Funeral in Berlin
|
Our Price: $118.89 Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $49.73 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of Funeral in Berlin
Movie Review: another great Michael Caine espionage thriller
Summary: 5 Stars
A must have for Michael Caine fans. intrigue and drama
who could ask for more.
Movie Review: Specs,sex,and the Berlin Wall
Summary: 4 Stars
Len Deighton's working class spy Harry Palmer returns to DVD in the second installment of the series,"Funeral in Berlin".Palmer was created by Deighton as a sort of anti-Bond in a series of books with plots more coplicated than the wiring on a British sports car,Palmer was insolent,insubordinant,and only survived by his wits and intelligence,with nary a gadget in sight."Funeral in Berlin" was the second in the series,and most spy fans consider it the best of them,pretty much neck and neck with the outstanding "Ipcress File".The DVD looks pretty good,the picture and sound are certainly watchable considering the age of the movies,It's also nice to see the movies in their OAR,both movies used the widescreen format pretty creatively,and suffered from being "panned and scanned".Unfortuneatly,"Funeral" doesn't have the excellent extra's "Ipcress" did,the only extra is the trailer.Still,it's an entertaining DVD,both Michael Caine(Palmer) and Oscar Homolka(Col Strok) give great performances,and Eva Renzi is certainly easy on the eyes.The great Guy Doleman returns from "Ipcress",albeit n a smaller role.It would be hard to discuss the plot without giving too much,but suffice to say,in Harry Palmer's world,nothing goes as planned,and nothing is as it seems.The film also does a nice job of portraying Berlin when it was still fragmented by the wall.All in all,viewer's looking for a cerebral spy thriller with no explosions and gunfights will enjoy Deighton's byzantine plot.Mention should also be made again of Oscar Holmoka's amazing performance,it's really worth the price of the DVD alone.You just don't see faces like that in movies(well,maybe on "The Soprano's").An although Caine became something of a joke in the 70's and 80's,he always made a good Harry Palmer.Movie Review: The Anti-James Bond Returns
Summary: 4 Stars
In 1966's "Funeral in Berlin", his second outing as British anti-hero spy Harry Palmer, Michael Caine is in complete command of both his character and the movie. Len Deighton's novel of the Cold War in Berlin is brought to gritty life in a city newly divided by a wall and fought over by the Russians, the West, and the Germans themselves. The plot twists and turns, the dialogue is crisp, and the acting is understated but very solid.
Harry Palmer is asked to assess the proffered defection of a Russian KBG Colonel named Stok, who regards Palmer as both adversary and comrade-in-arms in the spy business. Their dialogue is a masterpiece of Cold War cynicism. Stok asks Palmer to use a German network with an unusually good record for spiriting people out of East Germany; this choice will have fateful consequences. Palmer also comes into contact with an old friend who owes his freedom to Harry but may have ulterior motives for a deal. Finally, Palmer becomes the object of desire for a beautiful woman who not surprisingly turns out to have an agenda of her own. The whole makes for a complicated plot and a cheerfully cynical but entertaining look at the spy business of the early 1960's.
This movie is highly recommended to fans of Michael Caine, who excells in his role as working class spy Harry Palmer. This movie will also appeal to fans of Len Deighton's novels; this is a better than average adaptation.
Movie Review: It's the Best of the Series
Summary: 4 Stars
Unlike the "Ipcress Files," which is almost a mockery of Len Deighton's original novel, "Funeral in Berlin" more accurately captures the atmosphere and characters of its written sources. The generous use of real locations rather than studio sets also gives this film an air of authenticity. It's a shame that ethically compromised anti-heroes like Harry Palmer have given way to pretty-boy moralizing idealogues like Governor Arnold. The world is a complicated place. We need more complicated role models like the characters of Len Deighton.Movie Review: Gruelling to watch, but features at least one amazing quip.
Summary: 2 Stars
A film as visually and narratively downbeat as the ethically murky moral world of espionage it portrays. The good guys are cynical compromisers, the idealistic are chilling murderers, the charming are totalitarian stooges, the hero's struggling moral awareness is totally impotent. Berlin has never looked grimmer; action and morality are as enervatingly obscure as the most disenchanted film noir.The Harry Palmer series is usually seen as the antithesis of James Bond, with his macho flash, gadget-driven action and cartoonish ideology. This is true to an extent. Harry does get beautiful women, but usually because they want to use him - in his crumpled mac, he is more of a seedy voyeur than a superspy. His line in quips is very mundane, his thick glasses and flat Cockney accent are hardly glamorous, and he has to walk or take lifts rather than drive a snazzy car.
However, there is a lack of plodding, le Carre-like detail, a lack of true moral neutrality (when one amiable character is revealed as a villain, he becomes more recognisably a Hollywood baddie) that suggests a cop out. Unlike the books of le Carre or the films of Melville, whose accumulation of seemingly pedantic or irrelevant details can lead to exciting narrative momentum, 'Funeral' is content to stay flat and gray. Which is admirable, but difficult to watch. Two good things, though - the Brecht/Weill pastiche score; and Harry's immortal line to his totty as she makes breakfast - 'You're useless in the kitchen; why don't you come back to bed?' (!)