Funeral in Berlin

Continuing from last week, I watched:

Funeral in Berlin (1966).

Harry Palmer (Michael Caine) returns and this time he's sent to Berlin to vet KGB Colonel Stok (Oscar Homolka) who intends to defect to the west. Always a tricky situation, since he has to find out if the defection is genuine, and if it is, he needs to make it happen. In Berlin he connects with his old friend Johnny Vulkan (Paul Hubschmid). It was Vulkan Harry schemed with when he got arrested and sent to prison and then to the intelligence service. Soon enough he also meets the beautiful Samantha Steel (Eva Renzi), and the game becomes a great deal more difficult, not to mention dangerous.

Funeral in Berlin is directed by Guy Hamilton, who amongst many other movies has directed four James Bond films. In 1966 he had only directed Goldfinger, although Funeral in Berlin was his 13^th movie overall.

Where I found The Ipcress File to be good but flawed, Funeral in Berlin is a stone cold spy thriller. You can feel Hamilton's touch and it feels good. Palmer is essentially the same free-wheeling smart mouth he was in Ipcress, but he feels a bit harder and more cynical, though not in a bad way. The other actors are all solid, but apparently Eva Renzi was incredibly difficult to work with. She was rude to Caine and argued constantly with Hamilton, even telling him how to light her. This did no favors for her career, and although it was far from ruined she earned the title “difficult to work with” which can sink an actors career surprisingly fast.

As I'm writing this, I'm trying to remember the soundtrack, but I can't. I firmly blame the excellent story and the atmosphere that at tines is thick enough to cut with a knife. Even scenes that are apparently unimportant feel really tense. The Cold War paranoia really is omnipresent.

In order to avoid spoilers I won't mention any plot details beyond what I have already done, but I want to point out that at times the story is a bit hard to follow. It all makes sense in the end, but there are a lot of moving parts and unless you're really paying attention you might get a bit lost. This is the kind of critique I never know how to feel about. On the one hand, it is a good thing if the audience can follow the story without taking notes, but on the other hand I like a convoluted story that doesn't hold my hand and over explains everything. Suffice to say that Funeral in Berlin is somewhere in the middle I suppose.

So, do I recommend this movie? Absolutely! If you have any interest in spy thrillers Funeral in Berlin is a must watch. It has its flaws but overall it is an excellent movie that is well shot, well directed and a top shelf pick in its genre. They even shot scenes at the actual Check Point Charlie! How's that for realism?

That's that and all that. Join me again next time and until then, have great week!