The sixties spy thriller Funeral in Berlin is an excellent example of how the star charisma of Michael Caine can save a film from obscurity. Because the plot of Funeral in Berlin gets so complex and convoluted with double-crossing and triple-crossing that Caine becomes a beacon and guide in the maze.
Funeral in Berlin is the second of three 1960s Harry Palmer movies (let's pretend those 2 TV movies from the 1990's don't exist). British agent Harry Palmer was the bespectacled working class answer to the glamorous globetrotting James Bond. As an alternative to spending time in prison for a theft he committed during his army years, Palmer is forced to work for British intelligence. Which makes Palmer an expendable commodity and thereby revealing how isolating the life of a secret agent must be.
Funeral in Berlin was partly filmed on location in Berlin which makes the film historically interesting, as it shows a Berlin that no longer exists.
The Harry Palmer trilogy are the thinking man's spy adventures. Heavy on plot and character, humor and mystery. Michael Caine excels in pretending that he knows what it is all about in his second round as Harry Palmer. He is well assisted by some great supporting actors who seem to be chosen because of their unusual faces: Oscar Homolka as the Russian Colonel who pretends to defect, Hugh Burden as a perverted version of Q, Günter Meisner as the West German criminal who manages escapes from East to West Berlin. Also Guy Doleman returns as Palmer's humorless boss.
Of course, every spy story has to have woman. In Funeral in Berlin she is played by Eva Renzi as an Israeli agent with her own hidden agenda. But in contrast to James Bond is that when a beautiful woman is interested In Harry Palmer, he suspects right away it's a trap.
And that's because it always is.
Funeral in Berlin is the second of three 1960s Harry Palmer movies (let's pretend those 2 TV movies from the 1990's don't exist). British agent Harry Palmer was the bespectacled working class answer to the glamorous globetrotting James Bond. As an alternative to spending time in prison for a theft he committed during his army years, Palmer is forced to work for British intelligence. Which makes Palmer an expendable commodity and thereby revealing how isolating the life of a secret agent must be.
Funeral in Berlin was partly filmed on location in Berlin which makes the film historically interesting, as it shows a Berlin that no longer exists.
The Harry Palmer trilogy are the thinking man's spy adventures. Heavy on plot and character, humor and mystery. Michael Caine excels in pretending that he knows what it is all about in his second round as Harry Palmer. He is well assisted by some great supporting actors who seem to be chosen because of their unusual faces: Oscar Homolka as the Russian Colonel who pretends to defect, Hugh Burden as a perverted version of Q, Günter Meisner as the West German criminal who manages escapes from East to West Berlin. Also Guy Doleman returns as Palmer's humorless boss.
Of course, every spy story has to have woman. In Funeral in Berlin she is played by Eva Renzi as an Israeli agent with her own hidden agenda. But in contrast to James Bond is that when a beautiful woman is interested In Harry Palmer, he suspects right away it's a trap.
And that's because it always is.