The File of the Golden Goose (1969) User Reviews

U.S. agent infiltrates forgery ring in London...

[Doylenf · 5/10 · 3 May 2007]

U.S. secret service agent YUL BRYNNER is enlisted by Scotland Yard to infiltrate a forgery ring distributing phony U.S. currency in London. He joins a Scotland Yard man EDWARD WOODWARD in this story that appears to be a remake of T-MEN, a thriller from the '40s that starred Dennis O'Keefe in the Brynner role. This version starts in the same terse documentary style as the American film.

It's Brynner who decides the best way to capture the mob is to infiltrate them, with Woodward as his back-up, a man with a wife and two children. Brynner is motivated by revenge. His sweetheart was killed in America by men who meant to kill him. Brynner has his misgivings about Woodward. "A married man should be sitting behind a desk shoving papers." He's afraid Woodward won't be a good back-up for him since he refuses to carry a gun.

The London backgrounds add flavor to the story, but the script is a cumbersome one, lacking the tension of T-MEN. Dull stretches toward the middle of the story take away from interest for the overall story to have the desired effect. Sam Wanamaker's direction is much too sluggish for this kind of yarn. CHARLES GRAY does a nice job as "The Owl".

The storyline is so similar in detail to T-MEN that it's an example of how a 1940s film noir filmed in shadowy B&W can be so superior to this Technicolor remake shifted to London locales but otherwise much the same story, except for some minor changes toward the conclusion.

Summing up: Should have generated more suspense. A better editing job would have helped the sluggish pace of a film that is not without a certain amount of intrigue and danger.

"It takes two to call off a deal".

[lost-in-limbo · 6/10 · 21 September 2015]

Quite routine as can be for a crime feature, but there's somewhat a dreary and hardened underbelly. The investigation that transpires is predictably weary as you feel like your watching something out of a old- school crime TV episode… but what it has going for it is that the grimy locations help with the moody ambiance and the main performances up it a notch. Yul Brynner is in the lead and along side are Edward Woodward and Charles Gray as a shady, if eccentric villain "The Owl". So there are some real solid acting chops on show.

An American secret service agent working with Scotland Yard goes about trying to infiltrate a dangerous counterfeit ring looking to upscale their business. Brynner plays it tough as nails (but there's something a little more to his psyche that be shows minor cracks), while Woodward is the chatty local partner who's assigned to Brynner's American agent. I thought it was going to play out like some buddy feature (as the two shared a fitting combination with some British humour), but it soon moves away from that angle midway through when the thick script brings in the villains and the scheming begins (also slowing things down) as our protagonist (Brynner) sets his plans in motion by snooping and trying to uncover the mastermind behind this counterfeit ring. In between this are some intense exchanges, beat-downs, nasty encounters and sauna visiting amongst the London views.

There's clichés aplenty amongst the smokescreen of genre staples and throw in that racy big band score typical of the era. The plot is rather thin, as you can feel it being stretched out with the amount of repetitive actions occurring and its revelation feels abrupt making little headway, but I always found Brynner to be a very watchable actor despite that detached-persona and it does possess a dangerous edge never making the character feel too safe. The earnest direction is tranquil in manner and the handling rather practical in style, as the pace is leisured throughout making a little sluggish. Although its does come to a crushing end in the final stages with a downbeat final shot.

"He's rather a tough nut".

Yul Brynner was Outstanding

[whpratt1 · 6/10 · 4 May 2007]

If you are a big fan of Yul Brynner who plays the role of a U.S. Secret Service agent named Peter Novak, you will enjoy his great performance dealing with Scotland Yard policemen and a very dangerous counterfeiting ring of thugs. Novak joins up with his partner, Edward Woodward,(Arthur Thompson) who works for Scotland Yard and the two of them decide to work their way into this counterfeiting gang who are very clever and will kill you at the drop of a dime. Peter Novak runs into all kinds of situations and even a brothel and message parlors. This film runs rather long and it seemed to me they could have cut a great deal of this film on the cutting room floor, and the ending was very disappointing. However, all the actors in this film gave an outstanding performance and it was great to see this Classic 1969 film.

Inferior Remake of T-Men(1947)

[BJJ-2 · 4 September 2004]

A routine,uninspired secret agent thriller.What is not generally acknowledged is that this film is a remake of Anthony Mann's first-class 'B' Film Noir T-MEN(1947).The original had far more resonance and atmosphere(mainly because of Mann's effective direction and John Alton's moody monochrome photography).THE FILE OF THE GOLDEN GOOSE has touristy views of London,flat colour imagery,and unremarkable direction by Sam Wanamaker.Wanamaker,a fine actor,never really made it as a film director,and despite some reputable performers here,like Yul Brynner(in the old Dennis O'Keefe role),and Edward Woodward(in the doomed Alfred Ryder part),the result is a just passable time-waster.

Same old secret agent flick

[HotToastyRag · 3/10 · 6 February 2023]

When a couple of dead bodies are found, each victim clutching a counterfeit hundred dollar bill, it becomes more than just a homicide case. This is a British movie, so Scotland Yard sends their agents out to find the counterfeit mob responsible. Yul Brynner is the lead agent, and he has a personal vendetta: the goons sent out to kill him accidentally killed the young girl in love with him instead.

This "undercover secret agent" flick isn't that great, and if you're not already well-versed in the 1960s spy movies, you might be bored to tears. It's pretty dated, and really only for die-hard Yul Brynner fans who want to see every movie where he takes his shirt off - which is pretty much every movie he made, isn't it? There's an entire sequence where the only lead Yul has to go on to find the culprit is "he likes the baths", so he literally goes from one steam room to the next searching for the criminal. It's pretty funny when you think about it, how the screenwriter deliberately thought up a way for Yul to take his clothes off and prance about for an extended period of time. If that's not incentive for you to watch the movie, you're better off skipping it.

DLM Warning: If you suffer from vertigo or dizzy spells, like my mom does, this movie might not be your friend. After Yul Brynner says "Keep her on ice for me" there's a POV shot of someone getting punched and falling to the floor, and that will make you sick. In other words, "Don't Look, Mom!"

U.S.Secret Service and Scotland Yard Smash International Counterfeit Ring!

[Mr. Blue-2 · 7/10 · 6 July 1999]

Yul Brynner (yes, Yul Brynner, believe it or not) plays a U.S. Secret Service agent assigned by Washington to investigate an international gang counterfeiting $100 bills in Europe. He teams up with a Scotland Yard detective played by Edward Woodward ("The Equalizer" in a future life).

The movie opens with the gang attempting to assassinate Brynner near the United Nations building in New York, because he has developed too much evidence. The gang misses, of course, but his girl friend is killed. Brynner travels to London, works undercover, and gets in good with the gang.

I gave this movie a 7 out of 10, if only because they got the right American law enforcement agency (Secret Service) investigating counterfeit.

Wow. Yul Brynner must have been forcing a contract rider!

[rockmail · 2/10 · 24 October 2012]

The movie itself is a pedestrian crime movie that takes a tiny premise and extends it over the length of a movie. Not a good thing.

So the movie basically stinks. But if you want a hoot, watch it to see Yul Brynner's horrifying attempt to sound like a New York "wiseguy" while swimming through his natural Russian accent. It's not so much the accent being silly, as the dialog being something from the "Dead End Kids".

If people paid to see this in the theater, maybe it was a good escape since cable TV and the internet hadn't been invented yet. Or maybe they asked for their money back.

Really dreadful.

Yul Brynner salvages another one

[johnnyjeremymusic-56956 · 6/10 · 24 December 2021]

I think it is safe to say that if Yul Brynner is able to pull off a role in your film, it doesn't matter how weak the story, script, or anything else is... Brynner seems to make anything more entertaining.

This one's a gone goose

[bkoganbing · 3/10 · 16 July 2015]

With a souped up budget and foreign location this remake of the Anthony Mann noir classic T-Men should have been better. But The File Of The Golden Goose is rather disjointed plot wise and while in T-Men the documentary style narration is critical to the film, here it is used gloss over some glaring holes in the story. That's possibly due to poor editing.

Yul Brynner looks like he did this one for a free trip to London where he plays a Secret Service man who is teamed with a Scotland Yard inspector played by Edward Woodward and both are trying to infiltrate a gang of counterfeiters. Brynner has a special reason to get them, they killed his girlfriend Hilary Heath with a bullet meant for him.

One of the things that really got me was the very beginning we are shown three murders in different countries including Heath's told that the gang is responsible for them and then never told why these people had to be killed.

Brynner slept walked through this one and that attitude won't keep the audience's attention.

Slightly more realistic than Bond

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 21 December 2023]

THE FILE OF THE GOLDEN GOOSE is a British/American spy production that seems to have been made as an answer to the popularity of the James Bond franchise. Thus there are the requisite fisticuffs and characters being kidnapped and held hostage by bad guys and the like. At the same time, the milieu and plotting feel slightly more realistic, with a John Le Carre influence working behind the scenes. The skullduggery works quite well and Yul Brynner is a likeable presence who bounces off supporting actors like Edward Woodward. I'm not sure anyone could take Graham Crowden's villain seriously, but generally this is watchable, if flawed, stuff.

Amateurish potboiler

[blogward · 1/10 · 15 December 2023]

TFOTGG may float your boat if you're interested in seeing late 1960's movie hack work. A rehash of the film noir 'T-Men', with added homophobia, marijuana parties and British film stalwarts camping it up with marked lack of enthusiasm. An expert umbrella thrower, ffs.

An 'Indiana Jones' style chase structure which might just lead you on to the end, and a shot of Yul, with the shoulder he wasn't shot in bandaged up, looking like he's cringeing at what he's just put us and the audience through.

Of no interest except to see the strange script, character and direction choices which a loosely controlled budget enabled in 1969.

Who killed the Golden Goose?

[Mark-129 · 8/10 · 19 November 2011]

While File of the Golden Goose is not a particularly well made film, it does have it's charms.

This is one of those films one reaches for when you don't really want to watch a movie.

Yul Brynner plays Secret Service Agent Peter Novak, who, after his girlfriend is caught and killed in the crossfire of bullets meant him, vows revenge on the counterfeiting ring responsible for the hit. In London, Novak and married policeman Arthur Thompson go undercover as surviving members of the infamous Golden Goose gang in order to infiltrate the counterfeiting ring.

I've always enjoyed this movie because Yul Brynner appears to be having such fun as he digs deeper and deeper within the gang, intent on getting to the unknown Head Man.

Charles Gray is suitably over the top in his performance as 'The Owl.' The homosexual distribution manager for the gang's counterfeit money.

All in all, it's pretty entertaining. Brynner's terse dialog and intimidation factor work very well.

Production quality is very good, from the opening of a boy and his dog at play on the beach to the finale at the mansion home of the gang's mastermind

My only complaints is the over the top sleaze in some places and the need for perhaps more fluid camera work during action scenes. It's almost like no one knew how to choreograph a film fight. Finally, the resolution of the identity of the 'Head Man' still falls flat, even after 40 years.

Still, this is a fondly remembered film still enjoyed.

But...if the gang had tried to kill Novak at the beginning of the movie, how could he expect to infiltrate them?

Yul Brynner is the film!

[RodrigAndrisan · 7/10 · 7 July 2019]

Yul Brynner, another unique in the cinema history! An actor with a fascinating, natural, credible personality in whatever role he did. And here he makes a character as he is, a rough one. Sam Wanamaker's direction is impeccable. All the other actors are very good: Charles Gray, Edward Woodward, John Barrie, Adrienne Corri, Graham Crowden, Walter Gotell. I do not think it's a waste of time watching this movie.

Better than expected

[Typing_away · 8 January 2002]

This movie was better than I had expected. The script is not exactly Oscar-caliber, but "Golden Goose" has good actors and an interesting story. The various location shots of London were impressive. Yul Brynner plays a U.S. Secret Service agent trying to bust up a counterfeiting ring.

A great cast but slightly wasted talent.

[plan99 · 7/10 · 17 December 2023]

With such a great cast I had expected this to be a great film but it was slightly disappointing. It lacked any real tension or excitement and it was a bit humdrum. The locations were interesting to see in 1969 even if it was not Liverpool as claimed.

The writing was a bit weak although the cast tried their very best to deliver their lines well. It could have done with being more gritty as it was almost suitable for viewing by children. The baddies were not nasty enough. Not one of Yul's better films but he has been in worse.

It's worth watching as a period piece but it's probably not worthy of a repeat viewing I'm afraid.

She used to lay the not-so-golden eggs

[dbdumonteil · 23 April 2009]

"The file of the golden goose" is entertaining stuff,if you are not asking too much.There are counterfeiters in those trouble times and their ambitions know no bounds ,they are spreading all over Europe ,including the United Kingdom,which is a shame.Fortunately ,Yul Brynner is at hand ,and with his colleague, he infiltrates the gang,pretending he is a specialist too.He meets Peter Van Eyck who is very fond of Turkish baths but ,against all expectations,is not the big boss.

Best scene: Brynner's colleague,meeting his wife in a shopping arcade and pretending he's never met her.

Nice cruise on the Thames.