La griffe

A pretty solid little spy thriller; it's never as intelligent as the "Ipcress File", but it's far superior to its two sequels, for example. No great shakes here, but the combination of an intriguing story, great cinematography, good Brynner performance(s) and Schaffner's adequate direction leads to a thoroughly passable time-filler.

Yul Brynner is "The Double Man" in this 1967 spy film also starring Britt Ekland, Clive Revill, Moira Lister, and Lloyd Nolan.

Brynner is Dan Slater, a CIA agent who travels to Austria after the death of his teenage son in a skiing accident. It's been written off as an accident, but Slater isn't convinced. He asks a former undercover agent (Clive Revill) for help, but ends up doing most of the investigating himself and soon realizes that this was no accident. But to what end? Slater stays in Austria hoping to figure out what the plan is, and who has initiated it and why. He eventually meets Gina (Ekland) after several attempts at meeting her on the slopes. Gina had seen his son on the lift.

The plot is soon revealed, leading to a dangerous confrontation.

Pretty good, with an excellent performance by Brynner as a cold, hard man who shows no emotion and perhaps feels none. Also, the scenery is gorgeous, as is Britt Ekland, at the height of her beauty here.

Someone here mentioned that the glossy spoofs are better remembered today, and perhaps that poster is correct. However, I don't think there's too much remarkable here. It's a serviceable film with a very intrusive music score.

See it for Brynner's performance.

Just like its leading man Yul Brynner, "The Double Man" is a decently lean, direct and hard-hearted late 60s spy melodrama. A steadfast Brynner simply commands the screen, even when no dialogues are spoken, his psychical presence and glare can knock you down. Here he plays CIA agent Dan Slater who heads to a ski resort in the Tyrolean Alps after the reported accidental death of his son, but he believes it wasn't an accident and unknowingly to him his arrival is actually part of a cunning Cold War ploy. It's a well-handled and good-looking (thanks to the scenic cinematography of picturesque snowy backdrop) presentation, as the plot is thick on intrigue and investigation, as it slowly builds upon its brooding framework. There's nothing particularly exciting about it, as the thrills are few and minor and it's overly talky. However the structure is persistent, as the exchanges have a moody intensity and Brynner carries it along nicely with all that chasing and shadowy scheming going on behind the scenes. The ludicrous twist when it comes isn't much of one, because of the clues that are given. Really it only complicates matters, but this works for its stone cold approach. Franklin J. Schaffner's taut direction is grounded and practical in style, as he lets the story's conflicts evolve and the cast take control. The ever-beautiful Britt Ekland plays an important piece to the plot's stirrings and there's excellent support from the likes of Clive Revill, Anton Differing, Lloyd Nolan and Moira Lister. Also dominating was the instrumental music score. Sometimes it worked, other times it was on overload.

I regularly forget this film in the Franklyn Schaffner's filmography, I don't know exactly why.... I watched it only three times in forty years and always forget it, and there is no reason why because it is a really tense and taut spy thriller drama, far better than many of those made during the sixties, James Bond parodies or complex thrillers where no one follows anything. Here, it is not so complex but on the contrary riveting at the most, with a jaw dropping Yul Brynner's performance. An excellent doppelganger scheme film, as also was THE MAN WHO HAUNTED HIMSELF, for another story using the same doppelganger element. The best proof that with the same ingredients you can invent and give many different recipes - films in that case.

A ruthless CIA agent arrives at an Alps ski paradise to track down his son's deadly accident he thinks is really murder, and finds himself in a complex web of intrigue.

Well-staged, quite surprising minor Cold War espionage with magnificent snow-bound photography and exciting action sequences, hampered by bursts of gratuitous violence and an unpleasant hero.