Maldonne pour un espion

I loved Laurence Harvey in THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE. This is also a good performance. The spy stuff and his relationship with the character played by Tom Courtenay are interesting. Also interesting is the young Peter Cook in a "straight" role ( well sort of). Harvey brought such an air of sadness and despair to this kind of role ( much like his doomed brainwashed pawn in MC). I recall a scene where he is asked about his mother's death ( I believe) and he cannot remember how he felt. The life and emotion were drained out of him to create the perfect double agent. This kind of film was popular in the 60's as an antidote to James Bond and his clones. Others include THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD and THE DEADLY AFFAIR. The great Anthony Mann started this film and was replaced by Harvey when Mann died.

While the story is admittedly somewhat confusing, this is definitely not the disaster that Maltin et al. would have you believe it is. It's got some plot issues, and is in fact a bit baffling by the end, but these weaknesses are far outweighed by the sleek mid-60's visuals, the cool location shots of Berlin, and the whole spy-in-an-atmosphere-of-paranoia-and-dread vibe (ie., like the Prisoner). Definitely worth a rent if you're into spy movies and/or paranoia.

p.s. the ever so mod and swinging soundtrack music is by Quincy Jones!

It is an amazing spy thriller film from the sixties, an era, a period where such topics were galore, besides the James Bond like features, more eccentric one than the other, and from all countries; not only American but also British, German, Italian.... The short series starring Michael Caine in Harry Palmer's role is among the best, or those inspired by John Le Carré. This Anthony Mann's film is absolutely complex, as many other movies of this kind, but riveting, tense, gloomy, and a Lawrence Harvey at his peak; he who finished the film after Anthony Mann's death. What a film, and so different from other Mann's masterpieces: westerns - among the best of Hollywood, besides John Ford's and Delmer Daves' ones - as well as his peplums made just before EL CID, FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE, awesome films too. DANDY IN ASPIC is one of the best spy films of the decade, far from 007 also exciting stories.

There were All Kinds of Secret Agent Movies in the 1960's Spinning Off the Success of the James Bond Series.

Spoofs, Satires and Super-Serious Stuff.

But this is one Odd Duck Among the Proliferation. It Starts with a Marionette Title Sequence that is a Color Saturation Stunner.

There is a Psychedelia to it that will Continue through the Running Time.

The Movie Employs Editing and Camera Tricks that were somewhat "New" at the Time and Adds to the Overall Surreal, Detached from Reality Tone.

It's Complicated and the Dry Delivery is Contrasted by some Visual Vibes that are Bizarre and make the Viewing Disjointed and Decidedly Different.

Legendary Director Anthony Mann Died Suddenly During Filming.

He and Star Laurence Harvey were in Close Consultation Regularly.

So Harvey Finished the Movie in the Director's Chair and Probably Continued with Mann's Vision. Accounts Differ.

It is one of the Most Awkward Takes on the Cold War Zeitgeist with an Ambiance of Confusion and Disarray.

Mia Farrow's Love-Interest Character is Inserted with Incomprehensible Regularity. Just One More of the Off-Beat Ingredients that make this an Experience Like No Other of its Ilk.

Be Advised it's a "Long Strange Trip".

Worth a Watch for the Quirk of it All.

In London, Alexander Eberlin (Laurence Harvey) is a double agent for both the British and the Soviet intelligence. The British orders him to hunt down Russian spy Krasnevin. He is partnered with British agent Gatiss (Tom Courtenay). He's having a fling with civilian photographer Caroline (Mia Farrow).

This needs to be a paranoid espionage thriller. It's not thrilling. Laurence Harvey is playing the character too coldly. He needs to be scared or something or else the audience won't care. Nobody is rooting for him. I barely know what Caroline sees in him. The story is too stiff and so is the lead.