The characters and dialog are well-written and most roles are nicely acted. Mind you, in 1966-67 the Wall was there, East German border guards and a definite (cold war) cloud hanging over the city. 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 . In addition to Pinters screenplay, the film was noted for its plot twists and the portrayal of Quiller as refreshingly vulnerable and occasionally inept. What Adam Hall did extremely wellwas toget us readers inside the mind of an undercover operative. Max von Sydow plays the Nazi chief quietly but with high camp menace. If you have seen this movie, and it leaves you very dissatisfied or with a bunch of bright orange question marks, don't worry ! Their aim is to bring back the Third Reich. The film starred George Segal in the lead role, with Alec Guinness supporting andwas nominated for three BAFTAs. You are a secret agent working for the British in Berlin. 2023's Most Anticipated Sequels, Prequels, and Spin-offs, Dirk Bauer . 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. Visually, the film was rather stunning, but the magical soft focus that appears every time Inga is in the frame is silly. 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. Michael Anderson directs a classy slice of '60s spy-dom. He is the true faceless spy. 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 premise isn't far-fetched, but the details are. My take was, he knows she's one of the bad guys, and same with the headmistress who he passes on the way out. The Quiller Memorandum (1966) - IMDb ): as a result, they were summarily bumped off with stereotypical German precision. There was also a TV series in 1975. En route he has some edgy adventures. CIS: The Quiller Memorandum revisited | Crime Fiction Lover Write by: 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! Hall (also known as Elleston Trevor and several other pseudonyms) seemed really to hate the Germans, or at least his character did. After their first two operatives leading the field mission are assassinated in subsequent order, the British Secret Service recruit Quiller, an American agent, to continue to lead that field operation, namely to discover the base of operations of a new Nazi organization in West Berlin, they whose general members hide in plain sight in blending in with all walks of West German society. 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. Watchable and intriguing as it occasionally is, enigmatic is perhaps the most apposite adjective you could use to describe the "action" within. For my money, the top three cold war spy novelists were Le Carre, Deighton, and Adam Hall. The Quiller Memorandum. The film ends with Quiller suspecting that Inge is more than an ordinary schoolteacher. 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. This spy novel about neo-Nazis 1960's Berlin seemed dated and a little stilted to me. But then Quiller retraces his steps in a flashback. America's leading magazine on the art and politics of the cinema. 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. 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 would have also competed with the deluge of popular spy spoofs and their misfit mock-heroes: namely, Dean Martins drinking-and-driving playboy agent Matt Helm (The Silencers, Wrecking Crew) and James Coburns parody of Bondian suavity, Derek Flint, in the trippy spy fantasias Our Man Flint (1966) and In Like Flint (1967). But for today's audiences, those films are a bit old fashioned and not always very easy to follow, too much complicated. Oktober informs Quiller that if he does not disclose secret information this time, both he and Inge will be killed. A highly unusual and stimulating approach that draws us into the story. Conveniently for Quiller, shes also the only teacher there whos single and looks like a Bond girl. No one really cared that Gable did not even attempt an English accent the film was that good. 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). 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. Get help and learn more about the design. This isn't your average James Bond knockoff spy thriller; the fact that the screenplay is by playwright Harold Pinter is the first clue. Quiller goes back to the school and confronts Inge in her classroom. Ian Nathan of Empire described the film as "daft, dated and outright confusing most of the time, but undeniably fun" and rated it with 3/5 stars. The British Secret Service sends agent Quiller to investigate. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). This time he's a spy trying to get the location of a neo-Nazi organization. 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. He also wroteacrossa number ofgenres. As classic as it gets. 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. Each reveal, in turn, provides a separate level of truth--or, as it may be, self-deception. 42 editions. And he sustains the same high level of quality over the course of nineteen books. This well-drawn tale of espionage is set in West Berlin, 15 years after the end of WW II. 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. 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 setting is as classic as the comeBerlin during the 1960s. Drama. Be the first to contribute. I recently found and purchased all 19 of the series in hardback and read them serially. 2023 Variety Media, LLC. The Quiller character is constantly making terrible decisions, and refuses to use a gun, and he's certainly no John Steed. True, Segal never seems to settle into the role of Quiller. The headmistress introduces him to a teacher who speaks English, Inge Lindt. And will the world see a return of Nazi power? After two British agents are killed while investigating Phoenix, a neo-Nazi group, Quiller is tasked with finding the organizations leader. Its there to tackle the dirty jobs, and Quiller is the Bureaus go-to guy. Quiller confronts a man who seems to be following him, revealing that he (Quiller) speaks German fluently. The setting is Cold War-divided Berlinwhere Quillertackles a threat from a group ofneo-Nazis whocall themselves Phoenix. Oktober demands Quiller reveal the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) base by dawn or Inge will be killed. This is an espionage series that started in the '60's and ran through the '90's. 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. I enjoyed this novel just as much (if not more) as the previous books that I have read, and I will certainly be purchasing any further Quiller novels that I come across in my exploration of second-hand bookshops. 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. 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. This well-drawn tale of espionage is set in West B. The thugs believe him dead when they see the burning wreckage. Published chrismass61 Aug 21 2013 - BH. It relies. Phoenix boss Oktober (Max von Sydow) with George Segal, seated. A few missteps toward the end so that a few of the twists felt thin and not solidly set up, but overall very nicely plotted and written. Inge tells him she loves him, and he tells her a phone number to call if he is not back in 20 minutes. I'm generally pretty forgiving of film adaptations of novels, but the changes that were made just do not make sense. 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. 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 mission in Berlin is a mess, two of the Bureaus spies have been murdered already by the shadowy Phoenix. 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.) Pretending to be a reporter, Quiller visits the school featured in the article. Hall alsopeppered the text with authentic espionage jargon and as you read you get to live the part of Quiller. 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? Alec Guinness never misses a trick in his few scenes as the cold, witty fish in charge of Berlin sector investigations.