You can look upon Billion Dollar Brain as either a Cold War Spy drama, with Michael Caine or as a Ken Russell movie. Or both...
I bought it as the latter as I'm trying to get all his films, on discovering some of his odder and, shall we say, more florid films.
I was under no illusion, though - B.D.B has been on early hours TV many times and I've always had a quiet interest in the Harry Palmer character, rather than an infatuation, so I had seen it before. So, this DVD was a cheap (compared to scarcer Russell's) way of re-acquainting myself with Russell's take on a standard spy drama.
Taken as such, it certainly passes muster - if it's the arty, OTT creativity of our Ken you're after, you've got the wrong film. Combining the sardonic dark irony of the bespectacled Palmer with frozen landscapes of the communist North (filmed in Finland) plus some familiar faces - Karl Marlden in particular, it's a steady recipe that shows Ken could turn his hand to such and curb his excesses if he needed/wanted to.
Whilst some of it seems horribly dated (the opening computer scenes seem like museum relics now, showing just how far this technology has changed in the last 45 years) the print of this MGM DVD is crisp and clean and widescreen. Versions on TV tended to have been on commercial channels where quality has been poor and ad-breaks frequent, making this a nice change to watch it properly.
The plot (crank Texan Ed Begley about to start a new Russian Revolution, to kill off Communism, aided by a super-computer, the 'Brain') is obviously daft and contrived and very 007, especially in these days of hindsight but if nothing more, it's a great travelogue, aided by Ken's eye for detail and composition. Oscar Homolka as the Soviet Col. Stok may seem very stereotyped but is good fun as he relishes in greeting Palmer as "English!!" Others will enjoy seeing Catherine Deneuve's sister Françoise Dorléac in her last film before she was killed in a car accident. She does indeed look very appealing wrapped in (& out!) of her furs.
Donald Sutherland features as the computer 'voice', you can hear his nasal tones through the electronic distortion, once you realise it's him and there's some effective and often sinister ambient music from Richard Rodney Bennett.
For all that though, the film is a bit flabby about the middle with a fair amount of chasing around through snowy forests and frozen lakes. Though at times BDD verges on Bond territory it never sustains it - and probably never should - and at 110 mins it could be a bit leaner. The budget, no doubt was a fraction of that franchise and it does show.
Michael Caine is, always, perfect and overall, whilst not in either his top ten films, nor Russell's, for that matter, it remains good Cold War spy drama fodder.
I bought it as the latter as I'm trying to get all his films, on discovering some of his odder and, shall we say, more florid films.
I was under no illusion, though - B.D.B has been on early hours TV many times and I've always had a quiet interest in the Harry Palmer character, rather than an infatuation, so I had seen it before. So, this DVD was a cheap (compared to scarcer Russell's) way of re-acquainting myself with Russell's take on a standard spy drama.
Taken as such, it certainly passes muster - if it's the arty, OTT creativity of our Ken you're after, you've got the wrong film. Combining the sardonic dark irony of the bespectacled Palmer with frozen landscapes of the communist North (filmed in Finland) plus some familiar faces - Karl Marlden in particular, it's a steady recipe that shows Ken could turn his hand to such and curb his excesses if he needed/wanted to.
Whilst some of it seems horribly dated (the opening computer scenes seem like museum relics now, showing just how far this technology has changed in the last 45 years) the print of this MGM DVD is crisp and clean and widescreen. Versions on TV tended to have been on commercial channels where quality has been poor and ad-breaks frequent, making this a nice change to watch it properly.
The plot (crank Texan Ed Begley about to start a new Russian Revolution, to kill off Communism, aided by a super-computer, the 'Brain') is obviously daft and contrived and very 007, especially in these days of hindsight but if nothing more, it's a great travelogue, aided by Ken's eye for detail and composition. Oscar Homolka as the Soviet Col. Stok may seem very stereotyped but is good fun as he relishes in greeting Palmer as "English!!" Others will enjoy seeing Catherine Deneuve's sister Françoise Dorléac in her last film before she was killed in a car accident. She does indeed look very appealing wrapped in (& out!) of her furs.
Donald Sutherland features as the computer 'voice', you can hear his nasal tones through the electronic distortion, once you realise it's him and there's some effective and often sinister ambient music from Richard Rodney Bennett.
For all that though, the film is a bit flabby about the middle with a fair amount of chasing around through snowy forests and frozen lakes. Though at times BDD verges on Bond territory it never sustains it - and probably never should - and at 110 mins it could be a bit leaner. The budget, no doubt was a fraction of that franchise and it does show.
Michael Caine is, always, perfect and overall, whilst not in either his top ten films, nor Russell's, for that matter, it remains good Cold War spy drama fodder.