Quiller Memorandum [VHS]

Quiller Memorandum [VHS]
by Michael Anderson

Quiller Memorandum [VHS]

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Product details

Actor: Alec Guinness, George Sanders, George Segal, Max von Sydow, Senta Berger
Director: Michael Anderson
Cinematographer: Erwin Hillier
Editor: Frederick Wilson
Producer: Ivan Foxwell
Writer: Harold Pinter
Writer: Trevor Dudley Smith
Edition: VHS Tape
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); German (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
Running Time: 104 minutes
Release Date: 1987-02-12
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Publisher: Fox Home Entertainment
Studio: Fox Home Entertainment

VHS Movie Reviews of Quiller Memorandum [VHS]

Movie Review: A poorly acted version of a pretty good book
Summary: 1 Stars

I've watched this movie three times. The latter two were an attempt to see who thought the casting in this was anywhere close to appropriate. George Segal seems to be enjoying some private joke the entire way through the picture. The lack of gravity and connectivity between the actors sinks the entire thing. The 'americanization' of Quiller just seems like some poor attempt to draw a North American audience.

A very disappointing adaptation.

Movie Review: Uniquely low-key spy film, written by Harold Pinter, with Alec Guinness. Enough said!
Summary: 4 Stars

Well, almost....

I had never seen this before yesterday, and having lived in Berlin in the 1990s, I love seeing that town on film in any period. It's mostly West Berlin here, and it's a treat to see; few films use this much of their home city, and if you like that incomparable town you'll love watching it in Quiller.

I found Segal to be better than usual, less glib and more appealingly serious at points, and Senta Berger a fine romantic foil (and just plain fine). Guinness is superb as always, as is Max Von Sydow (what a great bad guy he was!), the direction is unforced, and the story itself is a refreshingly low-key spy tale, pointing out that Bond was the anomaly/fantasy in a world of cold war info gathering and slogging leg work. But what I really loved here was Pinter's script.

In typically Pinteresque fashion, we are given little backstory on the characters, which lends a slightly odd feel to the proceedings, and it works to perfection in this anti-Bond vehicle. The rather bad narration on the dvd by two NYC film school profs misses Pinter's genius almost entirely; are these the best guys the studio could find?

Pinter was brought in to be Pinter, no doubt, and the idea of letting him loose on Trevor Dudley-Smith's novel works splendidly. There's an off-kilter menacing vibe throughout and it meshes perfectly with the plot itself. The dialogue is also oft classic, notably the British upper caste asides; few were ever as quietly withering in their social critiques as Mr. Pinter.

Not a shoot-'em-up at all, and that's one of Quiller's main strengths.
All brains and no guns make for a most interesting and unique thriller indeed.

Movie Review: The Quiller Memorandum
Summary: 4 Stars

It's what you expect a espionage story to be intriquing and suspenseful, however; it wasn't as thrilling as the Jason Bourne and Harry Palmer series but more realistic than the James Bond fantasy of sex and gadgets.

Movie Review: DECADE OF THE SPY STORIES
Summary: 5 Stars

Starting with the 007 books by Ian Fleming in the 1950's continuing for at least another decade or so, one can view those years as a decade of the spy novels. Near the top of any list of spy books were those written by Adam Hall (Elleston Trevor 1920-1995) which comprised the best selling "Quiller" series of books. Using the pen name "Adam Hall", Elleston Trevor wrote 19 novels all concerning the Quiller character and his career. Two standout features of Quiller was that he worked alone, and he never carried a pistol. For a time in 1975 the Quiller character appeared in a British television series. Most of Elleston Trevor's 'Adam Hall' books are yet obtainable through dealers, however, some sell a;t fairly hefty prices.

The movie taken from the first Quiller novel, The Berlin Memorandum, was renamed for the movie, The Quiller Memorandu, with the movie containing the same mind grabbing content as the novel. Next to LenDeighton's Harry Palmer books made into movies, Funeral In Berlin and Billion Dollar Brain, the movie The Quiller Memorandum is somewhat unique. In an era noted for the East against West, this movie deals with a Neo Nazi movement in Germany. The movie was unique for its time with a subject that one can still read about in newspapers of our time. Unique again in the 60's era of gadgetry Quiller never resorts to carrying a firearm.

The color of the The Quiller Memorandum is still excellent, and the wide screen version offers a very enticing view helping to draw the viewer deeply into the plot. There are enough twists and turns to keep even the most avid spy reader and viewer interested. Though the books are generally much better suited for involving the reader, the movie does quite well keeping viewer's attention.

Having had a very small, very minor background in all this in the mid-1960s, plus being an avid reader of stories by W. Somersr Maughan to Ian Fleming to Len Deighton, among several others, I give this movie portrayal of the 'game' two thumbs up. It's only fictional fantasy but it is very enjoyable fiction all the same.

Unless one purchases this movie, though the cable channels occassionally give it some play, The Quiller Memorandum can be a rather difficult movie to catch up with. Buth carching up with it on Turner Classic Movies is still worth the watching.

Semper Fi.

Movie Review: Formula spy stuff but very well done
Summary: 5 Stars

Imagine two great armies in a fog. Each looking for the other's HQ.
In the middle is Quiller who must get close enough to the enemy to signal the location of their HQ but not give way the location of his.

Modern day Germany (1960's) we see a resurgence of citizens that want the country to be strong. A hand full of citizens is acting on those sentiments. Seems the British Intelligence Pol (Alec Guinness) is a little queasy. They want to identify these people apparently lead by someone called October (Max von Sydow) and nip it in the bud. To this purpose they have issued agents that are now being mysteriously dispatched. Looks like it is time to bring in Quiller (George Segal); he has his own methods of detection and is not quite as paranoid as Pol when it comes to who is in the right.

Will Quiller succeed where others have failed?
Or is it curtains for this overconfident loner?

We get to share in his triumphs and setbacks as he probes the opposing forces and in the process meets a beautiful elementary school teacher Inge Lindt (Senta Berger) whom goes from innocent to entwined.

It was a nice touch to find the Quiller could speak German and was nice enough in the film to use textbook German so we could follow the conversation with out scratching our heads.

Again it is not as much the story as the execution that gives this movie the value.

The Odessa File

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