It relies on a straight narrative storyline, simple but holding, literate dialog and well-drawn characters. The plot revolves around former Nazis and the rise of a Neo-Nazi organisation known as Phonix. Released at a time when the larger-than-life type of spy movie (the James Bond series) was in full swing and splashy, satirical ones (such as "Our Man Flynt" and "The Silencers") were about to take off, this is a quieter, more down-to-earth and realistic effort. Press J to jump to the feed. 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. The film was shot on location in West Berlin and in Pinewood . This reactionary quake in the spy genre was brief but seismic all the same. The premise isn't far-fetched, but the details are. Michael Anderson directs a classy slice of '60s spy-dom. 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. If you have seen this movie, and it leaves you very dissatisfied or with a bunch of bright orange question marks, don't worry ! Quiller enters the mansion and is confronted by Phoenix thugs. Fans of "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" will notice that film's Mr. Slugworth (Meisner) in a small role as the operator of a swim club (which features some memorably husky, "master race" swimmers emerging from the pool.) If your idea of an exciting spy thriller involves boobs, blondes and exploding baguettes, then The Quiller Memorandum is probably not for you. A spy thriller for chess players. They say 'what a pity' with droll indifference as they eat their roast pheasant and take note of which operatives have been killed this week. So, at this level. 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.) The film is ludicrous. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. Quiller being injected with truth serum by agents of Phoenix. 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. The only redeeming features of The Quiller Memorandum are the scenes of Berlin with its old U-Bahn train and wonderful Mercedes automobiles, and the presence of two beautiful German women, Senta Berger and Edith Schneider; those two females epitomize Teutonic womanhood for me. Cue the imposing Max Von Sydow as Nazi head honcho Oktober, whose Swedish accent is inflected with an Elmer Fudd-like speech impedimentthus achieving something like a serviceable German accent. A handful of engaging spy thrillers followed before the author paused his novels to focus on journalism, although its also worth noting that he has freelanced. Neo-Nazi plot Is there another film with as many sequences of extended, audible footsteps? This isn't your standard spy film with lots of gunplay, outrageous villains, and explosions. One of my all time favorites and the film too. Watchable and intriguing as it occasionally is, enigmatic is perhaps the most apposite adjective you could use to describe the "action" within. This is a nom de plume for author. movies. This one makes no exception. Two British agents are murdered by a mysterious Neo-Nazi organization in West Berlin. 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. What is the French language plot outline for The Quiller Memorandum (1966)? George Segal as Agent Quiller with Inge Lindt (Senta Berger). Mind you, in 1966-67 the Wall was there, East German border guards and a definite (cold war) cloud hanging over the city. The whole thing, including these two actors, is as hollow as a shell. His Oktober does, however, serve as a one-man master class in hyperironic cordiality: Ah, Quiller! But Quiller is an equal to a James Bond, or a George Smiley. Oktober also wants to know the location of the British base in Germany and uses drugs in Quiller to get the information but the skilled agent resists. Quiller, a British agent who works without gun, cover or contacts, takes on a neo-Nazi underground organization and its war criminal leader. 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. The book and movie made a bit of a splash in the spy craze of the mid-sixties, when James Bond and The Man From Uncle were all the rage. Each reveal, in turn, provides a separate level of truth--or, as it may be, self-deception. 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. Updates? Keating. Visually, the film was rather stunning, but the magical soft focus that appears every time Inga is in the frame is silly. 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. Author/co-author of numerous books about the cinema and is regarded as one of the foremost James Bond scholars. The novels are esoteric thrillers, very cerebral and highly recommended. The Quiller Memorandum. [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?" Don't start thinking you missed something: it's the screenplay who did ! When they find, Quiller gives the phone number of his base to Inge and investigates the place. Thanks in advance. 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. I listened to the audio version narrated by Andrew B Wehrlen and found it an utterly engaging tale. 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. An American secret agent called Quiller (George Segal) working for MI6 (whose chief is George Sanders) travels to Berlin to uncover a deadly Neo-Nazi band . Very eerie film score, I believe John Barry did it but, I'm not sure. [5], According to Fox records, the film needed to earn $2,600,000 in rentals to break even and made $2,575,000, meaning it initially showed a marginal loss, but subsequent television and home video sales moved it into the black. Set in 1950s Finland, during the Cold War, the books tell the story of a young police woman and budding detective who cuts against the grain when, John Fullertons powerful 1996 debut The Monkey House was set in war-torn Sarajevo and was right in the moment. Quiller also benefits from some geographically eclectic West Berlin location shooting from master cinematographer and Berlin native Erwin Hillier. 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? As classic as it gets. He published over 50 novels as Elleston Trevor alone. He accepts the assignment and almost immediately finds that he is being followed. THE QUILLER MEMORANDUM (3 outta 5 stars) The 1960s saw a plethora of two kinds of spy movies: the outrageous semi-serious James Bond ripoffs (like the Flint and Matt Helm movies) and the very dry, methodical ones that were more talk than action (mostly John Le Carre and Alistair MacLean adaptations). It's not my intention to be obnoxious and list every point in the movie that strays from the book, but it's truly a shame that such well-crafted material--intriguing back stories, superior spy tactics--is wasted here. Have read a half dozen or so other "Quiller" books, so when I saw that Hoopla had this first story, I figured I should give it a listen to see how Quiller got started. Alec Guinness is excellent as a spy chief, and he gives a faint whiff of verisimilitude to this hopeless film. True, Segal never seems to settle into the role of Quiller. 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's assignment: to discover the location of the neo-Nazi . 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. In fact, he is derisory about agents who insist on being armed. It looks like we don't have any synopsis for this title yet. Quiller admits to Inge that he is an "investigator" on the trail of neo-Nazis. Phoenix boss Oktober (Max von Sydow) with George Segal, seated. Oktober informs Quiller that if he does not disclose secret information this time, both he and Inge will be killed. All Rights Reserved. Berger is luminous and exceedingly solid in a complicated role. Elleston Trevor (pictured) himself was a prolific, award-winning writer, producing novels under a range of pen names nine in total! A crisply written story that captured my attention from beginning to end. He is the true faceless spy. They are all members of Phoenix, led by the German aristocrat code-named Oktober. I can't NOT begin by saying, "This Is A MUST Read For Every Fan Of The Espionage Genre". The Quiller Memorandum Reviews. It out the quiller? The book itself sets a standard for the psychological spy thriller as an agent (code-named Quiller) plays a suspense-filled cat-and-mouse game with the head of a neo-Nazi group in post-war Berlin. Special guests Sanders and Helpmann bring their special brand of haughty authority to their roles as members of British Intelligence. Audiobook. Required fields are marked *. 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. You HAVE been watching it carefully. Fresh off an Oscar nomination for the mental anguish he suffered at the hands of Richard Burton and Liz Taylor in Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf (also 1966), George Segal seems, in hindsight, a dubious choice to play the offbeat Quiller. In the mid-Sixties, the subgenre of the James Bond backlash film was becoming a crowded market. In . He sounded about as British as Leo Carillo or Cher. What is the French language plot outline for The Quiller Memorandum (1966)? Quiller befriends a teacher, Inge Lindt, whose predecessor at the school had been arrested for being a Neo-Nazi. It was time for kitchen-sink alternatives to the Bond films upper-crust Empire nostalgia, channeled as it was through a tuxedoed, priapic Anglo toff committing state-sponsored murder in service of Her Majestys postcolonial grudges. En route he has some edgy adventures. 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. The third to try is Quiller, an unassuming man, who knows he's being put into a deadly game. See production, box office & company info, Europa-Center, Charlottenburg, Berlin, Germany. When Quiller returns to his hotel, a porter bumps Quiller's leg with a suitcase on the steps. Hassler drives them to meet an old contact he says knows a lot more, who turns out to be Inge's headmistress. 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. 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. Quiller wakes up beside Berlin's Spree River. All Rights Reserved. Read 134 reviews from the world's largest community for readers. Agent Quiller is relaxing in a Berlin theater the night before returning to London and rest after a difficult assignment when he is accosted by Pol, another British agent, with a new, very important assignment.
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