Composer Barry provides an atmospheric score (though one that is somewhat of a departure from the notes and instruments used in his more famous pieces), but silence is put to good use as well. First isthe protagonist himself. Pretending to be a reporter, Quiller visits the school featured in the article. Quiller then returns to his hotel, followed by the men who remain outside. 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 Quiller Memorandum (1966) - IMDb CIS: The Quiller Memorandum revisited | Crime Fiction Lover 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. George Segal was good at digging for information without gadgets. 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. The name of the intelligence agency that Quiller ( George Segal) worked for was MI6. Pol dispatches a team to Phoenix's HQ, which successfully captures all of Phoenix's members. Mind you, in 1966-67 the Wall was there, East German border guards and a definite (cold war) cloud hanging over the city. Your email address will not be published. Studios: The Rank Organisation and Ivan Foxwell Productions, https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Quiller-Memorandum, BFI Screenonline - The Quiller Memorandum (1966), Britmovie.co.uk - "The Quiller Memorandum", The Quiller Memorandum - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). I loved seeing and feeling the night shots in this film and, as it was shot on location, the sense of reality was heightened for me. (What with wanting to go to sleep and wanting to scream at the same time, this film does pose certain conflict problems.) The Quiller Memorandum subtitles. 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. Hassler drives them to meet an old contact he says knows a lot more, who turns out to be Inge's headmistress. Two British agents are murdered by a mysterious Neonazi organization in West Berlin. Which is to say that in Quillers world, death is dispensed via relatively banal means like bombs and bullets instead of, say, dagger shoes and radioactive lint. A man walks along a deserted Berlin street at night and enters an internally lit phone box. All of that, and today the novels are largely forgotten. Commenting on Quiller in 1966, The New York Timessomewhat unfairlywrote off Segals performance as an unmitigated bust: If youve got any spying to do in Berlin, dont send George Segal to do the job. The reviewer then refers to Quiller as a pudding-headed fellow (a descriptive phrase that sounds more 1866 than 1966). As Quiller revolves around a plot that's more monstrously twisted than he imagines it to be . His Oktober does, however, serve as a one-man master class in hyperironic cordiality: Ah, Quiller! Quiller becomes drowsy from a drug that was injected by the porter at the entrance to the hotel. But then Quiller retraces his steps in a flashback. Phoenix boss Oktober (Max von Sydow) with George Segal, seated. This well-drawn tale of espionage is set in West Berlin, 15 years after the end of WW II. This was a great movie and found Quillers character to be excellent. It is the first book in the 20-volume Quiller series. Corrections? 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). Berger is luminous and exceedingly solid in a complicated role. This isn't your standard spy film with lots of gunplay, outrageous villains, and explosions. He published over 50 novels as Elleston Trevor alone. The film illustrates the never-ending game of spying and the futility that results as each mission is only accomplished in its own realm, but the big picture goes on and on with little or no resolution. In addition to Pinters screenplay, the film was noted for its plot twists and the portrayal of Quiller as refreshingly vulnerable and occasionally inept.
The Quiller Memorandum by Adam Hall | Goodreads 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. An almost unrecognizable George Segal stars in "The Quiller Memorandum," set in Berlin and made 40 years ago. After all, his characters social unease and affectless personality are presumably components of the movies contra-Bond commitment. The Chief of the Secret Service Pol (Alec Guinness) summons the efficient agent Quiller (George Segal) to investigate the location of organization's headquarter. Fans of realistic spy fiction will enjoy David McCloskeys debut thriller Damascus Station, newly available in paperback in the UK. They are not just sympathisers though. Blu-ray, color, 105 min., 1966.
Quiller Series by Adam Hall - Goodreads 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. The Berlin Memorandum, renamed The Quiller Memorandum, was published in 1965 by Elleston Trevor, who used the pseudonym Adam Hall. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. In 1966, the book was made into a successful film starring George Segal, Max Von Sydow, Senta Berger, and Alec Guinness. But Quiller gets closer to the action when he visits a supposedly progressive West Berlin middle school on a tip about an alleged Nazi war criminal who once taught there. No doubt Quiller initially seems like a slow-witted stumblebum, but his competence as an agent begins to reveal itself in due course: for instance, we find out he speaks fluent German; in a late scene, he successfully uses a car bomb to fake his own death and fool his adversaries; and along the way he exhibits surprisingly competent hand-to-hand combat skills in beating up a few Nazi bullyboys. Alec Guinness gets to play a Smiley prototype but brings too much Noel Coward to the table. He is British secret agent Kenneth Lindsay Jones. I can't NOT begin by saying, "This Is A MUST Read For Every Fan Of The Espionage Genre". Get help and learn more about the design. Quilleris a code name. 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. That way theres no-one to betray him to the other side. 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? Although the situations are often deadly serious, Segal seems to take them lightly; perhaps in the decade that spawned James Bond, he was confused and thought he was in a spy spoof. Visually, the film was rather stunning, but the magical soft focus that appears every time Inga is in the frame is silly. As for the rest of the movie, the plot, acting, and dialog are absolutely atrocious; even the footsteps are dubbed - click, click, click. 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). closing theme, This page was last edited on 26 January 2023, at 11:13. 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. How nice to see you again! and so forth. 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. 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. The quarry for all the work is old Nazi higher officials who are now hiding behind new names and plotting to return Germany to the glory days of the Third Reich, complete with a resurrected Fhrer twenty years after the end of WW II. 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. THE SITE FOR DIE HARD CRIME & THRILLER FANS. Inge tells him she loves him, and he tells her a phone number to call if he is not back in 20 minutes. 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. Updates? 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. For my money, the top three cold war spy novelists were Le Carre, Deighton, and Adam Hall. 1966's The Quiller Memorandum is a low-key gem, a pared-down existential spy caper that keeps the exoticism to a minimum. People tend to like it because "it's not like the Bond movies"; well, it's not - it's like "The Ipcress File", except that "The Ipcress File" was a genuinely smart and atmospheric movie, while "The Quiller Memorandum" is a clumsy, dated spy thriller full of pseudo-hip dialogue and plot holes. His book. ): as a result, they were summarily bumped off with stereotypical German precision. They wereso popularthat in 1966 a film was made the title waschanged to The Quiller Memorandum and from then on all future copies of the book were published under this title, rather than the original. In the 60's, in Berlin, two British agents that are investigating a Neonazi ring are murdered. 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. Hall (also known as Elleston Trevor and several other pseudonyms) seemed really to hate the Germans, or at least his character did. A bit too sardonic at times, I think his character wanted to be elsewhere, clashing with KGB agents instead of ferreting out neo-nazis.
The Quiller Memorandum by Adam Hall - Goodreads The Quiller Memorandum (1966) - Turner Classic Movies Two British agents are murdered by a mysterious Neo-Nazi organization in West Berlin. 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. The Quiller Memorandum, British-American spy film, released in 1966, that was especially noted for the deliberately paced but engrossing script by playwright Harold Pinter. This film has special meaning for me as I was living in Berlin during the filming and, subsequent screening in the city. 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. This demonstration using familiar breakfast food items serves to stimulate the American spys brainwaves into serious operative mode. It looks like we don't have any synopsis for this title yet. He walks down the same street where Jones was shot, but finds he is followed by Oktober's men. 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.
The Quiller Memorandum (1966) - Plot Summary - IMDb 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. Alec Guinness is excellent as a spy chief, and he gives a faint whiff of verisimilitude to this hopeless film. Hall is not trying be a Le Carre, hes in a different area, one he really makes his own. 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. He spends as much time and energy attempting to lose the bouncer-like minders sent to cover him in the field as he does the neo-Nazi goon squads that eventually come calling. Not terribly audience-friendly, but smart and very, very cool. The story is ludicrous.
The Quiller Memorandum - Variety I had to resist the temptation to fast forward on several occasions. The novel was titled The Berlin Memorandum and at its centre was the protagonist and faceless spy, Quiller. The Quiller Memorandum was based on a novel by Elleston Trevor (under the name Adam Hall). Read 134 reviews from the world's largest community for readers. 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 investigates, but hes being followed and has been since the moment he entered Berlin. But how could she put up with the love scenes with the atrocious Segal? She states that she "was lucky, they let me go" and claims she then called the phone number but it did not work. Sadly the Quiller novels have fallen out of favour with the apparentend of the Cold War. It was nominated for three BAFTA Awards,[2] while Pinter was nominated for an Edgar Award for the script. This was evidently the first of a very long series featuring the spy Quiller. Audiobook. Quiller, a British agent who works without gun, cover or contacts, takes on a neo-Nazi underground organization and its war criminal leader. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. And considering how terrible its one fight scene is, it's certainly a blessing that it doesn't have any more. Quiller, however, escapes, and with Inges help, he discovers the location of Phoenixs headquarters. He sounded about as British as Leo Carillo or Cher. I recall being duly impressed by the menacing atmospherics, if much of it went over my head. Other viewers have said it all: it is a good movie and more interestingly it is a different kind of spy movie. From the latest Scandinavian serial killer to Golden Age detective stories, we love our crime novels! 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. It was written by Harold Pinter, but despite his talent for writing plays, he certainly had no cinematic sense whatever. 2023 Variety Media, LLC. . 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. "The Quiller Memorandum" is a film with a HUGE strike against it at the outset.they inexplicably cast George Segal as a British spy! In . They don't know how to play it, it's neither enjoyable make-believe like the James Bond movies, nor is it played for real like "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold." He first meets with Pol, who explains that each side is trying to discover and annihilate the other's base. Author/co-author of numerous books about the cinema and is regarded as one of the foremost James Bond scholars. We never find out histrue identity or his history. Quiller's assignment is to take over where Jones left off. I probably haven't yet read enough to be fully aware of what the typical Quiller characteristics are, but never mindthe key thing is that it was a pacy, intense and thrilling read. 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. And although Harold Pinters screenwriting for Quiller doesnt strike one as being classically Pinteresque, occasionally his distinct style reveals itself in pockets of suggestive menace where silence is often just as important as whats spoken.
The Quiller Memorandum - Rotten Tomatoes Performed by Matt Monro, "Wednesday's Child" was also released as a single. 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. 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. 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. The former was a bracingly pessimistic Cold War alternative to freewheeling Bondian optimism that featured burnout boozer actor Richard Burton in an all-too-convincing performance as burnout boozer spy Alec Leamus. In fact, he is derisory about agents who insist on being armed. He calls Inge and arranges to meet. Older ; About;