Enigma

Based on R2 DVD by EuroVideo 98 min

Direction and editing could be better as the story is occasionally confusing for no good reason, lacks tension and the ending is very abrupt. The DVD is in 4:3.

All that aside, both stars [looking very young indeed] turn in respectable performances and the locations look authentic.

6/10 a little generous but worth watching on TV

This intelligent, meticulously plotted, robustly acted cold war thriller by gifted director, Jeannot 'Jaws 2' Szwarc retains much of its weighty, grimly atmospheric iron Curtain gravitas. 'Enigma' is a downbeat, fiendishly gripping 80s espionage yarn, with the disarmingly charismatic, Sam Neill's audacious attempts to out 'cat & mouse' an indefatigable Sheen is dramatically set against a doomy, oppressively glacial East Berlin backdrop, and the distractingly delicious blonde, Karen Reinhardt (Brigitte Fossey) vividly completes this increasingly dangerous, daringly duplicitous ménage à trois! The Teflon tough 'Enigma' provides exciting, nerve-twanging thrills, its grim, suffocatingly paranoid miasma of frost-bitten, pre-perestroika gloom maintained throughout, with Alex's and Karen's burgeoning love affair lending additional pathos to, Szwarc's engrossing, bullet-paced thriller. There is a dynamic, Len Deighton-esque quality to, Alex Holbeck's (Martin Sheen) increasingly desperate attempts to covertly purloin a cumbrous-looking soviet scrambler. In a rousing finale, Alex find's himself only merest heartbeats away from capture, frequently relying on guile, rather than brawn to elude his dogged, equally devious nemesis, Dimitri Vasilikov (Sam Neill).

In Paris, American-born East German defector and radio talk show host Martin Sheen (as Alexander "Alex" Holbeck) is recruited by the CIA to go to Berlin and steal "The Enigma Machine" which scrambles secret Cold War spy messages. This will help the US thwart the USSR's planned assassination of five defectors to the west. In East Berlin, Mr. Sheen fools the KGB with various disguises. He sprays silver in his hair, but it looks the same. Sheen seeks out former girlfriend Brigitte Fossey (as Karen Reinhardt) and she sets out to seduce their "unsophisticated but shrewd" enemy, Moscow swimmer Sam Neill (as Dimitri Vasilikov). Sheen sometimes appears bored with this confusing adaptation of a good idea. His co-stars make their final confrontation scene work well.

***** Enigma (1/28/83) Jeannot Szwarc ~ Martin Sheen, Brigitte Fossey, Sam Neill, Derek Jacobi

I first saw this film on hbo around 1983 and I loved it! I scoured all of the auction web sites to buy the vhs copy. This is a very good suspense movie with a few twists that make it more interesting. I don't want to say too much else because if you ever get a chance to see it, you'll be glad I didn't say too much!

This was the film that first indicated to me what a great actor Martin Sheen really is. He modestly claims that Charlie is a better actor, Charlie can't hold a candle to him.

I found it suspenseful and thoroughly enjoyed the intertwining of the love story with the main plot (and I usually HATE love stories). There's a great plot twist at the end that struck me as being fully credible, particularly in the early 80's time period, and probably now also.

The final scene had me on the edge of my seat. This film roundly illustrates that treachery is often doled out by those we trust, while declared enemies have more in common than they suspect, and finally, that human compassion can be found where we least expect it.

irenerose