It is the first book in the 20-volume Quiller series. This reactionary quake in the spy genre was brief but seismic all the same. Can someone explain it to me? The Quiller Memorandum was based on a novel by Elleston Trevor (under the name Adam Hall). Harold Pinter's fairly literate screenplay features . While most realistic spy films of the 60s focused on the Soviet threat, Quiller pits the title character against a group of neo-Nazis. Hes that good try the book and youll find out. Quiller has a love affair with Inge and they seek out the location of Oktober. His romantic interest is Senta Berger, whose understated and laconic dialog provides the perfect counterpoint to Segal's character. There was also a TV series in 1975. In terms of style The Quiller books aretaut and written with narrative pace at the forefront. Max von Sydow plays the Nazi chief quietly but with high camp menace. His virtual army of nearly silent, oddball henchmen add to the flavor of paranoia and nervousness. This well-drawn tale of espionage is set in West B. Your email address will not be published. No one really cared that Gable did not even attempt an English accent the film was that good. The movie wants to be more Le Carre than Fleming (the nods to the latter fall flat with a couple of fairly underpowered car-chases and a very unconvincing fight scene when Segal first tries to escape his captors) but fails to make up in suspense what it obviously lacks in thrills. Scriptwriter Harold Pinter, already with two of the best adapted screenplays of the 1960s British New Wave under his belt (The Servant and The Pumpkin Eater), adapted his screenplay for Quiller from Adam Halls 1965 novel, The Berlin Memorandum. The Quiller Memorandum came near the peak of the craze for spy movies in the Sixties, but its dry, oddly sardonic tone sets it apart from both the James Bond-type sex-and-gadget thrillers and the more somber, "adult" spy dramas such as Martin Ritt's The Spy Who Came In from the Cold (1965). A highly unusual and stimulating approach that draws us into the story. Soon Quiller is confronted with Neo-Nazi chief "Oktober" and involved in a dangerous game where each side tries to find out the enemy's headquarters at any price. Corrections? Languid, some might say ponderous mid-60's British-made cold-war drama (it could scarcely be called a thriller, more "The Spy Who Came In From The Cold" than, say "Thunderball") that for all its longueurs, does have some redeeming features. Quiller awakes in a dilapidated mansion, surrounded by many of the previous incidental characters. 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 movie belongs to the long list of the spy features of the sixties, and not even James Bond like movies, rather John Le Carr oriented ones, in the line of IPCRESS or ODESSA FILE, very interesting films for movie buffs in search of a kind of nostalgia and also for those who try to understand this period. 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. True, Segal never seems to settle into the role of Quiller. The sentences are generally clipped and abrupt, reminiscent of Simon Kernicks style wherenot a word is wasted, but predating him by a generation. Quiller meets his controller for this mission, Pol, at Berlin's Olympia Stadium, and learns that he must find the headquarters of Phoenix, a neo-Nazi organization. Quiller becomes drowsy from a drug that was injected by the porter at the entrance to the hotel. How did I miss this film until just recently? 1966. And the legendary John Barrycomposer of the original Bond themeprovides appropriately haunting incidental music here. The book is built around a continual number of reveals. The Quiller Memorandum is a 1966 British neo noir eurospy film filmed in Deluxe Color and Panavision, adapted from the 1965 spy novel The Berlin Memorandum, by Elleston Trevor under the name "Adam Hall", screenplay by Harold Pinter, directed by Michael Anderson, featuring George Segal, Alec Guinness, Max von Sydow and Senta Berger. 2 decades after the collapse of Nazi Germany, several old guard are planning to (slowly) rebuild. 2023's Most Anticipated Sequels, Prequels, and Spin-offs, Dirk Bauer . First isthe protagonist himself. Where to Watch. In the following chapter the events have moved on beyond the crisis, instantly creating a how? question in your mind. 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. 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. As classic as it gets. As usual for films which are difficult to pin down . In . The Quiller Memorandum is based on Adam Hall's thriller novel about neo-Nazism in contemporary Germany. The setting is Cold War-divided Berlinwhere Quillertackles a threat from a group ofneo-Nazis whocall themselves Phoenix. At a key breakfast meeting, Pol uses two blueberry muffins to outline the particularly precarious cat-and-mouse game Quiller must play while in the gap between his own side and the fascist gang. To do his job George Segal's hapless Quiller must set himself out as bait in the middle of a pressure play in West Berlin. In the process, he discovers a complex and malevolent plot, more dangerous to the world than any crime committed during the war. America's leading magazine on the art and politics of the cinema. Omissions? 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. - BH. 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. The nation remained the home of the best spies. The Quiller Memorandum, based on a novel by Adam Hall (pen name for Elleston Trevor) and with a screenplay by Harold Pinter, deals with the insidious upsurge of neo-Nazism in Germany. When Quiller refuses to talk, Oktober orders his execution. The Quiller Memorandum. Want to Read. While the Harry Palmer films from 1965 to 1967 (Ipcress File, Funeral in Berlin, and Billion Dollar Brain) saw cockney Everyman Michael Caine nail the part of Palmer, who was the slum-dwelling, bespectacled antithesis to Sean Connerys martini-sipping sybarite. Also the increasing descent into the minutiae of spycraft plays into the reveal, plot-wise as well as psychologically. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. In the 60's, in Berlin, two British agents that are investigating a Neonazi ring are murdered. After two British agents are assassinated in Berlin by a group of Neo-Nazis, the British Secret Service assign Quiller to locate and identify the culprits. I recall being duly impressed by the menacing atmospherics, if much of it went over my head. Hall alsopeppered the text with authentic espionage jargon and as you read you get to live the part of Quiller. As for the rest of the movie, the plot, acting, and dialog are absolutely atrocious; even the footsteps are dubbed - click, click, click. Because the books were written in the first person the reader learns very little about him, beyond his mission capability. 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. Quiller then returns to his hotel, followed by the men who remain outside. Alec Guinness plays spymaster Pol, Quillers minder. 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. 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. Hall is not trying be a Le Carre, hes in a different area, one he really makes his own. As Quiller revolves around a plot that's more monstrously twisted than he imagines it to be . Quiller, a British agent who works without gun, cover or contacts, takes on a neo-Nazi underground organization and its war criminal leader. I enjoyed the book. Try as he might though, he can't quite carry the lead here, lacking as he does the magnetism of Connery or the cynicism of Caine. This is one of the worst thriller screenplays in cinema history. Quiller leaves the Konigshof Hotel on West Berlin's Kurfurstendamm and confronts a man who has been following him, learning that it is his minder, Hengel. She states that she "was lucky, they let me go" and claims she then called the phone number but it did not work. As usual for films which are difficult to pin down . He first meets with Pol, who explains that each side is trying to discover and annihilate the other's base. The characters and dialog are well-written and most roles are nicely acted. Slow-moving Cold War era thriller in the mode of "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold," "The Quiller Memorandum" lacks thrills and fails to match the quality of that Richard Burton classic. Submissions should be for the purpose of informing or initiating a discussion, not just to entertain readers. 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. I too read the Quiller novels years ago and found them thrilling and a great middle ground between the super-spy Bond stories and the realism of Le Carre. Quiller admits to Inge that he is an "investigator" on the trail of neo-Nazis. 2023 Variety Media, LLC. What a difference to the ludicrous James Helm/Matt Bond (or is it the other way round?) And, the final scene (with her and Segal) is done extremely well (won't spoil it for those who still wish to see itit fully sums up the film, the tension filled times and cold war-era Germany). The whole thing, including these two actors, is as hollow as a shell. 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. 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. Quiller investigates, but hes being followed and has been since the moment he entered Berlin. Keating. For example, when the neo-Nazi goons are sticking to Quiller like fly paper, wasn't he suspicious when they did not follow him into his hotel? At the 1967 BAFTA Awards the film had nominations in the best Art Direction, Film Editing and Screenplay categories, but did not win. Published chrismass61 Aug 21 2013 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. As explained by his condescending boss Pol (Alec Guinness), Quillers two unfortunate predecessors were getting too close to exposing the subterranean neo-Nazi cell known as Phoenix (get it? George Sanders and others back in London play the stock roles of arch SIS mandarins who love putting people down, wearing black tie and being the snobs that they are. 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. In conclusion, having recently watched "Quiller's" almost exact contemporary "The Ipcress File", I have to say that I preferred the latter's more pointed narrative, down-home grittiness and star acting to the similar fare offered here. See production, box office & company info, Europa-Center, Charlottenburg, Berlin, Germany. Quiller, a British agent who works without gun, cover or contacts, takes on a neo-Nazi underground organization and its war criminal leader. The Phoenix group descend and take Quiller, torturing him to find out what he knows. The cast is full of familiar faces: Alec Guinness, who doesn't have much of a role, George Sanders, who has even less of one, Max von Sydow in what was to become a very familiar part for him, Robert Helpmann, Robert Flemyng, and the beautiful, enigmatic Senta Berger. The plot revolves around former Nazis and the rise of a Neo-Nazi organisation known as Phonix. (UK title). Apparently, it was made into a classic movie and there is even a website compiled by Trevor devotees. The Wall Street Journal said it was one of the best espionage/spy series of all time. Quiller avoids answering Oktober's questions about Quiller's agency, until a doctor injects him with a truth serum, after which he reveals a few minor clues. Very eerie film score, I believe John Barry did it but, I'm not sure. 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. 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. 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. We never find out histrue identity or his history. [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?" The Quiller Memorandum book. I thought the ending was Quller getting one last meeting with the nice babe and sending a warning to any remaining Nazis that they are being watched. Thank God Segal is in it. Updates? That makes the story much more believable, and Adam Hall's writing style kept me engaged. The Berlin Memorandum, or The Quiller Memorandum as it is also known, is the first book in the twenty book Quiller series, written by Elleston Trevor under the pen name of Adam Hall. The film is ludicrous. Quiller had the misfortune to hit cinemas hot on the heels of two first-rate examples of Bond backlash: Martin Ritts gritty The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and the first (and easily best) entry in the acclaimed Harry Palmer trilogy, The Ipcress File, both released in 1965. Sort of a mixed effect clouds this novel. (What with wanting to go to sleep and wanting to scream at the same time, this film does pose certain conflict problems.) Author/co-author of numerous books about the cinema and is regarded as one of the foremost James Bond scholars. The story, in the early days of, This week sees the release of Trouble, the third book in the Hella Mauzer series by Katja Ivar. 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. Quiller (played by George Segal) is an American secret agent assigned to work with British MI6 chief Pol ( Alec Guinness) in West Berlin. But the writing was sloppy and there was a wholly superfluous section on decoding a cipher, which wasn't even believable.
Christian Stracke Baseball Team, Articles T
Christian Stracke Baseball Team, Articles T