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. 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 one makes no exception. Hall (also known as Elleston Trevor and several other pseudonyms) seemed really to hate the Germans, or at least his character did. The novel was titledThe Berlin Memorandum and at its centre was the protagonist and faceless spy, Quiller. 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.) This was evidently the first of a very long series featuring the spy Quiller. Can someone explain it to me? 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. Guinness appears as Segal's superior and offers a great deal of presence and class. The book is built around a continual number of reveals. But for today's audiences, those films are a bit old fashioned and not always very easy to follow, too much complicated. 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. The scene shot in the gallery of London's Reform Club is particularly odious. Their aim is to bring back the Third Reich. He quickly becomes involved with numerous people of suspicious motives and backgrounds, including Inge (Senta Berger), a teacher at a school where a former Nazi war criminal committed suicide. 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. Quiller Series by Adam Hall - Goodreads George Segal as Agent Quiller with Inge Lindt (Senta Berger). 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. My take was, he knows she's one of the bad guys, and same with the headmistress who he passes on the way out. It relies on a straight narrative storyline, simple but holding, literate dialog and well-drawn characters. 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. 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 burning question for Quiller is, how close is too close? 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 Chief of the Secret Service Pol (Alec Guinness) summons the efficient agent Quiller (George Segal) to investigate the location of organization's headquarter. 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. Although competing against a whole slew of other titles in the spies-on-every-corner vein, the novel, "The Quiller Memorandum" was amazingly successful in book stores. My take was, he knows she's one of the bad guys, and same with the headmistress who he passes on the way out. Quiller manages to outwit his opponent yet again, leading to his arrest. The Quiller Memorandum - Variety When drug-induced questioning fails to produce results, Segal is booted to the river, but he isn't quite ready to give in yet. In 1965, writing under the pseudonym of Adam Hall, Elleston Trevor published athriller which, like Ian Flemings Casino Royale before it, was to herald a change in the world of spy thrillers. ): as a result, they were summarily bumped off with stereotypical German precision. The Quiller Memorandum (1966) - Turner Classic Movies The Quiller Memorandum. "The Quiller Memorandum" is a film with a HUGE strike against it at the outset.they inexplicably cast George Segal as a British spy! With what little information the British operatives are able to provide him especially in his most recent predecessor, Kenneth Lindsay Jones, working alone without backup against advice, Quiller decides to take a different but potentially more dangerous tact than those predecessors in showing himself at three places Jones was known to be investigating, albeit in coded terms, as the person who has now taken over the mission from Jones in the probability that the Nazis will try to abduct him for questioning to discover what exactly their opponents know or don't know, and to discover in turn their base of operations in West Berlin. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. The Quiller Memorandum: Directed by Michael Anderson. Alec Guinness gets to play a Smiley prototype but brings too much Noel Coward to the table. Author/co-author of numerous books about the cinema and is regarded as one of the foremost James Bond scholars. 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. It is credible. Quiller continues his subtle accusations, and Inge continues her denial of ever meeting Jones. 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. 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But Quiller is an equal to a James Bond, or a George Smiley. The film magnificently utilizes West German locations to bring the story to life. Sadly the Quiller novels have fallen out of favour with the apparentend of the Cold War. 2023 Variety Media, LLC. 1966's The Quiller Memorandum is a low-key gem, a pared-down, existential spy caper that keeps the exoticism to a minimum. This well-drawn tale of espionage is set in West Berlin, 15 years after the end of WW II. 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 book. 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. At the 1967 BAFTA Awards the film had nominations in the best Art Direction, Film Editing and Screenplay categories, but did not win. Director Michael Anderson Writers Trevor Dudley Smith (based on the novel by) Harold Pinter (screenplay) Stars George Segal Alec Guinness Max von Sydow See production, box office & company info Clumsy thriller. Neo-Nazi plot He was the author of. Submissions should be for the purpose of informing or initiating a discussion, not just to entertain readers. He calls Inge and arranges to meet. Don't start thinking you missed something: it's the screenplay who did ! I've not put together a suite before so hopefully it works.Barry's short (35mins) if atmospheric score for the Cold War thriller The Quiller Memorandum, 1966. Quiller is surprised to learn that no women were found. 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. The plot revolves around former Nazis and the rise of a Neo-Nazi organisation known as Phonix. The Quiller Memorandum | Mountain Xpress The sentences are generally clipped and abrupt, reminiscent of Simon Kernicks style wherenot a word is wasted, but predating him by a generation. The Quiller Memorandum certainly couldnt compete on an aesthetic level with a film like Spy Who Came in from the Cold: No actor, certainly not George Segal, is going to one-up Richard Burton in the anti-Bond department. Segal plays a secret agent assigned to ferret out the headquarters of a Neo-Nazi movement in Berlin. The Quiller Memorandum - Rotten Tomatoes Max von Sydow plays the Nazi chief quietly but with high camp menace. There was also a TV series in 1975. But how could she put up with the love scenes with the atrocious Segal? 1966's The Quiller Memorandum is a low-key gem, a pared-down, existential spy caper that keeps the exoticism to a minimum. The screenwriter, Harold Pinter, no less, received an Edgar nomination. In terms of style The Quiller books aretaut and written with narrative pace at the forefront. The Quiller Memorandum by Adam Hall - Goodreads Variety and the Flying V logos are trademarks of Variety Media, LLC. 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. The British Secret Service sends agent Quiller to investigate. George Segal's Quiller isn't intense, smart, calculating--qualities Quiller is known for--instead he comes across as a doofus by comparison, better suited to sports-writing or boxing, completely lacking in cunning. The Quiller Memorandum by Adam Hall | Goodreads The novels are esoteric thrillers, very cerebral and highly recommended. 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. After the interview, he gives her a ride to her flat and stops in for a drink. (UK title). 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! Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. Oktober informs Quiller that if he does not disclose secret information this time, both he and Inge will be killed. I enjoyed the book. With a screenplay by Harold Pinter and careful direction by Michael Anderson, the movie is more a violent-edged tale of probable, cynical betrayal by everyone we meet, with the main character, Quiller (George Segal), squeezed by those he works for, those he works against and even by the delectable German teacher, Inge Lendt (Senta Berger) he meets. In a feint to see if Quiller will reveal more by oversight, Oktober decides to spare his life. I was really surprised, because I don't usually like books written during the 50s or 60s. 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 series is highly regarded by the spy-fiction community, and as strange as it may seem - because I have had most of the books for years - I have never actually read them. 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. 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. His virtual army of nearly silent, oddball henchmen add to the flavor of paranoia and nervousness. 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. - BH. This is an espionage series that started in the '60's and ran through the '90's. The Quiller Memorandum subtitles | 36 subtitles 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. 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). Pol dispatches a team to Phoenix's HQ, which successfully captures all of Phoenix's members. 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 original, primary mission has been completely omitted. Lindt (Berger) is a school teacher who meets Quiller to translate for him. Alec Guinness never misses a trick in his few scenes as the cold, witty fish in charge of Berlin sector investigations. When a spy film is made in the James Bond vein then close analysis is superfluous, but when the movie has a pretense of seriousness then it'd better make sense. This reactionary quake in the spy genre was brief but seismic all the same. Book 4 stars, narration by Simon Prebble 4 stars. 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. Can someone please explain to me the ending in The Quiller Memorandum 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. 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 also benefits from some geographically eclectic West Berlin location shooting from master cinematographer and Berlin native Erwin Hillier. Take a solid, healthy chicken's egg out of the hen house or the fridge Now throw out all the substance, and just keep the eggshell. Quiller becomes drowsy from a drug that was injected by the porter at the entrance to the hotel. You are a secret agent working for the British in Berlin. The Quiller Memorandum (1966) - Michael Anderson | Review | AllMovie When they find, Quiller gives the phone number of his base to Inge and investigates the place. 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. Very eerie film score, I believe John Barry did it but, I'm not sure. Max Van Sydow is better as the neo-Nazi leader, veiled by the veneer of respectability as he cracks his knuckles and swings a golf club all the time he's injecting Segal with massive doses of truth serum, while Senta Berger is pleasant, but slight, as the pretty young teacher who apparently leads our man initially to the "other side", but whose escape at the end from capture and certain death at the hands of the "baddies" might lead one to suspect her true proclivities. Quiller goes back to the school and confronts Inge in her classroom. And of course, no spy-spoof conversation would be complete without mentioning 1967s David Niven-led piss-take on the Bond films, Casino Royale. Be the first to contribute. Twist piles upon twist , as a British agent becomes involved in a fiendishly complicated operation to get a dangerous ringleader and his menacing hoodlums . This well-drawn tale of espionage is set in West B. In 1966, the book was made into a successful film starring George Segal, Max Von Sydow, Senta Berger, and Alec Guinness. After all, his characters social unease and affectless personality are presumably components of the movies contra-Bond commitment. The Quiller Memorandum | Popular Culture Wiki | Fandom The nation remained the home of the best spies. Quiller awakes in a dilapidated mansion, surrounded by many of the previous incidental characters.