Archive for April 2023
Dogs of Berlin (2018) – gritty, violent, seamy, Berlin Noir
Noir. A genre of American filmmaking that came into its own during WW2 and the mid to late 1940s and gradually faded in the 1950s. The French were the first to identify it and give it a different name – noir in French means black. Generally, it signifies a specific style of filmmaking with specific…
Read MoreNight Agent (2023) and The Recruit (2022) – two modern spy series
At times I get asked – very politely, of course – whether I have something against “new stuff”, as most of my blogs are about “old” movies or serials. I have nothing for or against new stuff except that, at times, they seem to recycle “old stuff”. I also have a “problem” with TV…
Read MoreThe Billion Dollar Brain(1967) – Palmer meets the Bond Universe.
Director: Ken Russell Cast: Michael Caine. Karl Malden. Francoise Dorleac. Ed Bagley. Oscar Homolka. Harry Saltzman knew he was on to a good thing. Worldwide spy film mania was going through the roof. Even the Europeans had got on the “Bond wagon”, starting an entirely new sub-genre known as “Euro Spy” films. Their most infamous…
Read MoreFuneral in Berlin (1966) – Divided Berlin and Palmer, the anti-Bond
Director: Guy Hamilton. Cast: Michael Caine. Oscar Homolka. Eva Renzi. Paul Hubschmid. Gunter Meisner. By 1966, Len Deighton had published his fourth spy thriller, The Billion Dollar Brain, with the same nameless hero. However, his second book, Horse Under Water, involving sunken U Boats, exotic locations and heroin trafficking, somehow wasn’t developed for the…
Read MoreThe Ipcress File (1965) – the first coolest Anti Bond
Director: Sidney .J.Furie Cast: Michael Caine. Guy Doleman. Nigel Green. Sue Lloyd. In 1962 the first James Bond film Dr No was released. In 1962 Len Deighton wrote his first book, The Ipcress File. Perhaps it was a coincidence. By 1965 when Thunderball was released, the Bond mania had spread worldwide. Everyone thought…
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