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IMDbPro

The Quiller Memorandum

  • 19661966
  • ApprovedApproved
  • 1h 44m
IMDb RATING
6.3/10
4K
YOUR RATING
The Quiller Memorandum (1966)
In the West Berlin of the 1960s, two British agents are killed by a Nazi group, prompting British Intelligence to dispatch agent Quiller to investigate.
Play trailer3:08
1 Video
49 Photos
  • Crime
  • Drama
  • Mystery
In the West Berlin of the 1960s, two British agents are killed by a Nazi group, prompting British Intelligence to dispatch agent Quiller to investigate.In the West Berlin of the 1960s, two British agents are killed by a Nazi group, prompting British Intelligence to dispatch agent Quiller to investigate.In the West Berlin of the 1960s, two British agents are killed by a Nazi group, prompting British Intelligence to dispatch agent Quiller to investigate.
IMDb RATING
6.3/10
4K
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Michael Anderson
  • Writers
    • Trevor Dudley Smith(based on the novel by)
    • Harold Pinter(screenplay)
  • Stars
    • George Segal
    • Alec Guinness
    • Max von Sydow
Top credits
  • Director
    • Michael Anderson
  • Writers
    • Trevor Dudley Smith(based on the novel by)
    • Harold Pinter(screenplay)
  • Stars
    • George Segal
    • Alec Guinness
    • Max von Sydow
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 86User reviews
    • 37Critic reviews
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Nominated for 3 BAFTA Awards
      • 4 nominations total

    Videos1

    Official Trailer
    Trailer 3:08
    Official Trailer

    Photos49

    George Segal at an event for The Quiller Memorandum (1966)
    The Quiller Memorandum (1966)
    The Quiller Memorandum (1966)
    The Quiller Memorandum (1966)
    The Quiller Memorandum (1966)
    Senta Berger and George Segal in The Quiller Memorandum (1966)
    George Segal in The Quiller Memorandum (1966)
    George Segal in The Quiller Memorandum (1966)
    Alec Guinness in The Quiller Memorandum (1966)
    Max von Sydow in The Quiller Memorandum (1966)
    The Quiller Memorandum (1966)
    George Segal, Harry Brooks Jr., Philip Madoc, and John Rees in The Quiller Memorandum (1966)

    Top cast

    Edit
    George Segal
    George Segal
    • Quilleras Quiller
    Alec Guinness
    Alec Guinness
    • Polas Pol
    Max von Sydow
    Max von Sydow
    • Oktoberas Oktober
    Senta Berger
    Senta Berger
    • Inge Lindtas Inge Lindt
    George Sanders
    George Sanders
    • Gibbsas Gibbs
    Robert Helpmann
    Robert Helpmann
    • Wengas Weng
    Robert Flemyng
    Robert Flemyng
    • Rushingtonas Rushington
    Peter Carsten
    Peter Carsten
    • Hengelas Hengel
    Edith Schneider
    • Headmistressas Headmistress
    Günter Meisner
    Günter Meisner
    • Hassleras Hassler
    • (as Gunter Meisner)
    Ernst Walder
    • Grauberas Grauber
    Philip Madoc
    Philip Madoc
    • Oktober's Man (Brown Trousers)as Oktober's Man (Brown Trousers)
    John Rees
    • Oktober's Man (Black-Rimmed Glasses)as Oktober's Man (Black-Rimmed Glasses)
    Bernard Barnsley
    • Mr. 'F'as Mr. 'F'
    • (uncredited)
    Victor Beaumont
    Victor Beaumont
    • Weissas Weiss
    • (uncredited)
    Harry Brooks Jr.
    • Oktober's Man (Tall Blonde)as Oktober's Man (Tall Blonde)
    • (uncredited)
    Otto Friese
    • Waiteras Waiter
    • (uncredited)
    Herbert Fux
    Herbert Fux
    • Oktober's Man (Pipe)as Oktober's Man (Pipe)
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • Michael Anderson
    • Writers
      • Trevor Dudley Smith(based on the novel by)
      • Harold Pinter(screenplay)
    • All cast & crew
    • See more cast details at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The source novel "The Berlin Memorandum" is billed in the credits as being by Adam Hall. This is a nom de plume for author Trevor Dudley Smith.
    • Goofs
      During the car chase scene, the cars behind Quiller's Porsche appear and disappear, and are sometimes alongside his car, on the driver's (left) side.
    • Quotes

      Quiller: Met a man called Oktober.

      Pol: Oh yes?

      Quiller: Know him?

      Pol: We've never actually met.

      Quiller: At the end of our conversation, he ordered them to kill me.

      Pol: And did they?

    • Connections
      Featured in Al Murray's Great British Spy Movies (2014)
    • Soundtracks
      Wednesday's Child (Theme Song)
      Music by John Barry

      Lyric by Mack David

      Sung by Matt Monro

      [Played on the radio when shoeless Quiller arrives at the hotel]

    User reviews86

    Review
    Top review
    5/10
    What have they done with my book, ma ?
    Take a solid, healthy chicken's egg out of the hen house or the fridge… Now throw out all the substance, and just keep the eggshell. Dril several holes in it, the size of a pin, one the size of a small coin. Finally, paint the result in Barbie pink and baby blue… That's more or less what happened to Adam Hall's spy novel for this movie. If you have seen this movie, and it leaves you very dissatisfied or with a bunch of bright orange question marks, don't worry ! You HAVE been watching it carefully. Don't start thinking you missed something: it's the screenplay who did !

    Believe it or not, but in the original story there's a pinch of "Satan Bug" (1965),as it involves a Jewish scientist who wants to wipe out the Nazi community in Argentina with a dangerous germ. There's also a sniff of "Downfall" /"Der Untergang" (2004) in it: the Inga from the book has been as a child in the Führerbunker playing with the Goebbels' offspring, until "Uncle Adolf" committed suicide. There's also a part in Hall's book, that could have been a chapter from "Enigma" (2001), as Quiller has to decipher a complicated message from a friend. This part is done in a very detailed way in the book. Hall's book is also full of psycho-analysis à la Freud. In his novel, Inga is working initially for Oktober, which she always considered as being almost as tough as the only man she ever looked up at, Uncle Adolf. So, when she notices that a captured Quiller is not giving in to Oktober's interrogation techniques, her desperate need for a strong figure starts to shift from the Nazi to Quiller. The Quiller of the book is a survivor of the concentration camps by the way. Now he's working for a unit called the Z-police and Z-commission. This "Zentralstelle" was established after the signing of the London Agreement, and tracked down about 7000 Nazi war criminals. (See Wikipedia for more information about the Zentralstelle or Z-Commission)

    Quiller is called to Berlin, as the previous British agent, Kenneth Lindsay Jones has been found floating in a lake, killed by a sniper's bullet. As he hasn't been in Berlin since long, the Z-commission have prepared a memorandum with all the information available about a (neo-)Nazi group called "Phönix". Hence the title of the book. What the Z-people don't know is who the leader is, nor where they are hiding. In the end, it turns out that this leader of "Phönix", SS general Zossen has since the war become a respected member of the new German government under a false name. It's a quite complicated spy novel, but one with a storyline that makes sense. I can't say the same for the movie, I have to say. First at all, the title is never explained. Secondly, we don't hear about the Z-Commission, the London agreement. The Quiller in the movie is as British as Rockefeller, while Pol has become British. And no mention is made of him having been in a KZ during the war. I'm also irritated with what has become of the character of Inga, the disappearance of the germ side-plot, and I could go on for a while… That's why I think this egg not only has substance, but what is left is full of holes, leaving the critical watcher quite dissatisfied at the end.

    Harold Pinter may be a BIG name with a large cohorte of aficionado's, but frankly, what he has done with this novel is nothing less than a shame. Can you imagine what would have become of let's say "The day of the jackal" script, if he would have used the same frivolous surgical techniques he used on the Quiller-memorandum ? Would the OAS top have met the Jackal in a Mexican desert ? Or would Pinter maybe have dropped the whole OAS angle ? Thrown out the special gun ? Would the cold blooded killer invented by Forsythe have become a somewhat bumbling American with a Okie accent ? I'm neither very pleased with the choice of George Segal as Quiller. He was fun in "St Valentine's day massacre" (1967), he really gave me the creeps as the smiling but menacing Peter Gusenberg. But as Quiller, no… Somehow, he's not the right man in the right place, and certainly not someone I would sympathize with, as one should do with the hero of a movie. Max von Sydow though was very well cast as the gentleman-Nazi. Senta Berger is an extremely beautiful and elegant woman, but in this movie she's no longer a survivor of the Hitlerbunker as in the book, but a nice gentle school teacher, with a mysterious undertone.

    The cameo's of George Sanders and Alec Guinness are of course top notch, but these wonderful actors only have a few Lines to say. The house in which Oktober questions Quiller is superb, and so is the Mercedes "Adenauer" used in this movie. But all this Barbie pink and baby blue extra's can't save this movie. A missed opportunity, Mister Pinter.
    helpful•23
    8
    • VanheesBenoit
    • Jun 24, 2010

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • December 15, 1966 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United Kingdom
    • Languages
      • English
      • German
    • Also known as
      • Quiller Memorandum
    • Filming locations
      • Europa-Center, Charlottenburg, Berlin, Germany
    • Production companies
      • The Rank Organisation
      • Ivan Foxwell Productions
      • National General Productions
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 44 minutes
    • Aspect ratio
      • 2.35 : 1

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