The Jigsaw Man

I had seen a documentary about espionage a couple of weeks before seeing this film on TV by chance and i found it simply amusing. The parallels between the film character Philip Kimberly and Kim Philby of real life are too many for this to be just a coincidence (not to mention the name of the film character which seems itself to be some anagram of Kim Philby).

All in all this is a nice film if you like espionage with a little comedy on the side. As for the comment of the other reviewer about the film being hard to follow: i didn't think it was THAT hard to follow. Besides, this being an espionage movie, if it wasn't a teensy bit hard to follow what would be the fun in it?

The story revolves around a top British spy named Philip Kimberley who defected to Russia. The Russians give him plastic surgery and he comes out looking like Michael Caine (poor guy). They want him to return to England and locate some microfilm he had hidden that details all the payments to British double agents. Once back in his home country, he makes a break for it and contacts his daughter (Susan George) and old boss (Laurence Olivier).

I was in the mood for a good spy thriller so I dug out this VHS. After watching it, I'm still in the mood for a good spy thriller. The film is based on a book by Dorothea Bennett, who used real life Brit double agent Kim Philby as inspiration. Despite such ripe real life material and the re-teaming of the stellar Sleuth (1972) co-stars Caine and Olivier, this film is a bit of a mess. It runs pretty short (end credits kick in at the 85 minute mark) and several scenes show Olivier sporting a fake beard to match other scenes. Looked it up in Variety and, sure enough, it suffered major production issues. It started shooting in April 1982 but production was suspended on June 7, 1982 due to financial woes. The filmmakers didn't get back together to finish everything until November 1982. Former Bond director Terence Young is at the helm, but even he can't make it too exciting. Even glorious cinematographer Freddie Francis can't muster up enough good stuff for this. It is filled with lots of double crosses and the like, but they can't make up for strange bits like Charles Gray giving Robert Powell a monologue about his toupees, Caine doing bizarre Russian and American accents, or the montage of dumpy Caine training to be a bad ass killer.

Every great actor must have at least ONE on the CV they would not want anyone to find out about and for the likes of Caine and Olivier, ( I STILL cannot believe they were in this!), this is IT. Lacks EVERYTHING: pace, style, excitement, camera work, plot, score etc. etc. Unlike my REAL pet hates, such as John Wayne's "The Green Berets", I cannot even get really excited enough to hate this turkey, but just regard it in the way you would a really boring and unsatisfactory meal in a third rate restaurant - something you have gone through, but will never repeat by returning. Regard this film in the same way or, even better, save two hours of your life by doing something better than recording this when it is shown at 1.30a.m. on Channel Zog, (for I cannot imagine any other way you are going to get to see it), and wasting the time to view it later.

Sir Philip Kimberley is a former M16 intelligent general who defected to the Russians in the 70s, returns back to his home country after faking his death. He receives plastic surgery on his face, so he could go into England to pick up very important documents that he has hidden which has KGB agents working in England. Knowing that the British thinks his dead, he escapes the KGB men and defects back to the British as a Russian spy. He goes on to basically play each other off, in the hope he can pick up a large amount of doe and go on to live a new life, along with his daughter.

"The Jigsaw Man" is pretty much a fundamental Cold War thriller, which feels clammy and looks like a cheap b-grade spy film. The routine material (taken off Dorothea Bennett's novel) wants to be crafty with many plot tricks involving double crossings, disguises, ever-changing accents and secret documents. But with these aspects, there's just too much restraint and haggard developments in what is mainly a story and dialogue driven outing. You'll need these elements to be strong and convincing, but a stated script completely drags and spits out some bawdy lines. The serious nature of it, can come across quite laughable and ludicrous. While the chunky plot offers a labyrinth of turns, it can be meandering and vapid in many shady situations. These twisty developments running through the story are well organised, but never in a astute manner. Thrills are minimal, but the elaborately taut layout breaks out for an action flourish towards the latter end. Even then, the minor pockets of get-up-and-go just can't break the slumber for too long. Terence Young's pedestrian direction seems to go missing in very long spells, but Freddie Francis' polished photography and John Cameron's steamily leeching music score doesn't follow the same fate. The cast is an excellent one. Michael Caine is decent enough, even though it's not quite an inspired performance and provides nothing more then a sour-face. Laurence Olivier provides class, but again he's left with not too much on offer. One very underrated Robert Powell gives a reliably understated turn and Susan George is sparklingly potent in her supporting role.

Incredibly patchy and at times hollow, but still a sturdy espionage thriller. The main problem is that it lingers about in too many chewy sequences then really getting on with it.

This movie is interesting. It is very hard to follow, but after seeing it two or three times, it comes. A very well defined star-studded cast but the movie is not what you'd expect it to be. Other than that, this movie would be good to watch if you like action, politics or just want to kill time.