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Soon after his amorous encounter with Inge, Quiller is drugged on the street by a crafty hypodermic-wielding operative and wakes up in a seedy basement full of stern-looking Nazis in business attire. It was from the quiller memorandum ending of the item, a failed nuclear weapons of Personalized Map Search. American agent Quiller (George Segal) arrives in Berlin and meets with his British handler Pol (Alec Guinness). And of course, no spy-spoof conversation would be complete without mentioning 1967s David Niven-led piss-take on the Bond films, Casino Royale. He also works alone and without contacts. Older ; About; What Adam Hall did extremely wellwas toget us readers inside the mind of an undercover operative. The book is built around a continual number of reveals. Oktober demands Quiller reveal the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) base by dawn or Inge will be killed. Berger is luminous and exceedingly solid in a complicated role. When drug-induced questioning fails to produce results, Segal is booted to the river, but he isn't quite ready to give in yet. 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. 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. Also the increasing descent into the minutiae of spycraft plays into the reveal, plot-wise as well as psychologically. Oh, there are some problems, and Michael Anderson's direction is. This well-drawn tale of espionage is set in West Berlin, 15 years after the end of WW II. When their backs against the wall, its him they turn to. It relies. 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. The classic tale of espionage that started it all! 2 decades after the collapse of Nazi Germany, several old guard are planning to (slowly) rebuild. movies. On the surface, we get at least some satisfying closure to the case of the clandestine neo-Nazi gang. He finds that a bomb has been strapped underneath and sets it on the bonnet of the car so it will slowly slide and fall off due to vibration from the running engine. Press J to jump to the feed. . This well-drawn tale of espionage is set in West B. 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. No one really cared that Gable did not even attempt an English accent the film was that good. It was interesting to me that in 1965 (when I also happened to be living in Germany as a US Army dependent) the crux of the book was the fear of a Nazi resurgence -- and I'm not talking about skinheads, but Nazis deep within the German government and military. Watchlist. Write by: Quiller wakes up beside Berlin's Spree River. Watched by Rui Alves de Sousa 04 Jun 2022. Kindle Edition. 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. [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 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. AKA: Ivan Foxwell's the Quiller Memorandum, Quiller, Quiller Memorandum, Ian Foxwell's The Quiller Memorandum, Ivan Foxwell's Production The Quiller Memorandum. In a feint to see if Quiller will reveal more by oversight, Oktober decides to spare his life. I can't NOT begin by saying, "This Is A MUST Read For Every Fan Of The Espionage Genre". The setting is Cold War-divided Berlin where Quiller tackles a threat from a group of neo-Nazis who call themselves Phoenix. 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. Drama. Harold Pinter's fairly literate screenplay features . He first meets with Pol, who explains that each side is trying to discover and annihilate the other's base. The latter reveals a local teacher has been unmasked as a Nazi. 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. He is the true faceless spy. 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. 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. In the process, he discovers a complex and malevolent plot, more dangerous to the world than any crime committed during the war. His Oktober does, however, serve as a one-man master class in hyperironic cordiality: Ah, Quiller! 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 time he's a spy trying to get the location of a neo-Nazi organization. Nobel prizes notwithstanding I think Harold Pinter's screenplay for this movie is pretty lame, or maybe it's the director's fault. 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. Fairly interesting spy movie, but doesn't make much sense under close scrutiny. 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 Berlin Memorandum, renamed The Quiller Memorandum, was published in 1965 by Elleston Trevor, who used the pseudonym Adam Hall. 1966. Like Harry Palmer, Quiller is a stubborn individualist who has some rather inflated ideas of being his own man and is contemptuous of his controlling stuffed-shirt overlords. Meanwhile , Quiller befriends and fall in love for a teacher , Inge Lindt (Senta Berger) , and both of whom suffer constant dangers . But for today's audiences, those films are a bit old fashioned and not always very easy to follow, too much complicated. This isachievedviaQuillers first person perspective. 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). What is the French language plot outline for The Quiller Memorandum (1966)? On paper, this film had all the makings of a potential masterpiece: youve got a marquee cast, headed up by George Segal, Max Von Sydow, and Alec Guinness, for starters. Don't start thinking you missed something: it's the screenplay who did ! 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. This isn't your average James Bond knockoff spy thriller; the fact that the screenplay is by playwright Harold Pinter is the first clue. His dry but quick Yiddish humor shines through on many occasions, providing diversions that masquerade his underlying desire to expose the antagonists' machinations. Segal plays Quiller with a laconic but likeable detachment, underlining the loneliness and lack of relaxation of the agent, who can- not even count on support from his own side. But good enough to hold my interest till the end. 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). It's a more realistic or credible portrayal of how a single character copes with trying to get information in a dangerous environment. The Quiller Memorandum book. As classic as it gets. Elleston Trevor wrote 19 novels in the highly successful Quiller series. 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. 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. His job is to locate their headquarters. And the legendary John Barrycomposer of the original Bond themeprovides appropriately haunting incidental music here. It's a bit strange to see such exquisitely Pinter-esque dialogue (the laconic, seemingly innocuous sentences; the profound silences; the syntax that isn't quite how real people actually talk) in a spy movie, but it really works. 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. 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. In the relationship between Quiller and Inge, Pinter casts just enough ambiguity over the proceedings to allow us plebian moviegoers our small participatory role in the production of meaning. Variety is a part of Penske Media Corporation. The first thing to say about this film is that the screenplay is so terrible. Get help and learn more about the design. Yes, Scream VI Marketing Is Behind the Creepy Ghostface Sightings Causing Scares Across the U.S. David Oyelowo, Taylor Sheridan's 'Bass Reeves' Series at Paramount+ Casts King Richard Star Demi Singleton (EXCLUSIVE), Star Trek: Discovery to End With Season 5, Paramount+ Pushes Premiere to 2024. 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. The British Secret Service sends agent Quiller to investigate. I recently found and purchased all 19 of the series in hardback and read them serially. 1966's The Quiller Memorandum is a low-key gem, a pared-down, existential spy caper that keeps the exoticism to a minimum. 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. The friend proves to be Hassler, who is now much more friendly. The name of the intelligence agency that Quiller ( George Segal) worked for was MI6. Inga is unrecognizable and has been changed to the point of uselessness. Quiller being injected with truth serum by agents of Phoenix. Quiller's primary contact for this job is a mid level administrative agent named Pol. The films featured secret agent is the very un-British Quiller (George Segal), a slightly depressive American operative on loan to Britains secret services (take that, Bond!). George Segal was good at digging for information without gadgets. Hes that good try the book and youll find out. Its excellent entertainment. Michael Anderson directs a classy slice of '60s spy-dom. Omissions? The plot revolves around former Nazis and the rise of a Neo-Nazi organisation known as Phonix. George Segal provides us with a lead character who is somewhat quirky in his demeanor, yet nonetheless effective in his role as an agent. He begins openly asking question about Neo-Nazis and is soon kidnapped by a man known only as "Oktober". document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); 2021 Crime Fiction Lover. 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). When they find, Quiller gives the phone number of his base to Inge and investigates the place. Or was she simply a lonely Samaritan who altruistically beds the socially awkward American spy to help prevent a Fourth Reich? They are all members of Phoenix, led by the German aristocrat code-named Oktober. When Quiller refuses to talk, Oktober orders his execution. Another characteristic of Halls style isthe ending of chapters with a cliff hanger. The British Secret Service sends agent Quiller to investigate. Thanks in advance. 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. Pretending to be a reporter, Quiller visits the school featured in the article. 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. 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.) 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. Each reveal, in turn, provides a separate level of truth--or, as it may be, self-deception. The third to try is Quiller, an unassuming man, who knows he's being put into a deadly game. The mind of the spy 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. 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. The thugs believe him dead when they see the burning wreckage. 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) . ago Just watched it. The book is more focused on thinking as a spy and I found it to be very realistic. Visually, the film was rather stunning, but the magical soft focus that appears every time Inga is in the frame is silly. 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. He is shot dead by an unseen gunman. The film has that beautiful, pristine look that seems to only come about in mid-60's cinema, made even more so by the clean appearance and tailored lines of the clothing on the supporting cast and the extras. Pol dispatches a team to Phoenix's HQ, which successfully captures all of Phoenix's members. Quiller (played by George Segal) is an American secret agent assigned to work with British MI6 chief Pol (Alec Guinness) in West Berlin. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. This is one of the worst thriller screenplays in cinema history. At the 1967 BAFTA Awards the film had nominations in the best Art Direction, Film Editing and Screenplay categories, but did not win. Also published as "The Berlin Memorandum" (UK title). They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. 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. The film was shot on location in West Berlin and in Pinewood . Our hero delivers a running dialogue with his own unconscious mind, assessing the threats, his potential responses, his plans. 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. The shooting on location in Berlin makes it that much more thrilling. Quiller tells Inge that they got most, but clearly not all, of the neo-Nazis. 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). 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. 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. But the writing was sloppy and there was a wholly superfluous section on decoding a cipher, which wasn't even believable. 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. Their aim is to bring back the Third Reich. It was written by Harold Pinter, but despite his talent for writing plays, he certainly had no cinematic sense whatever. 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. 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. 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. How did I miss this film until just recently? And will the world see a return of Nazi power? This was evidently the first of a very long series featuring the spy Quiller. Alec Guinness gets to play a Smiley prototype but brings too much Noel Coward to the table. When Quiller passes out at a traffic stop, the other car pulls alongside and abducts him. The film is ludicrous. En route he has some edgy adventures. 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. A bit too sardonic at times, I think his character wanted to be elsewhere, clashing with KGB agents instead of ferreting out neo-nazis. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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). It looks like we don't have any synopsis for this title yet. 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. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). 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. - BH. Quiller, a British agent who works without gun, cover or contacts, takes on a neo-Nazi underground organization and its war criminal leader. The Chief of the Secret Service Pol (Alec Guinness) summons the efficient agent Quiller (George Segal) to investigate the location of organization's headquarter. Quiller works for the Bureau, an arm of the British Secret Service so clandestinethat no-one knows itexists. Updates? [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. Author/co-author of numerous books about the cinema and is regarded as one of the foremost James Bond scholars. 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 one makes no exception. Quiller becomes drowsy from a drug that was injected by the porter at the entrance to the hotel. What a difference to the ludicrous James Helm/Matt Bond (or is it the other way round?) At lunch in an exclusive club in London, close to Buckingham Palace, the directors of an unnamed agency, Gibbs and Rushington, decide to send American agent Quiller to continue the assignment, which has now killed two agents. In terms of style The Quiller books aretaut and written with narrative pace at the forefront. He was the author of. The Quiller Memorandum is a film adaptation of the 1965 spy novel The Berlin Memorandum, by Trevor Dudley-Smith, screenplay by Harold Pinter, directed by Michael Anderson, featuring George Segal, Max von Sydow, Senta Berger and Alec Guinness.The film was shot on location in West Berlin and in Pinewood Studios, England.The film was nominated for 3 BAFTA Awards, while Pinter was nominated for an . Alec Guinness never misses a trick in his few scenes as the cold, witty fish in charge of Berlin sector investigations. 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. Two British agents are murdered by a mysterious Neo-Nazi organization in West Berlin. In the mid-Sixties, the subgenre of the James Bond backlash film was becoming a crowded market. 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. In West Berlin, George Segal's Quiller struggles through a near- existential battle with Neo-Nazi swine more soulless than his own cold-fish handlers. Your name is Quiller. How nice to see you again! and so forth. This reactionary quake in the spy genre was brief but seismic all the same. The story is ludicrous. Guinness appears as Segal's superior and offers a great deal of presence and class. In the process, he discovers a complex and malevolent plot, more dangerous to the world than any crime committed during the war. 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! 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. That way theres no-one to betray him to the other side. 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. Want to Read. The goal of /r/Movies is to provide an inclusive place for discussions and news about films with major releases. 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.