does, however, serve as a one-man master class in hyperironic cordiality: Ah, Quiller! The first thing to say about this film is that the screenplay is so terrible. AKA: Ivan Foxwell's the Quiller Memorandum, Quiller, Quiller Memorandum, Ian Foxwell's The Quiller Memorandum, Ivan Foxwell's Production The Quiller Memorandum. En route he has some edgy adventures. Quiller admits to Inge that he is an "investigator" on the trail of neo-Nazis. While the rest of the cast (Alec Guinness, Max Von Sydow and George Sanders) are good and Harold Pinter tries hard to turn a very internal story into the visual medium, George Segal is totally miscast as Quiller. The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels by Janice Hallett, Norwegian crime show Witch Hunt comes to Walter Presents, The Wall: Quebec crime show comes to More4, Irish crime drama North Sea Connection comes to BBC Four, The complete guide to Mick Herrons Slough House series. At the 1967 BAFTA Awards the film had nominations in the best Art Direction, Film Editing and Screenplay categories, but did not win. The name of the intelligence agency that Quiller ( George Segal) worked for was MI6. A satisfyingly cynical spy thriller with George Segal, Alec Guinness and Max Von Sydow; and a script by Harold Pinter, Decent and interesting spy thriller with great cast and impressive musical score by John Barry in his usual style. He sounded about as British as Leo Carillo or Cher. I recently found and purchased all 19 of the series in hardback and read them serially. While most realistic spy films of the 60s focused on the Soviet threat, Quiller pits the title character against a group of neo-Nazis. The Quiller Memorandum subtitles. The intense first person narration which is the defining characteristic of the Quiller books comes into its own during this interrogation scene, and also during the latter chapters of the books as events begin to come to a head. Nimble, sharp-toothed and sometimes they have to bite and claw their way out of a dark hole. A highly unusual and stimulating approach that draws us into the story. I recall being duly impressed by the menacing atmospherics, if much of it went over my head. Alec Guiness and George Sanders have brief roles as Segal's Control and Home Office head, respectively, and both rather coldly and matter-of-factly pooh-pooh over the grisly death of Segal's agent predecessor. They both go to the building, whereupon they are captured. Hall (also known as Elleston Trevor and several other pseudonyms) seemed really to hate the Germans, or at least his character did. Sadly, Von Sydows formidable acting chops are never seriously challenged here, and his lines are limited to fairly standard B-movie Euro-villain speak. What is the French language plot outline for The Quiller Memorandum (1966)? When Quiller arrives inthe cityhis handler gives him three items found on a dead agent: tickets to a swimming pool and a bowling alley along with a newspaper cutting. Segals laconic, stoop-shouldered Quiller is a Yank agent on loan to the British government to replace the latest cashiered Anglo operative in West Berlin. This isn't your average James Bond knockoff spy thriller; the fact that the screenplay is by playwright Harold Pinter is the first clue. One of my all time favorites and the film too. The Quiller Memorandum Reviews. He begins openly asking question about Neo-Nazis and is soon kidnapped by a man known only as "Oktober". And the legendary John Barrycomposer of the original Bond themeprovides appropriately haunting incidental music here. Corrections? Without knowing where they have taken him, and even if it is indeed their base of operations, Quiller is playing an even more dangerous game as in the process he met schoolteacher Inge Lindt, who he starts to fall for, and as such may be used as a pawn by the Nazis to get the upper hand on Quiller. Von Sydow (one of the few actors to have recovered from playing Jesus Christ and gone on to a varied and lengthy career) is excellent. This is an espionage series that started in the '60's and ran through the '90's. 1 hr 45 mins. Hall alsopeppered the text with authentic espionage jargon and as you read you get to live the part of Quiller. But Quiller shares an important kinship with Spy in that it challenges popular 007 mythmaking: freshly envisioning the unglamorous underside of an intelligence profession that the James Bond franchise had been relentlessly trivializing since its inception. They are not just sympathisers though. Read our extensive list of rules for more information on other types of posts like fan-art and self-promotion, or message the moderators if you have any questions. Finally, he is placed in the no-win position of either choosing to aid von Sydow or allowing Berger to be murdered. We never find out histrue identity or his history. That makes the story much more believable, and Adam Hall's writing style kept me engaged. The novel was titledThe Berlin Memorandum and at its centre was the protagonist and faceless spy, Quiller. Your email address will not be published. Fairly interesting spy movie, but doesn't make much sense under close scrutiny. In the West Berlin of the 1960s, two British agents are killed by a Nazi group, prompting British Intelligence to dispatch agent Quiller to investigate. One of the most interesting elements of the novel is Quiller's explanation of tradecraft and the way he narrates his way through receiving signals from his Control via coded stock market reports on the radio, and a seemingly endless string of people following him around Berlin as he goes about his mission. What a difference to the ludicrous James Helm/Matt Bond (or is it the other way round?) Oh, there are some problems, and Michael Anderson's direction is. Analismos este filme no 10. episdio de TRS J COMPANHIA. They are not just sympathisers though. The British Secret Service sends agent Quiller to investigate. I feel this film much more typified real counter espionage in the 60's as opposed to the early Bond flicks (which I love, by the way). The Wall Street Journal said it was one of the best espionage/spy series of all time. [7][8], Learn how and when to remove this template message, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Quiller_Memorandum&oldid=1135714025, "Wednesday's Child" main theme (instrumental), "Wednesday's Child" vocal version (lyrics: Mack David / vocals: Matt Monro), "Have You Heard of a Man Called Jones?" He accepts the assignment and almost immediately finds that he is being followed. Probably the most famous example of a solid American type playing an Englishman is Clark Gable from Mutiny On The Bounty. Meanwhile , Quiller befriends and fall in love for a teacher , Inge Lindt (Senta Berger) , and both of whom suffer constant dangers . This repackaging includes some worthwhile special features like an isolated score track and commentary by film historians Eddy Friedfeld and Lee Pfeiffer of Cinema Retro magazine to go with the new format. Where to Watch. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Quiller's primary contact for this job is a mid level administrative agent named Pol. Another isQuillers refusal to carry a weapon hebelieves it lends the operative an over-confidence and cangive the opposition an opportunity to turn your firearm against you. The premise isn't far-fetched, but the details are. The newspaper clipping that Hengel gives to Quiller, in the cafe when they first meet, shows that a schoolteacher called Hans Heinrich Steiner has been arrested for war crimes committed in WW2. Set largely on location in West Berlin, it has George Segal brought back from vacation to replace a British agent who has come to a sticky end at the hands of a new infiltrating group of Nazis. His virtual army of nearly silent, oddball henchmen add to the flavor of paranoia and nervousness. In . You are the hero of an extraordinary novel that shows how a spy works, how messages are coded and decoded, how contacts are made, how a man reacts under the influence of truth drugs, and that traces the story of a vastly complex, entertaining, convincing, and sinister plot. One of the first grown-up movies I was allowed to go see by myself as an impressionable adolescent (yes, this was some years ago now) was the Quiller Memorandum, with George Segal. Pol dispatches a team to Phoenix's HQ, which successfully captures all of Phoenix's members. I found it an interesting and pleasant change of pace from the usual spy film, sort of in the realm of The Spy Who Came in From the Cold (but not quite as good). In the West Berlin of the 1960s, two British agents are killed by a Nazi group, prompting British Intelligence to dispatch agent Quiller to investigate. After a pair of their agents are murdered in West Berlin, the British Secret Service for some unknown reason send in an American to investigate and find the location of a neo-Nazi group's headquarters. Its there to tackle the dirty jobs, and Quiller is the Bureaus go-to guy. Pol tells Quiller that Kenneth Lindsay Jones, a fellow agent and friend of Quiller's, was killed two days earlier by a neo-Nazi cell operating out of Berlin. Quiller, a British agent who works without gun, cover or contacts, takes on a neo-Nazi underground organization and its war criminal leader. As other reviewers have suggested, this Cold War Neo-Nazi intrigue is more concerned with subtle, low-key plot evolution than the James Bond in-your-face-gadgetry genre that was prevalent during the 60's-70's. Writing in The Guardian, playwright David Hare described Pinters strengths as a dramatist perfectly: In the spare, complicated screenwriting of Pinter, yes, no and maybe become words which do a hundred jobs. Unfortunately, when it comes to the use of language in Quiller, less does not always function as more. Unfortunately, the film is weighed down, not only by a ponderous script, but also by a miscast lead; instead of a heavy weight actor in the mold of a William Holden, George Segal was cast as Quiller. What will Quiller do? George Segal was good at digging for information without gadgets. The source novel "The Berlin Memorandum" is billed in the credits as being by Adam Hall. I read a few of these many years ago when they first came out. But don't let it fool you for one minutenor Mr. Segal, nor Senta Berger as the girl. I liked that the main character was ornery and tired and smart and still made mistakes and tried to see all possible outcomes at once and fought more against jumping to conclusions and staying alert and clear-headed than he did directly against the villains themselves. In terms of style The Quiller books aretaut and written with narrative pace at the forefront. Once Quiller becomes extra-friendly with Ingewhich happens preternaturally quicklyits clear someone on the other side is getting nervous. The Neo-Nazis want to know the location of British operations and similarly, the British want to know the location of the Neo-Nazis' headquarters. These include another superior soundtrack by John Barry, if perhaps a little too much son-of "The Ipcress File", some fine real-life (West) Berlin exteriors, particularly of the Olympic Stadium with its evocation of 1936 and all that and Harold Pinter's typically rhythmic, if at times inscrutable screenplay. Thought I'd try again and found this one a bit dated and dry - I will persevere with the series, Adam Hall (one of Elleston Trevor' many pseudonyms) wrote many classic spy stories, and this one is considered one of his best. Weary, Quiller only accepts the assignment on the assumption that he can fulfill a self-made promise revenge for a friend. This is a nom de plume for author. Michael Anderson directs with his usual leaden touch. Quiller: At the end of our conversation, he ordered them to kill me. A spy thriller for chess players. This was a great movie and found Quillers character to be excellent. But Quiller is an equal to a James Bond, or a George Smiley. Quiller becomes drowsy from a drug that was injected by the porter at the entrance to the hotel. In the West Berlin of the 1960s, two British agents are killed by a Nazi group, prompting British Intelligence to dispatch agent Quiller to investigate. Hengel gives Quiller the few items found on Jones: a bowling alley ticket, a swimming pool ticket and a newspaper article about a Nazi war criminal found teaching at a school. Hall's truncated writing style contributes to this effect. But admittedly its a tricky business second-guessing his dramatic instincts here. As such, it was deemed to be in the mode of The Ipcress File (1965) and The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965). Omissions? Despite an Oscar nomination for "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?," Segal's strength lies in light comedy, and both his demeanor and physical build made him an unlikely pick for an action role, even if the film is short on action. Newer. But then Quiller retraces his steps in a flashback. Watchlist. If your idea of an exciting spy thriller involves boobs, blondes and exploding baguettes, then The Quiller Memorandum is probably not for you. Segal is an unusual actor to be cast as a spy, but his quirky approach and his talent for repartee do assist him in retaining interest (even if its at the expense of the character as originally conceived in the source novels.) As a consequence I was left in some never-never land and always felt I was watching actors in a movie and never got involved. Phoenix boss Oktober (Max von Sydow) with George Segal, seated. The mission in Berlin is a mess, two of the Bureaus spies have been murdered already by the shadowy Phoenix. Quiller investigates, but hes being followed and has been since the moment he entered Berlin. aka: The Quiller Memorandum the first in a series of 19 Quiller books. The love interest between Quiller and Inge (Senta Berger) developed with no foundation. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. Press J to jump to the feed. I had to resist the temptation to fast forward on several occasions. With its gritty, real-world depiction of contemporary international espionage, The Quiller Memorandum was one of the more notable anti-Bond films of the 1960s. This is one of the worst thriller screenplays in cinema history. Nobel prizes notwithstanding I think Harold Pinter's screenplay for this movie is pretty lame, or maybe it's the director's fault. Quiller being injected with truth serum by agents of Phoenix. Instead, the screenplay posits a more sinister threat: the nascent re-Nazification of German youths, facilitated by an underground coven of Nazi sympathizing grade-school teachers. Quiller (played by George Segal) is an American secret agent assigned to work with British MI6 chief Pol (Alec Guinness) in West Berlin. Drama. Their aim is to bring back the Third Reich. He believes this is explained early years like a priest, ending in this page numbers were both the end, bibi andersson and actor. 2023's Most Anticipated Sequels, Prequels, and Spin-offs, Dirk Bauer . Our hero delivers a running dialogue with his own unconscious mind, assessing the threats, his potential responses, his plans. Inge tells him she loves him, and he tells her a phone number to call if he is not back in 20 minutes. Sort of a mixed effect clouds this novel. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. Quiller captures the contrast between the new and the seedy in the West Berlin of the 60s and how Germany remains haunted by the sins of its recent past. He first meets with Pol, who explains that each side is trying to discover and annihilate the other's base. After a pair of their agents are murdered in West Berlin, the British Secret Service for some unknown reason send in an American to investigate and find the location of a neo-Nazi group's headquarters. It is very rare that I find anyone else who is even aware of the Quiller books and yet they are as your reviewer mentions, absolutely first class. The headmistress introduces him to a teacher who speaks English, Inge Lindt. Finally, paint the result in Barbie pink and baby blue That's more or less what happened to Adam Hall's spy novel for this movie. Two British agents are murdered by a mysterious Neo-Nazi organization in West Berlin. And whats more, Quillers espionage tale is free of the silly gimmicks and gadgetry that define the escapist Bond franchise. What Adam Hall did extremely wellwas toget us readers inside the mind of an undercover operative. Quiller reaches Pol's secret office in Berlin, one of the top floors in the newly built Europa-Center, the tallest building in the city, and gives them the location of the building where he met Oktober. He contacts the teacher Inge Lindt (Senta Berger) expecting to get some clues to be followed and soon he is abducted the the leader Oktober (Max von Sydow) and his men. The Quiller Memorandum is the third Quiller novel that I have read, and it firmly establishes my opinion that Quiller is one of the finest series of espionage novels to have ever been written. I'm generally pretty forgiving of film adaptations of novels, but the changes that were made just do not make sense. Inga is unrecognizable and has been changed to the point of uselessness. In typically British mordant fashion, George Sanders and a fellow staffer in Britain are lunching in London on pheasant, more concerned with the quality of their repast than with the loss of their man in the field! This film has special meaning for me as I was living in Berlin during the filming and, subsequent screening in the city. Always under-appreciated by U.S. audiences, it's a relief to know that she's had a major impact on the German film community in later years. It out the quiller? He was the author of. After they have sex, she unexpectedly reveals that a friend was formerly involved with neo-Nazis and might know the location of Phoenix's HQ. I wanted to make a list of all the things that are wrong with this film, but I can't - such a list would need much more than a thousand words. He is British secret agent Kenneth Lindsay Jones. Elleston Trevor wrote 19 novels in the highly successful Quiller series. I know several spy fiction fans who rate Quiller highly; I'd read a couple and thought they were only OK, plus seen and enjoyed the film (which fans of the novel tend to dislike). Movie Info After two British Secret Intelligence Service agents are murdered at the hands of a cryptic neo-Nazi group known as Phoenix, the suave agent Quiller (George Segal) is sent to Berlin to. During the car chase scene, the cars behind Quiller's Porsche appear and disappear, and are sometimes alongside his car, on the driver's (left) side. The film's screenplay (by noted playwright Pinter) reuses to spoon feed the audience, rather requiring that they rely on their instinct and attention span to pick up the threads of the plot. Don't bother watching it, except to see the many scenes shot on location in West Berlin at that time, with its deserted streets and subdued mood. By day, the city is presented so beautifully, it's hard to imagine that such ugly things are going on amidst it. Quilleris a code name. Quiller, an agent working for British Intelligence, is sent to Berlin to meet with Pol, another operative. Michael Sandlin is a writer and academic based in Houston, Texas. I can see where some might find it more exhausting than anything else, though--he does get tired :). But soon he finds that she has been kidnapped and Oktober gives a couple of hours to him to give the location of the site; otherwise Inge and him will be killed. [3], In a contemporary review for The New York Times, critic Bosley Crowther wrote: "Clearly, 'The Quiller Memorandum' is claptrap done up in a style and with a musical score by John Barry that might lead you to think it is Art. Oktober informs Quiller that if he does not disclose secret information this time, both he and Inge will be killed. It certainly held my interest, partly because it was set in Berlin and even mentioned the street I lived on several times. The original, primary mission has been completely omitted. The Quiller series is highly regarded by the spy-fiction community, and as strange as it may seem - because I have had most of the books for years - I have never actually read them. Elleston Trevor (pictured) himself was a prolific, award-winning writer, producing novels under a range of pen names nine in total! Is there another film with as many sequences of extended, audible footsteps? This is the first in the series, and it seems to have a reputation for being a little different from what would become the typical Quiller novel. Variety wrote that "it relies on a straight narrative storyline, simple but holding, literate dialog and well-drawn characters". ): as a result, they were summarily bumped off with stereotypical German precision. American agent Quiller (George Segal) arrives in Berlin and meets with his British handler Pol (Alec Guinness). Following the few leads his predecessor Jones had accumulated, Quiller finds himself nosing around for clues in the sort of unglamorous places in which Bond would never deign to set footbowling alleys and public swimming pools, especially. After the interview, he gives her a ride to her flat and stops in for a drink. It's not often that one wishes so much for a main character to get killed, especially by NAZI's. The only really interesting thing is the way we're left spoiler: click to read in the end. His dry but quick Yiddish humor shines through on many occasions, providing diversions that masquerade his underlying desire to expose the antagonists' machinations. His investigations (and baiting) lead him to a pretty schoolteacher (Berger) who he immediately takes a liking to and who may be of assistance to him in his quest. The Quiller Memorandum strips the spy persona down to its primal instincts, ditching the fancy paraphernalia in favor of a rather satisfying display of wits and gumption. Quiller, a British agent who works without gun, cover or contacts, takes on a neo-Nazi underground organization and its war criminal leader. Written by Harold Pinter from the novel by Adam Hall Produced by Ivan Foxwell Directed by Michael Anderson Reviewed by Glenn Erickson The enormous success of James Bond made England the center of yet another worldwide cultural phenomenon. Whats more, not even Harold Pinter can inject Segals Quiller with anything like the cutting cynicism and dark humor that made Alec Leamus such a formidably wretched character. Quiller has a love affair with Inge and they seek out the location of Oktober. Thank God Segal is in it. Max Van Sydow is better as the neo-Nazi leader, veiled by the veneer of respectability as he cracks his knuckles and swings a golf club all the time he's injecting Segal with massive doses of truth serum, while Senta Berger is pleasant, but slight, as the pretty young teacher who apparently leads our man initially to the "other side", but whose escape at the end from capture and certain death at the hands of the "baddies" might lead one to suspect her true proclivities. Is Quiller going to wind up dead too? The film ends with Quiller suspecting that Inge is more than an ordinary schoolteacher. Quiller continues his subtle accusations, and Inge continues her denial of ever meeting Jones. I enjoyed the book. Defiant undercover spy Quiller carries out a nervy , stealthy , prowling around Berlin in which he becomes involved into a risked cat and mouse game , being chased and hunted , by a strange and sinister leader , known only as Oktober (Max Von Sidow) .